With Microsoft working on introducing new dual-screen PCs and its next-generation of Xbox consoles, this holiday season is set to be an exciting one. As we get closer, new details are emerging about the products that are going to be released. And today, Microsoft published a deeper dive into what we can expect from the Xbox Series X.
As we knew, the CPU and GPU will be based on AMD"s Zen2 and RDNA 2 architectures. GPU performance will be 12TFLOPS, which is more than eight times that of the original Xbox One console, and twice that of the Xbox One X. On top of that, the console will come with an SSD instead of an HDD for the first time, adding to the speed of the device.
And as expected, the Xbox Series X will support ray tracing, or more specifically, hardware-accelerated DirectX Raytracing. That means that you"ll get realistic lighting, shadows, and more. Microsoft is also promising Variable Rate Shading (VRS), which will let the GPU prioritize certain objects and effects in the game.
The Xbox Series X will support HDMI 2.1, adding features such as Auto Low Latency Mode and Variable Refresh Rate, and it"s going to support 120fps gaming for the first time. Microsoft also says that it"s optimizing latency in the Xbox Wireless Controller using Dynamic Latency Input, although presumably, you"ll need the new controller to get that effect.
A new feature on the console will be Quick Resume, adding to the idea that everything is faster and everything is lower latency. Quick Resume does exactly what it sounds like, where you can launch games from a suspended state without having to wait for them to load.
And then there"s compatibility. As Microsoft"s Phil Spencer has said before, the Xbox Series X will support four generations of Xbox games, going all the way back to the original. Today, he confirmed that that means you"ll be able to play everything that"s available to play on the Xbox One now. That includes all Xbox One games, and the Xbox and Xbox 360 games that are on the Backward Compatibility list.
Also in the compatibility department, there"s a new feature called Smart Delivery. Gone are the days when you might have purchased Halo 4 for the Xbox 360 and then bought it again for the Xbox One. At least for first-party games, and if third-party developers choose to adopt it, you"ll be able to buy a game once, and your console will automatically download the game that"s right for it. Of course, those first-party games will be available on Xbox Game Pass as well.
Microsoft says that it will share more details about the Xbox Series X in the coming months, and the biggest question at this point is probably just how much it will cost.