Microsoft was very proud to show off their updated console, the Xbox One X, at E3. Many fans were eager to see the power this “true 4K” gaming machine had to offer. Unfortunately, given the lack of many upcoming AAA exclusives for the system, some gamers were beginning to doubt what it was really capable of. Fortunately, Microsoft recently revealed some new console specs to Eurogamer.net. While the reports don’t fully answer what the system is capable of, it does make the power within the machine that much clearer.
One thing that is clear is that its very difficult for many games that run at 60fps to achieve 4K. As such, its likely that many of these graphically demanding games will have to resort to dynamic resolution and checkerboarding to reach that 4K standard, which are the same techniques the PS4 Pro used. So much for Xbox’s “true” 4K.
Despite that, many developers have been praising the Xbox One X’s capabilities. Monolith Productions has confirmed native 4K for Middle-earth: Shadow of War, and Respawn Entertainment claims that Titanfall 2 has actually scaled up to 6K resolution. Studio Wildcard, developer of Ark: Survival Evolved, even likens it to running on a high-end PC.
Forza Motorpsort 7, the newest game in the racing franchise renowned for its impressive graphics, was tested on the Xbox One X. The GPU load when running at 60fps is only 65.9%, much better than the standard Xbox One’s 77.8%. Its likely that the extra processing power will be used to improve the textures and lighting.
Compared to Forza‘s 91fps, however, is Gears of War 4’s measly 38.5fps, barely making any improvement over the Xbox One’s numbers. It is important to keep in mind, though, that this is not the final build, and improvements are likely to be made to push the shooter past 40fps.
Star Wars Battlefront’s situation is even worse. Due to the console pushing the game from 720p all the way to full 4K, the framerate drops from the 60fps target to a staggering 38fps. Hopefully, checkerboarding will be enough to keep the framerate on target.