Xbox Series X Full Specs Revealed & More Information About The Technology Powering The Next-Generation Console

Today, Xbox shared a lot more information about what’s inside their next-generation console, Xbox Series X. This includes the full specs of the console itself and more details about three primary characteristics that define the next generation of Xbox which Phil Spencer discussed last month. The three primary characteristics are Power, Speed, and Compatibility.

With Xbox Series X, one of the main things that the team at Xbox is looking to do is not only make the games look better, but making them play better too. “While the Xbox Series X will deliver a massive increase in GPU performance and continue to redefine and advance the state of art in graphics with new capabilities such as hardware-accelerated raytracing. We don’t believe this generation will be defined by graphics or resolution alone,” said Jason Ronald, Director of Product Management on Xbox Series X. The Xbox Series X is aiming for an experience that has never been seen on a  console, support for up to 120 FPS. Xbox Series X will support a variety of games such as the largest blockbusters, competitive esports, and innovative independent creators.

In order to do that, Xbox Series X is powered by a custom-designed processor, an 8 core AMD Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2-class GPU. Sebastien Nussbaum, Corporate Vice President & Senior Fellow, Semi-Custom Products and Technologies​ at AMD said: “Xbox Series X is the biggest generational leap of SOC [System on a Chip] and API design that we’ve done with Microsoft, and it’s really an honor for AMD to be a trusted Microsoft partner for this endeavor. Nussbaum added: “The Xbox Series X is going to be a beacon of technical innovation leadership for this console generation and will propagate the innovation throughout the DirectX ecosystem this year and into next year.” This allows for features such as hardware-accelerated DirectX Raytracing which simulates the properties of light and sound in real-time.

Speed will be defined in a large number of different ways. Xbox Series X will load games faster and switch between apps faster too. The thinking behind speed and the design philosophy behind it  is that they want “gamers to spend more time playing and less time waiting.” What came out of this thinking is Xbox Velocity Architecture which features tight integration between hardware and software. It’s a revolutionary new architecture optimized for streaming of in-game assets. 100 GB of game assets will be instantly accessible by developers, something that has never been seen before in console development. “The CPU is the brain of our new console and the GPU is the heart, but the Xbox Velocity Architecture is the soul. The Xbox Velocity Architecture is about so much more than fast last times. It’s one of the most innovative parts of our new console. It’s about revolutionizing how games can create vastly bigger, more compelling worlds,” said Andrew Goosen, Technical Fellow on Xbox Series X at Microsoft.

Latency is also something that will benefit from the speed of Xbox Series X. Latency will be reduced more than it has ever before with new technology such as Dynamic Latency Input, Variable Refresh Rate, and Auto Low Latency Mode.

When it comes to compatibility, Xbox Series X will see the continued support of Xbox’s commitment to backwards compatibility with every original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One title available to play better on Xbox Series X. This includes faster boot and load times, more stable frame rates, higher resolutions and improved image quality. The new Smart Delivery system will make sure you get the best version of a game on whatever Xbox console you own.

Here is a rundown of the full system specs for Xbox Series X: