Xbox Series X | S

[JPL]

I didn’t buy an Xbox One until they ditched Kinect. I just couldn’t bring myself to pay for that nonsense.

[Clipper]

1 hour ago, HarryBizzle said:

I was just having a look at that thread and it's an interesting trip down memory lane, at least in the early pages. For the most part it's actually fine.

 

The "1080p gang" appears to be like one guy:

 

 

oh i dont know

 

His posting of tomb raider analysis a few pages later was nice work too - even mentions 1080p as a genuine positive

 

I'm not saying you were wrong just not sure many come out of that thread looking good

 

 

 

[Transient Curse]

I sold my kinect on Ebay for £90 a few weeks ago.  

 

Was the X1 £350 without kinect? If so, I made a tenner, and all I had to do was store a kinect for 7 years. 

[footle]

Ooh it’s got the screen resolution chart. I now sit 6 feet away from a 55 inch telly, so I can finally see the benefit of the higher resolution :-)

 

(and will still take the frame rate, please)

[SeanR]

I played the Wii version of gunblade NY on a 42” Panasonic from 2ft away, and nearly threw up.

 

and that wasn’t because of the resolution.

[djbhammer]

Xbox Velocity Architecture: A Closer Look at the Next-Gen Tech Driving Gaming Innovation Forward on Xbox Series X.

by Jason Ronald, Director of Program Management, Xbox Series X 

 

 

When we set out to design the Xbox Series X, we aspired to build our most powerful console ever powered by next generation innovation and delivering consistent, sustained performance never before seen in a console with no compromises. To achieve this goal, we knew we needed to analyze each component of the system, to push beyond the limitations in traditional console performance and design. It was critical in the design of the Xbox Series X to ensure we had a superior balance of power, speed and performance while ensuring no component would constrain the creative ambition of the world’s best creators, empowering them to deliver truly transformative next gen gaming experiences not possible in prior console generations.

 

At the heart of the Xbox Series X is our custom processor leveraging the latest RDNA 2 and Zen 2 architectures from our partners at AMD to deliver a best in class next generation processor delivering more than 12 TFLOPs of GPU power and more than 4 times the CPU processing power of the Xbox One X. Xbox Series X includes the highest memory bandwidth of any next generation console with 16GB of GDDR6 memory, including 10GB of GPU optimized memory at 560 GB/s to keep the processor fed with no bottlenecks. As we analyzed the storage subsystem, it became clear that we had reached the upper limits of traditional hard drive technology and to deliver on our design aspirations, we would need to radically rethink and revolutionize our approach with the Xbox Series X.

 

Empowering Next Generation Game Design and Creative Vision

 

Modern games require a significant amount of data to create the realistic worlds and universes that gamers experience. To enable the processor to work at its optimum performance, all of this data must be loaded from storage into memory. The explosion of massive, dynamic open-world environments and living, persistent worlds with increased density and variety has only increased the amount of data required. From environmental mesh data, high polygon character models, high resolution textures, animation data, audio and video source files and more all combine together to deliver the most immersive game play environment for the player.

 

Despite the ability for modern game engines and middleware to stream game assets into memory off of local storage, level designers are still often required to create narrow pathways, hallways, or elevators to work around the limitations of a traditional hard drive and I/O pipeline. These in-game elements are often used to mask the need to unload the prior zone’s assets from memory while loading in new assets for the next play space. As we discussed developers’ aspirations for their next generation titles and the limitations of current generation technology, this challenge would continue to increase exponentially and further constrain the ambition for truly transformative games. This feedback influenced the design and development of the Xbox Velocity Architecture.

 

Introducing the Xbox Velocity Architecture

 

The Xbox Velocity Architecture was designed as the ultimate solution for game asset streaming in the next generation. This radical reinvention of the traditional I/O subsystem directly influenced all aspects of the Xbox Series X design. If our custom designed processor is at the heart of the Xbox Series X, the Xbox Velocity Architecture is the soul. Through a deep integration of hardware and software innovation, the Xbox Velocity Architecture will power next-gen gaming experiences unlike anything you have seen before.

 

The Xbox Velocity Architecture comprises four major components: our custom NVME SSD, hardware accelerated e blocks, a brand new DirectStorage API layer and Sampler Feedback Streaming (SFS).

 

Let’s dive deep into each component:

 

Custom NVME SSD: The foundation of the Xbox Velocity Architecture is our custom, 1TB NVME SSD, delivering 2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput, more than 40x the throughput of Xbox One. Traditional SSDs used in PCs often reduce performance as thermals increase or while performing drive maintenance. The custom NVME SSD in Xbox Series X is designed for consistent, sustained performance as opposed to peak performance. Developers have a guaranteed level of I/O performance at all times and they can reliably design and optimize their games removing the barriers and constraints they have to work around today. This same level of consistent, sustained performance also applies to the Seagate Expandable Storage Card ensuring you have the exact same gameplay experience regardless of where the game resides.

 

Hardware Accelerated Decompression: Game packages and assets are compressed to minimize download times and the amount of storage required for each individual game. With hardware accelerated support for both the industry standard LZ decompressor as well as a brand new, proprietary algorithm specifically designed for texture data named BCPack, Xbox Series X provides the best of both worlds for developers to achieve massive savings with no loss in quality or performance. As texture data comprises a significant portion of the total overall size of a game, having a purpose built algorithm optimized for texture data in addition to the general purpose LZ decompressor, both can be used in parallel to reduce the overall size of a game package. Assuming a 2:1 compression ratio, Xbox Series X delivers an effective 4.8 GB/s in I/O performance to the title, approximately 100x the I/O performance in current generation consoles. To deliver similar levels of decompression performance in software would require more than 4 Zen 2 CPU cores.

 

New DirectStorage API: Standard File I/O APIs were developed more than 30 years ago and are virtually unchanged while storage technology has made significant advancements since then. As we analyzed game data access patterns as well as the latest hardware advancements with SSD technology, we knew we needed to advance the state of the art to put more control in the hands of developers. We added a brand new DirectStorage API to the DirectX family, providing developers with fine grain control of their I/O operations empowering them to establish multiple I/O queues, prioritization and minimizing I/O latency. These direct, low level access APIs ensure developers will be able to take full advantage of the raw I/O performance afforded by the hardware, resulting in virtually eliminating load times or fast travel systems that are just that . . . fast.

 

Sampler Feedback Streaming (SFS): Sampler Feedback Streaming is a brand-new innovation built on top of all the other advancements of the Xbox Velocity Architecture. Game textures are optimized at differing levels of detail and resolution, called mipmaps, and can be used during rendering based on how close or far away an object is from the player. As an object moves closer to the player, the resolution of the texture must increase to provide the crisp detail and visuals that gamers expect. However, these larger mipmaps require a significant amount of memory compared to the lower resolution mips that can be used if the object is further away in the scene. Today, developers must load an entire mip level in memory even in cases where they may only sample a very small portion of the overall texture. Through specialized hardware added to the Xbox One X, we were able to analyze texture memory usage by the GPU and we discovered that the GPU often accesses less than 1/3 of the texture data required to be r in memory. A single scene often includes thousands of different textures resulting in a significant loss in effective memory and I/O bandwidth utilization due to inefficient usage. With this insight, we were able to create and add new capabilities to the Xbox Series X GPU which enables it to only load the sub portions of a mip level into memory, on demand, just in time for when the GPU requires the data. This innovation results in approximately 2.5x the effective I/O throughput and memory usage above and beyond the raw hardware capabilities on average. SFS provides an effective multiplier on available system memory and I/O bandwidth, resulting in significantly more memory and I/O throughput available to make your game richer and more immersive.

 

Through the massive increase in I/O throughput, hardware accelerated decompression, DirectStorage, and the significant increases in efficiency provided by Sampler Feedback Streaming, the Xbox Velocity Architecture enables the Xbox Series X to deliver effective performance well beyond the raw hardware specs, providing direct, instant, low level access to more than 100GB of game data stored on the SSD just in time for when the game requires it. These innovations will unlock new gameplay experiences and a level of depth and immersion unlike anything you have previously experienced in gaming.

 

Unlocking Next Generation Experiences

 

What does this all mean for you as a gamer? As the industry’s most creative developers and middleware companies have begun to explore these new capabilities, we expect significant innovation throughout the next generation as this revolutionary new architecture enables entirely new scenarios never before considered possible in gaming.  The Xbox Velocity Architecture provides a new level of performance and capabilities well beyond the raw specifications of the hardware itself. The Xbox Velocity Architecture fundamentally rethinks how a developer can take advantage of the hardware provided by the Xbox Series X. From entirely new rendering techniques to the virtual elimination of loading times, to larger,  more dynamic living worlds where, as a gamer, you can choose how you want to explore, we can’t be more excited by the early results we are already seeing. In addition, the Xbox Velocity Architecture has opened even more opportunities and enabled new innovations at the platform level, such as Quick Resume which enables you to instantly resume where you left off across multiple games, improving the overall gaming experience for all gamers on Xbox Series X.

 

We can’t wait for gamers around the world to get to experience these new, next generation gaming experiences on Xbox Series X this holiday and beyond. For more information on the Xbox Velocity Architecture, check out the video.

 

 

[Transient Curse]

28 minutes ago, djbhammer said:

 

Custom NVME SSD: The foundation of the Xbox Velocity Architecture is our custom, 1TB NVME SSD, delivering 2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput, more than 40x the throughput of Xbox One. Traditional SSDs used in PCs often reduce performance as thermals increase or while performing drive maintenance. The custom NVME SSD in Xbox Series X is designed for consistent, sustained performance as opposed to peak performance. Developers have a guaranteed level of I/O performance at all times and they can reliably design and optimize their games removing the barriers and constraints they have to work around today. This same level of consistent, sustained performance also applies to the Seagate Expandable Storage Card ensuring you have the exact same gameplay experience regardless of where the game resides.

 

 

This is something I'm interested in. One of the things I like about my X1 is that I've got a 4tb drive attached to it which means I have a massive library of games ready to be ignored at any given moment while I play Apex Legends and worry about the HUD getting burnt into my tv. 

 

The bit I'm interested in is can I use  the external drive connected to my xbox for games that either don't need fast I/O speeds, or that I don't care about loading quickly?

 

How much is a proprietary expandable storage card?

If the storage card is expandable, does that mean you can add more storage into it? 

[footle]

2 minutes ago, Wahwah* said:

 

This is something I'm interested in. One of the things I like about my X1 is that I've got a 4tb drive attached to it which means I have a massive library of games ready to be ignored at any given moment while I play Apex Legends and worry about the HUD getting burnt into my tv. 

 

The bit I'm interested in is can I use  the external drive connected to my xbox for games that either don't need fast I/O speeds, or that I don't care about loading quickly?

like the PS5, you can stick existing games on it, but not Series X games.

that blog does feel like damage control:

 “consistent, sustained, much faster than the raw hardware specs” etc.

[Transient Curse]

4 minutes ago, footle said:

that blog does feel like damage control:

 “consistent, sustained, much faster than the raw hardware specs” etc.

Eh, they probably have to put a response out, since the specs were revealed and the PS5 was found to be weaker in every regard aside from the SSD speed, the fanboys have been pushing that it's the most important part of a system for a while. It's a reaction to damage control some might say.

 

I saw one guy on twitter say in response "I don't know why Sony bothered putting a GPU in, given that the SSD is doing all the work" which I thought was fun. 

 

Cheers for the info, btw, I am pleased to hear it! 

[Stanley]

Do you think it will be possible to store games on a normal hard drive and then transfer them to the SSD as and when you want to play them? 

[Boozy The Clown]

Only with previous gen games.

[footle]

19 minutes ago, Boozy The Clown said:

Only with previous gen games.

Why? You think they won’t support some kind of local storage option if you don’t want to download the 80GB of COD game? America is full of metered broadband, so it’d be an odd choice.

[TehStu]

Yeah, for these new, non-trivial game sizes, they're going to need an "archive" sort of option. 

 

Details above look good, this machine is going to be bonkers. 

[Hitcher]

1 hour ago, Boozy The Clown said:

Only with previous gen games.

Why not Series X purely for storage purposes?

[Transient Curse]

21 minutes ago, Hitcher said:

Why not Series X purely for storage purposes?

It's a reasonable question, I wonder if having baffled Rllmuk's posters with the console's name, if someone at Microsoft decided that moving games from drive to drive would be a bridge too far. 

[TehStu]

You can do that now. It would be weird if they limited it for the new one. Just add a "yeah, can't actually run it from here" warning, if needed. 

[Transient Curse]

53 minutes ago, TehStu said:

You can do that now. It would be weird if they limited it for the new one. Just add a "yeah, can't actually run it from here" warning, if needed. 

Sorry, you're right,  I meant specific rules about running and playing from the external. 

 

They could put another badge on the box if the game could be run from or stored on an external drive with a rating for each machine.

 

Xbox Series X - yes no

Xbox one X no yes

Xbox one S no no

Xbox one no no 

Xbox 360 no no no

 

The sticker would be ideally 4 inches wide  

[TehStu]

I think the entire front of the case should now be a feature checklist. Cover art is DLC. 

[Super Craig]

The Wii had to copy games from the SD card to the main storage before they could run. It was done automatically and I don't see why it couldn't be the same for PS5/XSX. The only issue will be the copy times, but it's still going to be faster than a download.

[djbhammer]

8 days to go. 

[Alex W.]

2 hours ago, Super Craig said:

The Wii had to copy games from the SD card to the main storage before they could run. It was done automatically and I don't see why it couldn't be the same for PS5/XSX. The only issue will be the copy times, but it's still going to be faster than a download.

They probably have stats for the proportion of games that are played from external drives on the current gen consoles, which have been around for ages and where people have huge game collections they could run directly over USB, and have decided it’s a feature they’re in no hurry to implement. It might not be completely trivial to do depending on how the file systems on the new SSDs work and unless a lot of people would be using it right away (unlikely) they can put it off. PS4 didn’t let you use an external HDD for software until 2017, Wii SD storage support was quite late, etc.

[Pob]

I'd expect to be able to put all my XB1 and 360 games onto my existing 4Tb HDD, plug it into the Series X as soon as it's booted up, and pick up where I left off. Anything less would be shite.

[DC Lemon]

21 hours ago, rafaqat said:

 

It's a pretty ugly game cover.    Would be good to see a few more examples.

Bleurgh. Series X and Xbox One and surely Series S too when it’s officially announced.

 

Next gen is a mess.

 

[Pob]

Having separate 'Xbox Series X' and 'Xbox Series S' labels wouldn't make sense, would it? What works on one would work on the other, like XB1S and XB1X. Unless we've made false assumptions about what the XSS is or what it's called.

[HarryBizzle]

But if it only says Xbox Series X, Series S users might find it... (whisper it) confusing.

[JPL]

28 minutes ago, Pob said:

I'd expect to be able to put all my XB1 and 360 games onto my existing 4Tb HDD, plug it into the Series X as soon as it's booted up, and pick up where I left off. Anything less would be shite.

I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s going to work. You just can’t run Series X games from it. I think the only grey area is whether you can store your Series X games on a standard external when you’re not playing them.

[Clipper]

I think you have to remove Series S from the conversation at the moment. We can't exactly complain about a confusing messaging when it is regarding a platform that isn't even announced yet.

 

If @deKaywere here he'd be posting that siren gif - although that may only be allowed in the Switch thread

 

[Jg15]

I would imagine that those "optimised for series X" badges will disappear (or be made smaller) for new games released after the dust has settled around the next gen console launches. 

[SeanR]

8 hours ago, Wahwah* said:

Xbox Series X - yes no

Xbox one X no yes

Xbox one S no no

Xbox one no no 

Xbox 360 no no no

[Not Thread Owner]

23 minutes ago, Clipper said:

I think you have to remove Series S from the conversation at the moment. We can't exactly complain about a confusing messaging when it is regarding a platform that isn't even announced yet.

 

If @deKaywere here he'd be posting that siren gif - although that may only be allowed in the Switch thread