Xbox series s may not be able to support the 4K like Xbox Series X, and various aspects of its specs are also decidedly inferior, but one area where it looks like that Microsoft has not been willing to make any sacrifices is the frame rate. Indeed, the Xbox team stated that the console is capable of running games at up to 120 FPS and in a clip (downloadable at the bottom of the news), published recently, he showed that it is indeed possible.
But let's go in order!
According to the officially revealed specs for the Xbox Series S, specifically the But by the full GPU acceleration tech and RAM of the console are significantly inferior to the Xbox Series X, and the developers have identified possible criticalities regarding the RAM, with many claiming that these shortcomings will lead the S Series to have (in no time at all) graphics much closer to cross-platform titles (and this could be a major headache even in the development of exclusives by first-party studios. Microsoft).
However, Gavin Stevens, co-owner and head of design of the independent studio Team Blur Games, he doesn't think it's going to be a big deal. In a lengthy and detailed review of the console's specs, Stevens explained that there are various factors to consider, including the extra work developers will have to put into scaling their Xbox Series S games.
Anyway, speaking of RAM, Stevens says that while the S-series pool is significantly lower and also has lower speeds, as the console won't run games in 4K, it won't need the same RAM as the Xbox Series X. Stevens adds that Games running at 1440p (which is what the S series was designed for) usually require around 4-8GB of VRAM, which the S series can handle, thanks to other technologies used by the console.
As for the GPU, Stevens directly addresses claims that the Xbox Series S GPU is allegedly slower than that of the Xbox One X. While on paper, 4 teraflops (S Series) vs 6 teraflops (One X) makes it look like thus, Stevens points out that while the One X GPU is built on the GCN 4 architecture, the S series uses RDNA 2, which is significantly faster than the GCN one.
“A 4tf GCN GPU would not perform close to a 2tf RDNA4 GPU,” writes Stevens. “You can't just put the numbers together like this. All areas have to be considered, such as Sample Streaming Feedback technology, IO enhancements, faster memory, ray tracing capability, etc., Xbox Series S is far superior to Xbox One X, there is no question about." However, he goes on to say that he expects Xbox Series S games to mostly hit 1080p instead of 1440p.
Interestingly, Stevens also talks about ray tracing in his tweets. While the Xbox Series S is capable of ray tracing, expect that eventually, most games will allow you to disable or even not support the feature at all due to the console's specifications.
It is a very detailed and interesting analysis and has many points that many may not have considered. There are over forty tweets about it, so obviously we won't be including all of them, but you can read the entire thread through the embedded tweet below:
Speaking specifically of one of Microsoft's biggest exclusives, Gears 5, not long ago, it was confirmed that The Coalition would introduce various improvements to the game on the Xbox Series X, including 120 FPS multiplayer. Precisely the latter should also be supported by the S series as the console would be able to reach such a high framerate without particular problems. As for other possible improvements, considering what has been said previously, there is still nothing certain and concrete.
If you want to check out the video where Gears 5 runs at 120 FPS on the S Series, you'll need to download it at the source. You can do this from here (you will also need a screen capable of supporting 120Hz).
We remind you that Xbox Series S will be launched on November 10 at a price of 299 euros together with its older sister, Xbox Series X (499 euros). Pre-orders for both will be available starting September 22nd.
