Xbox Series X GPU power & features confirmed by Microsoft

It only happens once every few years. I'm not talking about an extra day in February or an election, of course, but rather the release of new consoles. Both Microsoft and Sony have new systems coming this fall, and we can expect both companies to leak information about them throughout the year. This week, Microsoft revealed information about its Xbox Series X console for us to chew on. Some of this we already know; Microsoft is simply confirming some of this officially.

Xbox Series X: 12 Teraflops Confirmed

Microsoft confirmed once again that the console will use AMD hardware with Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures. The system will offer 12 TFLOPS of graphics processing, Microsoft has confirmed. While it's definitely not 1:1, that puts the Xbox Series X somewhere between Nvidia's 2080 and 2080 Ti in terms of raw power. That's considerable power for a system that many are estimating to retail for somewhere around $500.

Alongside that, Microsoft mentioned a few previously-known features. The system will offer variable-rate shading and hardware-accelerated raytracing on the graphics side. HDMI 2.1 and support for 120FPS framerates will bolster those on the video side. Meanwhile, fast SSD storage and Display Latency Input should both make for a smoother experience overall.

Microsoft also confirmed a feature that Xbox execs had only mentioned in interviews called Quick Resume. This feature will let you continue multiple games from a suspended state "almost instantly."

Everything Old is New Again

One new feature the company talked about links up well with the Xbox Series X's focus on backward compatibility. Microsoft reiterated that all Xbox One games will be playable on the system along with any backward-compatible Xbox 360 and Xbox games. They'll offer "steadier framerates, faster load times, and improved resolution and visual fidelity" with "no developer work required." Xbox One accessories will be compatible with the Xbox Series X, too, in case you picked up that Series 2 Elite controller.

Microsoft calls the new feature Smart Delivery. If a game offers generation-specific features, your system will download the version of the game designed for that system; you won't be playing Xbox One Halo Infinite on Xbox Series X, in other words. Microsoft is committed to using the feature on all Xbox Game Studios titles but says it wants other developers to use it, too.

This particular feature won't be noticeable to you while using the system, but that's kind of the point. Microsoft wants the experience to be seamless.

This is good for PC gamers

As PC gamers, all of this matters to us because it raises the base for what we can expect from PC games. PCs will always outperform consoles. But more powerful consoles means that multi-platform games will start using more advanced graphical features and features that require more RAM and processing power. In other words, even if you don't hold consoles in high regard, you'll see direct benefits from this as a PC gamer.

Microsoft hasn't set a release date for the Xbox Series X, but we're putting our money on early November.

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