For the previous a number of months each Microsoft and Sony have been slowly however steadily trickling out further particulars about their forthcoming gaming consoles. And now this morning we’re getting our subsequent bit of data from Microsoft, who has launched just a few extra nuggets of data on their forthcoming Xbox Series X console.
When the console was first formally introduced on the finish of 2019, the corporate revealed that it will be utilizing AMD’s Zen 2 CPU cores, however they have been a bit cagier in regards to the GPU specs. Now the corporate has opened the door only a bit extra on these, giving us some efficiency and have info – and by and enormous confirming earlier theories about what the {hardware} would entail.
First and foremost, Microsoft is now confirming that the console’s APU is utilizing AMD’s RDNA 2 structure for the built-in GPU. Information about this structure remains to be restricted, however AMD beforehand disclosed that RDNA 2 would come with {hardware} ray tracing performance – one thing not current in RDNA (1) – and Microsoft in flip can be tapping this for his or her subsequent sport console. Microsoft, in fact, already has vital expertise with {hardware} ray tracing because of DirectX’s personal ray tracing performance (DXR), so the corporate will have the ability to hit the bottom working right here, albeit with AMD {hardware} for the primary time.
Microsoft’s announcement additionally confirms for the primary time that we’re getting Variable Rate Shading (VRS) assist. This is one other characteristic that has been supported in DirectX for a bit now (and in rivals Intel & NVIDIA’s GPUs), however isn’t presently out there in AMD’s RDNA (1) lineup. A sampling optimization of types, variable fee shading permits for the shading fee for an space of pixels to be elevated or decreased from the conventional 1:1 ratio. The internet influence is that an space will be oversampled to provide finer particulars, or undersampled to preserve sources. As the previous is extra of a distinct segment use case for VR, we’re much more more likely to see undersampling in day-to-day utilization. Especially with complicated pixel shaders, when used appropriately VRS is meant to provide builders a manner to enhance the efficiency of their video games for little-to-no perceptible influence on picture high quality.
VRS: Visually Represented (Image Courtesy NVIDIA)
Finally, so far as general GPU efficiency is anxious, Microsoft’s newest revelation lastly offers us a efficiency estimate: 12 TFLOPs. While the corporate doesn’t break this down into clockspeed versus compute models, that is none the much less twice the GPU efficiency of the Xbox One X. Or for a extra generational comparability, greater than 9x the GPU efficiency of the unique Xbox One.
Even at simply 2x the efficiency of the Xbox One X, that is by all goal measures fairly a little bit of GPU horsepower. To put issues in perspective, AMD’s present quickest RDNA-based video card, the Radeon RX 5700 XT, solely gives 10 TFLOPs of GPU efficiency. So the Xbox Series X, a tool with an built-in GPU, is slated to supply extra graphics efficiency than AMD’s present flagship video card. Which, to make sure, doesn’t imply the Xbox Series X goes to be extra highly effective than a PC (there’s no getting round the truth that AMD has been trailing NVIDIA right here), however it’s clear that Microsoft has nice ambitions for the console’s graphics efficiency.
Tangential to this, Microsoft has additionally lastly confirmed that the console will assist HDMI 2.1. This has lengthy since been a given, as the timeframe and Microsoft’s personal decision targets just about require HDMI 2.1 to start with, however none the much less we lastly have affirmation. The firm’s announcement additionally confirms that together with variable refresh fee assist (first launched on the Xbox One X), the console’s HDMI…
