Microsoft pulled again the curtain on extra Xbox Series X specs this morning, and properly, it appears like a beast. Clocking in at a whopping 12 teraflops, the built-in Radeon graphics inside Microsoft’s next-gen console packs extra uncooked compute energy than AMD’s present discrete graphics card champion, because the Radeon RX 5700 XT tops out simply shy of 10 TFLOPS. That’s damned spectacular.
This ain’t ConsoleWorld although, so we aren’t going to dive that deeply into the most recent tease. But there’s a juicy nugget for us PC players in Microsoft’s reveal, too: Xbox chief Phil Spencer confirmed that the AMD chip powering the brand new console will deploy AMD’s RDNA2 graphics structure. RDNA2 is the successor to the first-gen “Navi” RDNA GPUs inside the present Radeon RX 5500 XT, Radeon RX 5600 XT, and Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics playing cards, and AMD CEO Lisa Su has already mentioned that RDNA2-based GPUs will hit the streets later this 12 months.
The bespoke RDNA2 graphics chip contained in the Xbox Series X most likely received’t absolutely align with what we’ll discover within the discrete graphics playing cards, however the underlying capabilities are prone to make it in.
“Variable rate shading is sort of like a supercharged version of the multi-resolution shading that Nvidia’s supported for years now. Human eyes only see the focal points of what’s in their vision at full detail; objects at the periphery or in motion aren’t as sharp. Variable rate shading takes advantage of that to shade primary objects at full resolution, but secondary objects at a lower rate, which can improve performance.”
HDMI 2.1: People had been stunned when AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 XT and its siblings launched with HDMI 2.0b quite than full-fledged HDMI 2.1. The RDNA2 show engine will improve to the most recent model, assuming the Xbox Series X’s GPU makes use of the identical one. Microsoft’s console will even assist Auto Low Latency Mode to mechanically swap to your show’s most responsive setting, in addition to Variable Refresh Rates—the expertise that AMD’s FreeSync and Nvidia’s G-Sync applied sciences are based mostly on. VRR assist within the consoles might present a giant increase for the FreeSync monitor’s ecosystem, and wind up pushing the expertise into extra televisions.
Stay tuned
While these tantalizing glimpses of what’s to come back for Radeon graphics playing cards could spark curiosity, the remainder of what’s contained in the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 could have even larger knock-on results for the PC gaming ecosystem. The next-gen consoles will pack vastly improved AMD Ryzen CPUs and quick solid-state storage, lastly bringing front room gaming on par with what we’ve been having fun with at our desks for years now. That means builders can goal extra highly effective {hardware} because the lowest frequent denominator, and a rising tide floats all boats.
There’s no query about it: 2020 is shaping as much as be a banner 12 months for players of all types.
