Xbox Series S [XBSS] [Release November 10 2020]

So basically you're saying that slims are off the table in 3 years, but what can MS provide in 3 years? AMD won't be sleeping this whole time. They have something planned in the same cost range no? It might not be 5nm, but there still can be some headroom on 7nm right?

Tommy McClain

 

They may just do a Sony, drop the drive and drop the cost.

If they make it much smaller who knows, but the slim is there to reduce cost more than size, they still have cost reduction options but they may differ from the norm.

 

I don't think MS will be shy in switching up to them and saving/reducing whatever costs they can with the S.

 

I think we will get a New series x and s based on navi 4. The new S would target the current series x power but with new tech. The series x would be a monster just like the current one. However I think we will still see an ultra low end machine based on navi 4 that hits that 4-6tflop performance level but is extremely small. This will target 1080p again but will try and compete with the fire tv or nvidia shield or apple tvs of the world

 

Sounds silly and overly complicated to me. Before devs even get used to series s and x they have to start working with another 2 sets of skus while stil making games for the other two? Thats 4 just with one platform alone. Whats even the point just to have marginal power increase? Just wait 5 or 6 years.

 

I will echo what Brit says but also add in this

Who cares ? Think about how big variable resolution games have become. They are just going to become more of a thing this gen.

Lets say the series s will play a game at 1080p 60fps with ray tracing. If the series s 2020 goes away in 2024 because MS put out a new series s based on navi 3/4 or whatever and its now a 8 tflop machine well with improvements it could run that same game at 4k 60fps and come in at that same $300 price point. But now going forward from that point in time the replacement console is better at ray tracing , maybe has more memory (most likely) has a faster ssd with maybe 1tb by then on the low end model . You get all the new features a 2024 zen and vega would have. You also refresh the top end console. 20TFlop navi 3/4 with faster ssd and a 2024 zen processor and any other changes made. It wouldn't be any different then a cell phone in all honesty or really last gen where we got the pro and x. Just instead of keeping the older outdated hardware base stations they also got improved. MS would most likely keep support for the series s into 2026 before it would only become an xcloud device. Or if its able to keep up maybe it would become a sub 1080p machine.

 

Developers?

https://www.thegamer.com/xbox-series-x-series-s-deve/
Extra SKUs = Extra work. That's why many developers were not happy about XSS

 

They must loath PC's then.


We are in year 7 of last gen consoles right ? Holiday 2013 ? Look at watch dogs running on base xbox one and ps4. Those are consoles that have long out stayed their welcome and they never really broke under $300. Think about that... 7 years and aside from a few black friday events they were $300 or more.

The ps5/ xbox series x aren't going to drop huge amounts in terms of price . But you know what ? You take a navi 4 and the ray tracing wont be an issue , 4k wont be an issue for games. You'll likely be able to move up to 24 gigs of ram in 2024 also. SSDs will get even faster and cheaper for higher capacity. . You'll be able to release a much more powerful console for the same price.

Look at it this way. If in 2024 I'm right and MS releases a zen 2024/ navi 2024 and it has two generations newer ray tracing , more rops , more ram and more of everything and they release it at the $300/$500 sku and sony drops the ps5 price to $300 by then and releases a ps5 pro with navi 3/4 sony will again be in a bad position. Worse if sony doesn't do a pro version


I guess we just have to wait and see.

 

...Kinda yeeks. 384 GB isn't a lot, but on the flip size, asset sizes should be a lot smaller since Series S isn't targeting 4K resolutions.

How much smaller is the question. BC Pack should definitely help with that (both on Series S and Series X).

Better RT is a lock for any mid-gen refreshes. Prob more RAM for MS (they originally wanted 20 GB for Series X after all), 2x SSD storage is a must. Dunno about more ROPs tho, that might be something more in line with a bigger architectural shift?

Hmm...I gotta get to doing those Series X and S mid-gen refresh posts in that speculation thread.

 

Don't 500GB drives 'lose' less from their stated capacity than 1TB ones.

 

If you are talking about GiB vs GB, it's proportional. When you are talking about devices with system reserves, then the real issue is the size of the reserve. If, for example, 100 GB is reserved, the 1TB drive looses 10% while the 500GB one would lose 20%

 

Yeah, wasn't sure where the trade off was with GiB vs GB in terms of pre-reserve capacity with 500GB vs 1TB. Having looked at it agree with Brit's 50GiB less for the system reserve.

 

Should have went with 192bit bus, 12GB and ~280GB/s. That would most certainly provide 1440p at similar frame rate and settings to XSX.

 

Comes down to cost in the end, especially when the extra 2GB isn't going to get much cheaper over the generation.

 

Reviews coming in.
Hopefully resetera makes a review thread soon, won't be able to keep up.
Here are some early youtubes. looks great honestly for 299. Making me rethinking cancelling it and upgrading to XSX. Ah well, my cousin will be happy with the upgrade, COD is too big a burden on the HD.

If you don't care for all the bells and whistles, this console is pretty great. The lack of storage hurts it it seems, but aside from that. It fits the description of an effective budget console.

 

I'm hoping it was due to needing to get it ready for launch and not having time to get smart delivery texture pack together for it.
So fingers crossed it gets reduced post launch.