32 PCWorld OCTOBER 2020NEWS XBOX SERIES X & S LAUNCH
also be powered by AMD chips and ultra-fast
storage (go.pcworld.com/ufst) when it
launches this holiday season.
CPU: 8x Cores @ 3.8 GHz (3.66 GHz w/
SMT) Custom Zen 2 CPU
GPU: 12 TFLOPS, 52 CUs @ 1.825 GHz
Custom RDNA 2 GPU
Die Size: 360.45 mm2
Process: 7nm Enhanced
Memory: 16 GB GDDR6 w/ 320mb bus
Memory Bandwidth: 10GB @ 560
GB/s, 6GB @ 336 GB/s
Internal Storage: 1 TB Custom NVME
SSD
I/O Throughput: 2.4 GB/s (Raw), 4.8
GB/s (Compressed, with custom hardware
decompression block)
Expandable Storage: 1 TB Expansion
Card (matches internal storage exactly)
External Storage: USB 3.2 External
HDD Support
Optical Drive: 4K UHD Blu-Ray DrivePerformance Target: 4K @ 60 FPS, Up
to 120 FPS
In a post published the day of the
announcement, Microsoft revealed more Xbox
Series S details (go.pcworld.com/xsdt) as well.
The “smallest Xbox ever” includes the same
3.6GHz AMD Ryzen CPU as its bigger brother,
along with a 512GB custom SSD powered by
Microsoft’s Xbox Velocity Architecture and an
RDNA 2-based AMD GPU that still supports
real-time ray tracing and variable rate shading.
It’s targeting 1080p and 1440p gaming
experiences at 60 frames per second, with
support for up to 120fps, thanks to this new
GPU offering 3x the performance of the one
inside the original Xbox One.
Console players aren’t the only gamers
with something to look forward to this fall.
Nvidia just revealed its next-gen GeForce RTX
30-series graphics cards (go.pcworld.
com/30sr) and they look like monsters. Better
yet, they’re swiping a trick from the next-gen
consoles by letting your
SSD talk directly to your
GPU to eradicate
game-loading times
(see page 26).
Likewise, AMD
promised that its “Big Navi”
RDNA 2-based Radeon
GPUs will launch sometime
before the next-gen
consoles, so expect to hear
The AMD chip at the heart of the Xbox Series X. more about those soon.