Xbox Series S Officially Announced, Launches November 10 for $299 [Update] - News

I wonder if the ONLY difference between the systems would be 1440p vs 4k or is also there will be a difference in fps, like most games on S running at 30fps while on series X they would be at 60fps

Yep the 4Tflop of Series S should be a little better than X1X in performance. And yep with GP payment plan it should do well.

Enrico, it probably will be mostly 1080p (1440p I will say only in lighter titles) and fps should be the same if the leak of similar CPU is true (I think it is) since parity on FPS is more relevant for competitive titles than resolution.

@Don got it, makes sense.

These resolution targets as measurements are even more hilarious than raw TFLOPs. The more the games advance and the newer and more demanding the rendering techniques get the less these consoles will be able to get to them. Just look at PS4 Pro. Marketed as a 4K machine only a few games hold true to that. Now with Crysis Remastered and software raytracing it doesn't even reach 1080p.

It is a console geared to that resolution and the output will be that even if internal render isn't. PS4Pro for example was marketed at reaching 4k with upscaling methods. Considering TLOU2 can be 1440p on PS4Pro Crysis not reaching 1080p on it is certainly due to inefficiencies of the dev.

@DonFerrari I mean considering Xbox One X targets 4k/60fps on many titles I think the Series S hitting 1440p/60fps is realistic with RT, especially when you bear in mind the hardware accelerated RT and the Series X CPU it has. Case in point Gears 5 on Series S was shown at 1440p/120fps, and was 4k/60fps on the One X

Not really. Because games get more and more demanding. Look at gen 8, at gen start basically all games on PS4 were 1080p, but end of gen it was quite common to have 900p games. Since Series S is 1/3 the GPU of Series X and they wont be going for over 4k on Series X then 1440p wont be achieved in the most demanding AAA titles. And by the end of gen 9 you can bet even Series X will have several games below 4k.

Hasn't the gaming industry been doing better than ever lately during the pandemic?

Yes gamers with disposable income have been able to buy and play more games because they have more time which translates to extra sales. But people at large are not better off at all, and will now more likely be in a position to afford a console at this price.

If i was tight on money i surely wouldn't waste it to buy this thing instead of spending it for my living expenses or at least some games. I would hold out on my current hardware and wait until times get better and i have saved enough money to buy a real console like the Series X or PS5 where i can play at least my older disc based library too which all in all gives me much more value for my money.

Some people have different priorities. people buying this console likely don't have 4k tv. If you don't have a 4k TV, why spend $200 extra on something you can't even use fully.

Because consoles and gens are for 6 years so cheaping out because of "I don't have 4k TV" seems a little shortsighted.

A good 4k TV can be quite an investment for some people. People that need to save up for a long time to afford a 4K TV probably can't just drop an extra $200 on a Series X just cause it makes sense.

If you want to go to that extreme it is more likely that this person won't even consider buying a new console, more likely will pay 100 or 200 at most for a second hand one with several games, and sure perhaps GP if he go for X1.

Paying $300 to get a better experience and play 'next gen' titles on the same TV > Paying $500 + the price of a 4K TV to play next gen titles to gamers on a budget.

Although this is a really good option for Switch/PS5 owners who want a second or a third console but don't want to pay the full amount for a series x.

CPU being almost the same as Series X it will do 60fps whenever Series X does (basically all type of games that this gen have been 60fps).

I hear ya, but I am considering some games may want to achieve a certain level of visual fidelity on the Series S and sacrifice performance for it. But in those scenarios, maybe an optional dynamic resolution would be nice.

@Don CPUs are more about stable FPS rather than increased FPS. The GPU is still quite important here. This is why they aim between 1440p and 1080p, less load on the GPU the more FPS you create.

@Azzabation, at 1080p you are going to be CPU bound to any modernish graphics card. It's why CPU gaming benchmarks are done at 1080p when you look at CPU reviews cause at higher resolutions you're benchmarking the GPU instead and the CPU matters less. So a Jaguar CPU at 1080p is going to get less FPS than a ZEN 2 CPU in the same system.

This should be able to pull off 1080p60fps across the board. I'd be surprised if it couldn't now that it has a good CPU. It's like a PS4Pro but not hindered by the Jaguar Cores.

I agree, it's always best to have a CPU on par with the GPU or at least close to.

@Azz I dunno where I gave the impression that it would boost fps or anything. My point was that since the CPU on Series S will be quite close to Series X (per current rumour) then it shall run similar FPS to Series X.

@Don i was just saying its not really the CPU tho it is a big improvement and definitely helps. Its more the GPU not rendering 4k and lowering to 1440p and 1080p.

I know that in this case (CPU is quite capable) the GPU is the limiting point to lower 4k to 1440 or 1080

I agree. Series S with Gamepass is going to meet a lot of gamers needs. It's easy for parents to get their head around, and the subscription deals make it even more attractive. If the credit requirements for the payment plan option aren't too strict, I can see that working for a ton of people.

yeah or an all-white version. That perforated black circle looks quite bad

I'm sure we'll get some other color options by next holiday. But, in actual use, that black circle is going to be facing upwards, not straight out at you. I think it's strange that they have shown it positioned this way in the marketing images.

The claims are that file sizes will not have to increase as much this gen, because of the solid state drives. They will not have to repeat the same item in so many locations in the file, because the drive will be able to access it from one location more easily.

I don't know that that means file sizes won't increase at all. But, it has definitely been said many times by developers that the aolid state drives decrease the amount of storage space needed for games.

Yeah I heard that too but with 4k amd 1440p graphics I think the files will be quite large. Anyway those developers and console markers say a lot of things so I don't believe until I see

I pretty sure that its like the series X where you can use a regular external HDD to store your games that you are not currently playing.

Most likely will be smaller due to texture and other stuff on lower resolution. And you'll be able to use regular HDD if you want to store more games (run from HDD for BC and transfer to SSD for nextgen), still 4 games installed at a time is quite enough for me to tell the truth. Hardly play more than 2 games concurrently.

Kinda same. I am not into the 4k. Until they get cheep 4k 32 inch TVs (IE. many years from now) anything beyond 1440p is useless. As it is I don't see a reason to get XBOX this gen for at least a few years.

You can't see 4k on a 32" TV unless you're sitting a couple of feet from it. For young people that rent a room somewhere and have TVs in that size range, this machine may make a lot of sense.

I bet its sold at a loss. I mean we are talking about a device still much more capable than the Pro and X1X. But its a risk I hoped MS would take for competitive reasons. Also, revenue will come from mandatory digital sales.

Microsoft is doing everything they can to be competitive. And this is a good thing for the industry

Sure they are and sure it is.
And yep the cost of the GPU even at 1/4 the capacity isn't 200 USD less, even with half SSD and no disc it probably lose more money than Series X but will be offset with better sales of SW on digital with no second hand market.

No. It should perform better than X1X, and be same gen as Series X.

@Shika, I don't think the specs have been confirmed yet, but rumours sure point to what you said (no mind SSD is half size, but performance wise should be the same or close, perhaps a little slower if it needs less bandwidth due to lower resolution).

Given the vast disparity in GPU power, its safe to assume the Series X will more often offer 60 fps and above.

I'm pretty sure that just like with the series X you can use a regular external HDD to store all your games. Then you can just swap the between external and internal in order to play them which is a lot faster then completely deleting them a re downloading them to play them again.