As part of our full review of the Xbox Series X we took a loot at all sides of Microsoft's powerful next-gen console, something that wasn't as easy as we thought it would be considering the console's cuboid shape. We also took a look underneath the hood - so to speak - to breakdown its silicon bits and bytes and what that means for the games we'll play.

Tech Talk - The New Newness

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The Xbox Series X is very much a brand-new high-end gaming console -- powered by AMD Zen-based CPU architecture and AMD’s RDNA 2 graphics. Two things that present a sizable generation leap over the VCR-sized launch-edition Xbox One and the powerful 4K-ready Xbox One X. Like the days of old, where Silicon Graphics powered Nintendo’s first foray into the world of 3D graphics, Sony dubbed the PlayStation 2 CPU the “emotion engine”, and Bill Gates and The Rock introduced the very-first DirectX Box, the Series X is full of chippy silicon goodness. Stuff that developers will make use of to power the next several years of high-end gaming.

Xbox Series X - Hardware Breakdown

CPU: 8x Cores @ 3.8 GHz (3.6 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/ 320b bus
Memory Bandwidth: 10GB @ 560 GB/s, 6GB @ 336 GB/s
Internal Storage: 1TB Custom NVME SSD
I/O Throughput: 2.4 GB/s (Raw), 4.8 GB/s
Expandable Storage: 1TB Expansion Card (matches internal storage exactly)
External Storage: USB 3.2 External HDD Support
Optical Drive: 4K UHD Blu-Ray Drive
Performance Target: 4K @ 60 FPS, Up to 120 FPS

Dealing with different architecture means like-for-like comparisons of specs aren’t exactly accurate or reflective of actual in-game performance - but the sheer power of the new Xbox Series X GPU in terms of TFLOPS puts it on par with one of AMD’s new and impressive (and still-to-be-released) Radeon RX 6000 PC graphics cards. Paired with a Zen 2 processor, faster memory, more memory, and improved bandwidth, there’s a lot about the Series X that make it feel like something of a high-end PC.

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The Xbox Series X is very much a brand-new high-end gaming console -- powered by AMD Zen-based CPU architecture and AMD’s RDNA 2 graphics. Two things that present a sizable generation leap over the VCR-sized launch-edition Xbox One and the powerful 4K-ready Xbox One X.

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Which, coming from us, is something of a compliment -- on the account of such a thing costing a lot more than what Microsoft is charging here. Not only will the Series X usher in cutting-edge (and previously PC-only) visual effects like ray-tracing over the next few months, and push the industry at large towards 4K 60fps gaming, it will also benefit from Microsoft’s own DirectX 12 Ultimate API. And with AMD recently outlining RDNA 2 features, like using the CPU to boost performance in ways that haven't been done before, there’s a lot more to the story. More than putting CU counts and GPU clock speeds in a comparison chart against the competition.

Of course raw power is a definite boon for the Series X, and with the focus on backwards compatibility and optimising games from the past; being able to tap into the power of a vastly superior CPU alone has ensured that several classic titles perform far better than they ever could on the Xbox One X.

Head Here to Check Out Our Full Xbox Series X Review