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Xbox Project Scorpio's Full Specs Revealed (eurogamer.net)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Microsoft unveiled last year that it will be launching a super-specced Xbox One variant -- codenamed Project Scorpio -- soon. Now the company has shared what those hardware modules look like. According to a report on Eurogamer, which visited Microsoft campus at the company's invitation, the specs of Project Scorpio are:

1. Project Scorpio has 12GB of DDR5 RAM, clocked at 6.8GHz with 326 GB/s bandwidth.
2. Scorpio will be powered by eight CPU cores. It's a custom design sporting 2.3GHz, with a 4MB L2 cache.
3. Project Scorpio will feature an internal PSU (245W) and a compact design, leveraging the advanced cooling techniques pioneered by Microsoft's leading industrial design team.
4. Project Scorpio will achieve six-teraflops of GPU power using a customized design, with 1.172 GHz, 40 compute units, leveraging features from AMD's Polaris architecture.
5. Scorpio will retain the Xbox One S 4K UHD Blu-ray drive.
6. Scorpio will have both HDMI-in and out, 3x USB 3.0, a SPDIF digital audio port, an IR receiver/blaster, and will support Kinect with a USB adapter.

From the report: We saw a Forza Motorsport demo running on the machine at native 4K and Xbox One equivalent settings, and it hit 60 frames per second with a substantial performance overhead -- suggesting Scorpio will hit its native 4K target across a range of content, with power to spare to spend on other visual improvements. And while 4K is the target, Microsoft is paying attention to 1080p users, promising that all modes will be available to them.

135 comments

  1. Obsolete on Day Zero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    VR headsets coming out later this year will consist of, at minimum, 4K rolling at 120fps. 60fps is too vomit inducing for VR.

    Xbox Day One Fail.

    1. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by Wootery · · Score: 1

      I guess they only have to do better than the PS4 Pro.

    2. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by Higaran · · Score: 2

      VR is a fad at best, no one will care in a few years, MS is pushing AR anyway, just look at the hololens,

    3. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, just got back from GDC. You couldn't be more wrong. VR is AMAZING! It's gen 1 and clunky still but it's making games wonderful and new again. VR is far from a fad. It's total immersion!

      AR is also going to be huge. There is a place for both.

    4. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by HumanWiki · · Score: 1

      AR and VR are different.. There are a multitude of games and movies you're not going to want to play or watch in AR. You'd fully break the immersion.

    5. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      unless you're an emetophile, in which case you'll be lining up for this.

    6. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      I'm not so sure about this. People do like the idea of "really" being in a game. Yes, the current models are mostly overpriced toys, and the games that you get for them are glorified tech demos that rehash the same idea over and over and over, but the technology is already pretty advanced and the computing power is there to make it work and it is actually more entertaining than frustrating already.

      It's one of the few times when a technology hit the market when it was actually at least mostly ready. Next gen will already be the one that is "there".

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Phusion · · Score: 1

      I'm very glad to hear you say that, as I disagreed with his comment, but I haven't tried any VR yet. I'm not near anywhere that would demo them and they are far too expensive for me to buy, despite my decent gaming rig. I'm excited for the next iterations though... it's what we've been waiting for since the Virtual Boy :P

      --
      640k ought to be enough for anyone.
    8. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Higaran · · Score: 1

      Ok, let me tell you about 3D TV's they are totally going to be the next big thing, every game and movie you buy will pop out of the screen.

    9. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by NoZart · · Score: 1

      No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

    10. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      VR dev checking in. Its absolutely not a fad. I use my holodeck every day. I have both the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift installed for Room-Scale gaming. It might not be the all-out replacement for gaming some think it is, but its definitely not going away. It will see wide use in arcades, architecture visualization etc. The tracking tech itself will go on to see use in many industries. Think Lighthouse guided Roombas, etc.

      --
      Good-bye
    11. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Colourspace · · Score: 1

      With your future as a (seemingly) keen VR dev being determined by the success of VR as a whole, do you not have more than just a bit of bias here?

    12. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      IM deeply interested in moving computing and interactive environments into the 'real world'. VR/AR is a pathway to that dream. Sure i might be biased, but im also honest and will happily list VRs shortcomings. Its EXPENSIVE, its clunky to get up and running and the software is all alpha/beta. Its all new territory so we are making up 'languages' as we go along. Its very much like the early days of PC. I got into it knowing it wont even really fully flower until at least 2020. Regardless of whether i was into VR or not, i would still be interested in the tracking systems they brought about, as a hobbyist.

      --
      Good-bye
    13. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by ogdenk · · Score: 2

      It's gen 1 and clunky still but it's making games wonderful and new again. VR is far from a fad. It's total immersion!

      AR is also going to be huge. There is a place for both.

      Gen1?! More like Gen3. I have a set of VirtualIO iGlasses from the 90's. The resolution sucked but PC's of the day couldn't spit out 1024x768 @ 30fps with all the detail cranked much less 1080p. VR has been around a long time, the tech is just now catching up with the dream at a price mere mortals can afford.

      As for AR, I don't see it being incredibly useful for gaming other than cheesy ass find-the-pokemon style bullshit or AR chess. As a tool it could be neat for CAD and such and I can see some industrial use cases.

      What's annoying is the fact that the coolest use for VR would be flight and space sims but nobody has bothered updating their engines to deal with it and took shortcuts that cause issues with things like TriDef3D drivers, etc. I'd love to play the IL2 and Rise of Flight series with VR and headtracking, I don't care about the motion sickness.

    14. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok let me tell you about 3D games they are totally going to be the next big thing

    15. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by iMadeGhostzilla · · Score: 1

      I wish it were true but as far as I can remember every tech platform that ended up being successful had a "killer app" in its targeted niche by the time it was first released. PC, Internet, PS/Xbox, mp3 players, iPhone 1... The killer app was what was *driving* the development of the platform. VR doesn't seem to have one though. It's not games, and I don't know what is. Some people say porn was the driver of most tech so will do the same for VR, but I don't see people clamoring for VR porn yet. It's almost as the killer app for VR is being a plot device in SciFi stories, and the VR was developed with those stories in mind. But you don't need hardware for that, in fact as a SciFi writer you don't want it to ever be developed. :-)

    16. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by farble1670 · · Score: 1

      VR dev checking in.

      You seem to be implying that makes you have some sort of inside knowledge, but it's quite the opposite. How subjective are you to how normal people view and perceive VR when it's your job day in and out?

      It will see wide use in arcades, architecture visualization etc. The tracking tech itself will go on to see use in many industries. Think Lighthouse guided Roombas, etc

      So everything other than the use case we are discussing here: console gaming?

    17. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by gameboyhippo · · Score: 1

      There are practical uses to VR that will take it mainstream. Today, I use VR to help me figure out directions to new routes by virtually driving those routes. It helps me to know what lane to be in, etc...

    18. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is it obsolete? What console is better than this? Yes, there are better processors on the planet and better video cards but that doesn't make it Obsolete.
      You can almost always buy something better with more money. Doesn't mean everything less than a 1500 dollar video card is "obsolete".

    19. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by rjstanford · · Score: 1

      It's one of the few times when a technology hit the market when it was actually at least mostly ready.

      This technology has been hitting the market badly for a couple of decades now. What's astonishing is that people have persisted as many, many companies have gone under until now, when the market is indeed mostly ready.

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
    20. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Thomas+Charron · · Score: 1

      Not to burst your bubble, but.. People didn't want 3d in their TVs with basic glasses. What makes you think they want it in their living room with whole head helmets?

          I agree that it IS amazing. But the technology has been available for years in the arcades. The arcades that have survived? Are generally full of pinball machines.

          I remember the Battletech themed arcades. I have to remember them since, they're mostly gone and dead.

      --
      -- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
    21. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about AR puzzles and jigsaws etc. I can see those being pretty good.

    22. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by ogdenk · · Score: 1

      I'm not going to go through the effort of throwing on $800 headgear to play a jigsaw puzzle game. Dollar general has the real thing for $1.50.

      Dollar general does NOT have a Messerschmidt Bf109 I can strafe Russians in for $1.50 so a Rift is probably as close as I'll get.

    23. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Pseudonym · · Score: 1

      I use my holodeck every day.

      Or, to put it another way: You don't live in the city, you have a software developer's income, and you have no kids.

      It's either that or rich parents.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    24. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by spire3661 · · Score: 1

      You arent bursting anything. If all future development on VR stopped right now, i would still be very happy where are with the tech. I have two working headsets and all the development tools needed to create my own environments. I dont care about mass adoption other than how it affects the economies of scale. As far as the arcade thing, there is strong interest in the market for it. A good chunk of HTC Vives sold are for the arcade market overseas.

      I dont really know what the point of your post is. I didnt make any grand promises of how VR will conquer all interfaces. I said i liked it, that the tech is impressive and it will proliferate one way or another through both consumer and industrial uses. I lived through the death of arcade in the 80s. Hell i had a full-size Asteroids machine in my bedroom in 1984 that i picked up after the crash for $100.

      --
      Good-bye
    25. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by Namarrgon · · Score: 1

      VR & AR are like desktops vs mobile. In theory AR can do everything VR can do, and do it while you're out interacting the world, but while VR is tethered and physically isolating, it's also FAR better at providing many kinds of experiences, those where isolation doesn't matter or is actually a benefit. Just like how mobiles are popular and useful, but there's a lot they don't do well, and desktops remain vital for a lot of tasks.

      --
      Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
    26. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Monkey · · Score: 1

      I remember playing Heretic on a 90's VR set up. Maybe I'm weak, but that shit made me want to barf after 5 minutes and I haven't considered VR since. Do modern VR systems still induce motion sickness?

    27. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      I think the big difference is that this time the equipment is actually affordable and consumer-ready. We're talking about a few 100 bucks for the hardware and you don't need a master's degree in computer science to set it up.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    28. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Raenex · · Score: 1

      I don't care about the motion sickness

      Huh. It's the number one reason I wouldn't pick up a VR headset at this time.

    29. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by Raenex · · Score: 1

      the technology is already pretty advanced and the computing power is there to make it work [..] Next gen will already be the one that is "there".

      The number one limiting factor with VR is motion sickness and the fact that your body does not experience the motion presented on screen. Solving this would require some sort of at home motion device, and the whole thing just seems too bulky and impractical for widespread adoption.

      VR will be "there" when we've got neural implants and a connecting socket on the back of our heads.

    30. Re:Obsolete on Day Zero by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      It's not that bad, what really causes most motion sickness is lateral movement. As soon as you're moving to the side or spinning, things get ugly. If that can be limited or eliminated, the effects on most people aren't too bad.

      What you can do so far is work around it. Either create a game where you are stationary (i.e. a single room scenario, with the VR room being, in size and borders, identical with the room you actually are in), or by making games where you "jump" from one location to the other, i.e. the way it basically is today. I do think especially in the former area there is lots of room for development if you do it creatively. You can even go from room to room if you "reverse" the orientation of the rooms when you go through VR doors (i.e. you go in your real room to the left, and at the end of your real room you step through the VR door into the next VR room where you are at the wall again, with the room you just left being virtually on the other side of the "edge" of your real room. Think of it like stepping through the mirror).

      We will have to work on this, of course, and until we have "true" holodecks we'll have to adapt to the limitations of the tools we use. We got used to using a mouse as input device, and keyboards to move our characters around, and we learned to control sprites with D-Pads. This is a lot closer to what we'd consider "natural" control.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    31. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by ogdenk · · Score: 1

      It will always be an issue with certain games. If you "see" yourself moving but you really aren't, you can experience motion sickness. No bumps in frame rates or detail will ever fix that.

      It was never a big deal to me, even with 90's era VR HMDs. I never really got sick. Some people will lose their lunch quick but those people can't deal with 3D movies for any length of time either. Sometimes certain types of tech aren't for everyone. It doesn't have to be for everyone though. A product doesn't have to move a billion units to be worth getting or investing in.

      Try one out, if it works for you and you enjoy it, buy it.

    32. Re: Obsolete on Day Zero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The CPU uses an old design based on 28nm, that being said it's a cheap eight core that you can find bellow $100, don't get fooled for 8 core thing.

  2. 1080P 'modes'? by Wootery · · Score: 0

    Microsoft is paying attention to 1080p users, promising that all modes will be available to them.

    Meaning what?

    Also, 6.8GHz on the RAM? Goddamn.

    1. Re:1080P 'modes'? by klingens · · Score: 5, Informative

      That's GDDR5 so it will be counted as quadpumped. In reality it's 1700MHz, slightly slower than a 170€ RX 470 right now. At the stated throughput it's 384bit wide which is fairly obvious with 12GB of RAM.
      40CUs with Polaris CUs means 8 more than a RX 470, but it only has "some Polaris features", not all apparently, no real Polaris level GPU then. RX470 has 4960 GFLOPS with 1206MHz clock, so this one will be clocked at ~1150 or less to be able to reach 6000 GFLOPS (they like to add in the few GFLOPS of the CPU cores to inflate the numbers). A RX 480 you can buy off the shelf usually reaches 6000 GFLOPS too.
      The CPU seems to be the same higher clocked Jaguar core, same cores just with more L2 cache than before.

      So: the original XBox One was a Kabini 8 Core with a DDR3 crippled Radeon 7850, the new one is a tweaked Kabini with a beefier RX 480 videocard and finally decent RAM for its purpose.

    2. Re:1080P 'modes'? by ilguido · · Score: 1

      So: the original XBox One was a Kabini 8 Core with a DDR3 crippled Radeon 7850, the new one is a tweaked Kabini with a beefier RX 480 videocard and finally decent RAM for its purpose.

      Xbox One GPU is a DDR3 crippled 7750-7770. It was the original PS4 that had a 7850-7870.

    3. Re:1080P 'modes'? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Unless AMD is very quick with implementing DDR5... But it seem weird and I assume they mean GDDR 5 too.

      A lower clocked Ryzen 7 1700 with RX 480 would cost ~$500 right now and then there's everything else so a good deal.

      Weird PCs doesn't do better with multi-core designs considering how the consoles are speced.

    4. Re:1080P 'modes'? by RogueyWon · · Score: 0

      Having read the Eurogamer/Digital Foundry articles, the quote you pick out appears to mean that users with 1080p displays will be able to enable supersampling, where the console renders an image at 4k but then displays it over a 1080p output.

      It's basically a very, very resource heavy version of antialiasing and has been available in many PC games for years now.

    5. Re:1080P 'modes'? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Console game developers fit their games to consoles to a much greater extent than PC software devs target specific architectures. General purpose computing is hardly general if developers were required to do that.

    6. Re:1080P 'modes'? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      But they need to utilize 8 threads on the consoles anyway. Or well, not if the OS reserves some for itself.

    7. Re:1080P 'modes'? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They will totally use DX12 over there which scaled up to 6 cores last I checked (there was some weird bug that happened when you went to 7 so they blocked it).

    8. Re:1080P 'modes'? by Wootery · · Score: 1

      That's GDDR5 so it will be counted as quadpumped. In reality it's 1700MHz

      Ah, of course. Thanks.

  3. Ok... by NormanHaga2580 · · Score: -1

    So Microsoft will be using a down clocked Nvidia 108 Ti. Anything new?

    1. Re:Ok... by Wootery · · Score: 2

      What? The CPU and GPU are both by AMD, as with the original Xbox One.

    2. Re:Ok... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Norman Haga is a known OS2/Warp shill. He takes any and all opportunities to bash Microsoft and Windows NT.

    3. Re:Ok... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhm yea.. It's not a Nvidia GPU at all.. read again.

    4. Re:Ok... by NormanHaga2580 · · Score: -1, Troll

      Then it ain't happening. AMD does not have that kind of firepower.

    5. Re:Ok... by NormanHaga2580 · · Score: -1, Redundant

      Glad you know so much about me. But your ASSumption is wrong. You would have been better off saying that I do not game and have no use for gaming consoles.

    6. Re:Ok... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it doesn't run systemd, I'm not interested.

    7. Re:Ok... by NormanHaga2580 · · Score: 0

      I did. The I went to Wikipedia since I am not familiar with the Jaguar architecture: "The AMD Jaguar Family 16h is a low-power microarchitecture designed by AMD, and used in APUs succeeding the Bobcat Family microarchitecture in 2013 and being succeeded by AMD's Puma architecture in 2014" It just ain't happening. Not the specs they give.

    8. Re:Ok... by InvalidsYnc · · Score: 2

      Then why comment on this story?

    9. Re:Ok... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because I felt like it. Any other immaterial questions? Now if you want the real answer, it is because to the best of my knowledge at the time, NVidia is the only GPU manufacturer that offers 12 GB ram, and the numbers seemed funky for the 1080 Ti.

    10. Re: Ok... by ralphsiegler · · Score: 1

      It can but then does 640x480 8 bit color at 4 fps and restarts the rendering module for anything needing more than 16 separate colors.

    11. Re:Ok... by farble1670 · · Score: 1

      But your ASSumption is wrong.

      Oh I see what you did there! What are you like 6 years old?

    12. Re: Ok... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean 256 separate colors?

    13. Re:Ok... by Wootery · · Score: 1

      What? Why?

      They delivered on the Gamecube and the Xbox 360 back when they were ATi, they delivered on the Xbox One and the PS4... I'm not seeing a reason to assume they're going to screw up the Scorpio, other than a pre-existing personal dislike of AMD.

    14. Re:Ok... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      actually, the best thing to say is you have some kind of a mild autism thing going on and forgot to take your pills. you're also one of those who thinks they're super smart by always comparing himself to the stupid masses instead of his peers, among whom you are below average. the result is you say sharp sarcastic things that are completely idiotic, and everyone just laughs. i'm also going to guess you are quite a bit on the ugly side.

      spending 10 seconds reading the summary tells me a new console is coming out using amd video and ddr5 ram that's not available yet. you say it's made by intel because amd 'doesn't have the horsepower'

      you're a fucking moron. not compared to the mexican busboy who uses his phone as a computer. compared to people here. have I mentioned I'm pretty sure you're very unattractive?

    15. Re:Ok... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm pretty sure it's Autism that made you feel like it. You know nothing about the subject, so you make a sarcastic remark that shows that complete lack of knowledge.

      The question as to why some retard jumps in and attempts to make fun of a subject matter he knows nothing about is immaterial? Well, if it was, it was asked because the guy asking it felt like it.

      Of course, to us non-pill-poppers you're just a moron, you comment is immaterial, and the question is right on point. Let me give you an example, since you won't understand. Would you go into an auto-shop where you're not getting your car fixed and sarcastically tell the buy changing the oil that he's using the wrong color brake fluid? Of course you don't. That would mean leaving your house - you autistic ugly freak.

  4. well, can't wait by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can't wait to replace my PS4 C-chassis series with the equivallent PS? from the same timeframe as the Scorpio ;-)

  5. XBOX 2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OMFG have you seen the Xbox 2 trailer it's like slow and it's telling you all the stuff you did in the first one then the music kicks in and and the chief comes out and gets a gun the earf is on fire and chief is like fuck this im jumping and HE JUMPS PUT OF TEH SPACESHIP with angels singing and he lands on the bad guys and that annoying ai lady is like GO GET EM TIGER! WILDCAT IS ON TEH SPOKE!!!~`1 and theres less polys but rawkin bumb mappings you can view this on a special MICROSOFT xbox disk that comes with EB games store.

  6. 12GB over how many channels? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    12GB over how many channels?

    1. Re:12GB over how many channels? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      Dual Channel gives less than a 5% performance increase over single-channel RAM. It's almost always better to skip the DC kit in favor of just more RAM.

      --
      Support my political activism on Patreon.
  7. Um... by flopsquad · · Score: 1

    4. Project Scorpio will achieve six-teraflops of GPU power using a customized design, with 1,172 GHz, 40 compute units, leveraging features from AMD's Polaris architecture.

    Can someone who does GPU architecture confirm whether this is a) a typo, b) for real, or c) proof that Microsoft has finally invented a time machine, but is using it to do some oddly mundane shit?**

    **Compared to, you know, going back and killing Hitler or snapping a selfie with Actual Jesus.

    --
    Nothing posted to /. has ever been legal advice, including this.
    1. Re:Um... by Higaran · · Score: 1

      It's probably 1.172 GHZ, the europeans are funkey with their commas

    2. Re:Um... by brambus · · Score: 1

      See countries using decimal comma.

    3. Re:Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, I'm a GPU engineer and what you may find after careful analysis is that it's "1.172 Ghz" as those two keys are very close to each other.

      Eats, shoots and leaves.

    4. Re:Um... by smallfries · · Score: 1

      More likely it is in the euro-version of the metric system, you may read it (in your best Imperial Units voice) as 1.172Ghz.

      --
      Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
    5. Re:Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eurogamer is English, who use period/dots long before the US had white people.

    6. Re:Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looks like European-style decimal notation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... However, United Kingdom (where eurogamer.net is located) seems to use US-style. I guess Brexit has already been implemented in Wikipedia.

    7. Re:Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't get it. What's wrong with a GPU running at 1,172 GHz? That's basically the same clock speed as an AMD Radeon RX 480 from a year ago.

    8. Re:Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      England changed to dots in 1968

    9. Re:Um... by KlomDark · · Score: 1

      1.21 Gigawatts, Great Scott!!

    10. Re: Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Found the panda bear that escaped last week. ;)
      xD

    11. Re:Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jigawatts, not gigawatts.

    12. Re:Um... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it was 1172 GHz, marketing would hype the shit out of being above 1 THz. They're not, so it's 1.172. :)

    13. Re:Um... by GuB-42 · · Score: 1

      Commas don't have their place in numbers, they can mean too many things.
      - Decimal point in some countries
      - Digit group in some other countries
      - Separator between numbers
      - Their usual meaning in a sentence

      It can often be deduced from the context but there are cases like that where it is not obvious. It is worse when software is involved.

  8. redundant release? by computerchimp · · Score: 1

    Hopefully the new Xbox will be less redundant than the including "Scorpio" in each one of the OPs specification points 1-6

    The only informative part of this news is Forza does 60fps.

    What about what really counts? VR performance.

  9. Where the hacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not buying a current gen console until they're hacked to play pirated games like with the XK3Y for the Xbox360.
    Way too much money otherwise.

    1. Re:Where the hacks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Nobody cares what welfare bums do.

  10. solar panels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    just think, people need more electricity now for their video gaming than they do for every other thing they do

    1. Re:solar panels by Wootery · · Score: 1

      Not even close, no.

      Anyway, 245W is pretty damn low by gaming machine standards.

    2. Re:solar panels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      This thing requires a 245 watt power supply. Wonder how many global-warming-alarmist progressives will get these things.

  11. Again? by kurkosdr · · Score: -1

    Yup, Microsoft pulled the same trick as they did to Original Xbox owners again. Aka, announce a console, then after a short period of time announce a second console, radically different and hence by definition incompatible. At least the PS4 is supposed to be compatible with the PS4 Pro, albeit with worse graphics. There is no way this "Scorpio" thing is compatible with the Xbox One, and probably not even with the Xbox One S which was launched very recently, not in any meaningful way. And we all know where AAA developer will steer towards. I almost expected the Xbox team to pull this trick again, glad I didn't fall for it again.

    1. Re:Again? by Shrubbman · · Score: 1

      Yup, Microsoft pulled the same trick as they did to Original Xbox owners again. Aka, announce a console, then after a short period of time announce a second console, radically different and hence by definition incompatible.

      Dude, despite the significant upgrades in hardware it's still ultimately just a bunch of x86 CPU cores paired with DirectX compatible graphics running the same OS. It's being presented as a mid-gen upgrade with 100% backwards compatibility, with custom profiles being generated for each and every existing game to ensure that compatibility. No, it is nothing like the Xbox 360 launch.

    2. Re:Again? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      There was a time when you paid $200 to get a console because it was $200 and games worked. You could play games on PC, except you had to futz around with autoexec.bat and config.sys to exclude drivers so you had 770k of conventional RAM or DOOM wouldn't run. Eventually, you could play games on PC, but the games cost $60 and you had to spend $400 on upgrading your video card every 4-6 months, so you spent a lot just to play games. $200 for a 10-watt console playing $20-$50 games for the next 3-5 years was just good sense: it worked and it didn't cost assloads for non-game bits all the time.

      Now you spend $400 on a console that has 6 separate models, so your version might not play the game without long-ass load times. Then they release a new revision of the console, so you have to spend $600 more for the new one. Then they make it modular, so you have to keep buying RAM and GPU modules to upgrade for $200 every several months. The console also eats 245W of power, so playing for 4 hours per day is like an extra 15% on your electricity bill. Then the console idles at 30W all the time, and kicks on full-power for about 20 hours per week to download updates, and it ends up costing you $12/month just to have it.

      People talk about hardware and not about games.

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    3. Re:Again? by InvalidsYnc · · Score: 1

      ... except you had to futz around with autoexec.bat and config.sys to exclude drivers so you had 770k of conventional RAM or DOOM wouldn't run...

       
      Holy Crap flashback Batman! I sadly remember these times, lots of people won't. We're so retro...

    4. Re:Again? by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      I don't know that its quite as a bad as all that yet but I agree with your point. The big draw with consoles is they just worked and the life cycles were fairly long.

      You did not bring a game home and find out it runs terribly on your video card and you need a better one despite what the system requirements state. You don't install an updated video driver to make your latest game work, and find out you now get weird glitch black boxes in the menus when you run your old favorites.

      What was great about consoles is you just pealed off the shrink wrap and started enjoying. No setup, not fuss, no frustration. Even if it was never quite as pretty as the PC version. They are literally destroying the value of the console for me. As much fuss over versions, free disk space, addons, DLC, required internet connections, updates, etc; I could just go back to gaming on the PC or laptop I need anyway and skip the console.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    5. Re:Again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they make intigrated low end computers to compete with computers... there is no console anymore grandpa

    6. Re:Again? by kuzb · · Score: 1

      If you think the two are "incompatible" then you need to stop talking.

      --
      BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
    7. Re:Again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I pay $300 for a console to play games that work because I refuse to use Windows past XP. I still play STEAM and GOG games on my Linux box, but for primarily "AAA" titles, I use my PS4.

      Consoles are still great (well, except for MS and its "Windowsesque" box) for those of us who loathe Microsoft spyware.

    8. Re:Again? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      radically different and hence by definition incompatible

      What the hell are you talking about. There's nothing by definition incompatible in those specs. In fact if anything if you have been paying attention to anything Microsoft has done in the past 4 years you'd realise that there is nothing incompatible in the xbox world anymore. Write once run anywhere programs in the brave new Unified Windows Platform.

    9. Re:Again? by farble1670 · · Score: 1

      Now you spend $400 on a console that has 6 separate models

      2 models.

      your version might not play the game without long-ass load times

      No evidence of that.

      so you have to spend $600 more for the new one

      They have not released the price of Scorpio. I doubt it'll be $600. And if you are happy with your current console running 1080p60, great.

      Then they make it modular, so you have to keep buying RAM and GPU modules to upgrade for $200 every several months.

      No, they aren't doing that.

      The console also eats 245W of power, so playing for 4 hours per day is like an extra 15% on your electricity bill.

      That's the console's fault? If you want better performance, the power requirement is higher. If you don't, stick with a lesser performing console. P.S., 245W is very reasonable for a gaming setup.

      Then the console idles at 30W all the time

      Try turning it off.

    10. Re:Again? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      2 models.

      XBox 360, XBox 360 Elite, XBox 360 Arcade, XBox 360 S [250/4/320]GB models, XBox 360 Pro, XBox 360 Super Elite, XBox 360 Core. The Arcade has 256MB or 512MB of on-board memory; some models don't handle HDMI; and the low-storage models have to read from disc which, for some games, takes a minute or two to load large sets of assets instead of 10-15 seconds from hard drive.

      That's the console's fault? If you want better performance, the power requirement is higher.

      The Switch eats under 20 watts. The Wii U eats under 10 watts at full load. The Playstation 3 uses 170+ watts to play a movie. All of these consoles had the same resolution output and FPS within their generation as competitors. The Nintendo consoles tend to be more Japanese-centric, and target less photorealism via the use of brighter colors; that's not to say they haven't gone that route on the Wii U, although Playstation 3 titles used more-detailed textures instead of largely-airbrushed stuff. The production difference to accomplish the same visual style is minor; the technical capability is close, although the PS3 will be able to do more real-time lighting and shader effects than the Wii U, among other things.

      What's left is basically gameplay. The games work on either console; one just works while eating a shitload of electricity. Some consoles overheat to the point of backing out their GPUs.

      Try turning it off.

      You mean unplugging it? "Off" on modern consoles means "talk to the Internet to get alerts and updates, and install things in the background." Even the damned Switch consumes 9 watts when powered off. The Wii U consumes 0.4 watts while off; the XBox One consumes 12.9W; the XBox 360 (Wii U generation) consumed nearly 3 watts. That means the XBox One actually consumes more power than a Wii U under full load when the console is "turned off"; and Nintendo decided this was okay with the Switch since nobody complained to Sony and Microsoft.

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  12. Consoles Suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    ...gimme a good PC, Mouse and keyboard any day.

  13. CPU architecture by kd8bny · · Score: 1

    Please do tell me about this custom CPU.... Are we talking custom core desgin.. but stays true to the x86-64 instruction set? Otherwise I hear backwards compat complaints again

    1. Re:CPU architecture by Wootery · · Score: 1

      Even if it adds instructions, so what? A game targetting both platforms would need to be developed with both platforms in mind.

    2. Re:CPU architecture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that's where compilers come in...

    3. Re:CPU architecture by Altrag · · Score: 1

      Backwards compatibility is for looking backwards. Its not about new games that can (and almost certainly would be) be cross-compiled, its about old games and not having to keep two consoles taking up space and standby power if it can be done by one and so on.

      If they're purely adding instructions then that's almost certainly not a problem. But if they're removing or changing existing instructions, then all old games would have at least a chance of failing (how big a chance depends on which instructions and frequency of use and such things of course.)

      Similarly if they're just speeding the CPU up or adding extra threads, probably fine (I hope there's no modern games out there that use busy-loop timing! That kind of went out of fashion in the mid-90s!) But slowing it down (even if you up-power the GPU for example) or removing threads could cause compatibility issues and so on.

    4. Re:CPU architecture by Wootery · · Score: 1

      Oh, right. I think the probability of them removing instructions is close to nil.

      I hope there's no modern games out there that use busy-loop timing

      Agreed it's not likely. The Xbox One S had a slightly greater GPU clock-speed, so non-uniformity in the Xbox One platform isn't totally new.

  14. DDR5? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Project Scorpio has 12GB of DDR5 RAM, clocked at 6.8GHz with 326 GB/s bandwidth.

    Unless they're planning to wait a few more years before they start manufacturing these, I presume that was meant to be either DDR4 or GDDR5.

    1. Re:DDR5? by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Yeah, the summary got it wrong. It's GDDR5, which, as you were getting at, isn't at all the same thing as DDR5.

  15. I'm just here... by Thelasko · · Score: 1

    ...for the Hank Scorpio jokes. I'm leaving disappointed.

    If you need me, I'll be in my hammock.

    --
    One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
  16. All this useless preening for 4K by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most people will not see a 4K display until 2025.

    1. Re:All this useless preening for 4K by KlomDark · · Score: 1

      Dafuq? Costco has 40" 4K TVs for $289. Bought one to use as a computer monitor, it's insane! They are getting cheap.

    2. Re:All this useless preening for 4K by Higaran · · Score: 1

      Yes, the price difference is nothing now, some times its cheaper to get last years 4k tv vers this years 1080 one.

  17. Oculus/Vive/VR? by ToPAz3in6 · · Score: 1

    Will it support 3rd party hardware? Lots of VR headsets are coming. Microsoft promises support in Windows. How will they manage the drivers in a console?

    --
    Just drop acid, already, and invent something better... or quit your whining.
  18. pioneered by Microsoft's leading industrial design by phayes · · Score: 0

    Supposedly, It will have "the advanced cooling techniques pioneered by Microsoft's leading industrial design team.".

    Would be the industrial design team responsible for the Metro Interface? The design team responsible for the insufficient cooling on the Xbox360 that gave birth to the infamous RRODs? Perhaps the design team that thought that huge, hot power bricks were a good idea?

    I'm far from favourably impressed by Microsoft's Design teams.

    --
    Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
  19. Re:pioneered by Microsoft's leading industrial des by InvalidsYnc · · Score: 1

    Hardware... Software... Totally the same, I see why you might be confused (my sarcasm filter is broken today, so it doesn't register for me. So sad)

  20. Wake me when it's shipping by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    It's Microsoft we're talking about here. MS is notorious for promising vaporware so people wait for its product and don't buy an already existing one on the promise that Really Soon Now (tm) they can buy the MS equivalent.

    I'll judge those specs when the console ships. Until then, you can promise 8k gaming and 512gigs of ram. Hell, I can promise you that. Sure, the console will ship in 2026, but you only asked for the specs, not when it's available.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  21. I'd Rather Read it as Doc Brown by HannethCom · · Score: 1

    1, point, 1, 72, Jigahertz.

    To be fair, that is how the scientists told them it was pronounced.

    --
    Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
    1. Re:I'd Rather Read it as Doc Brown by smallfries · · Score: 1

      To be even fairer - it sounds cooler that way. For years after we had learned the SI prefixes in school I still wondered about what fantastic scale "Jiga-" must lie on :)

      --
      Slashdot: where don knuth is an idiot because he cant grasp the awesome power of php
  22. Consoles and Console Manufacturers Suck by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gimme compatibility with the games library I already have, or one gimme that isn't going to happen is console manufacturers doing the gimme with my money.

    Fucking assholes think spending $50 on a game — thousands of dollars on all of them in my collection — is something I should forget because they have a new console. They're crazy. Not gonna happen.

    1. Re: Consoles and Console Manufacturers Suck by Fwipp · · Score: 1

      You know that the Xbox Scorpio and PS4 pro both share a games library with their precessor, right? You're not just ranting about a nonissue due to your ignorance?

    2. Re: Consoles and Console Manufacturers Suck by rjstanford · · Score: 1

      No, he was ranting about an issue brought up by the post to which he was directly replying, which suggested that he switch to PC gaming. Not quite the same thing.

      --
      You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
  23. Why is Microsoft working on Project Scorpio? by sconeu · · Score: 1

    Shouldn't it be GlobEx? They could put Homer Simpson in charge of it, if Hank Scorpio is too busy!

    --
    General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
  24. 12 from the sound of it by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    GDDR5 (I have to imagine DDR5 was a misprint) has a 32-bit wide memory controller. It then gets the bandwidth by stacking those in parallel. So 384-bit = 12 32-bit controllers.

  25. Re:pioneered by Microsoft's leading industrial des by RogueyWon · · Score: 1

    Going from TFA, it appears to refer to vapour-chamber cooling. Now that's not actually an MS innovation; it's already in use on tech such as very high-end PC graphics cards (it's on the Nvidia 1080 Ti in my PC). But this is probably the first time it's been used in a piece of mass-market hardware like this.

  26. Other features not mentioned... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    - All games will require a full-time internet connection to cut down on piracy.
    - Microsoft "QA" will be logging your button presses and chats, as well operational information to "improve" their games.
    - All hardware components will be digitally signed to prevent tampering and unauthorized modifications.
    - Games delivered by physical media will only run on the first machine they are executed on, thereby killing the used game trade and "illegal" game sharing.
    - Games delivered by electronic means will not be stored on the machines, only their license keys and their save files.
    - License keys will be remotely authenticated and can also be revoked remotely in case they "leak" to unauthorized parties.
    - Tamper circuits will delete all license keys and all game content if the machine case is opened or hardware is tampered with.
    - Local storage will be digitally signed and encrypted.
    - All software will be digitally signed. System will refuse to run any unrecognized software.

  27. But, it's a Microsoft product.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..therefore it should be shunned, because they're a shit company.

  28. What does that even mean, a "performance overhead" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "and it hit 60 frames per second with a substantial performance overhead" - What does that even mean, a "performance overhead"?

  29. one question by JustNiz · · Score: 1

    Can you install linux on it?

    1. Re:one question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure, but only for the first year or 2 before they remove the ability, then 3 generations later they will apologize and pay a pittance to the half of 1% of .25% of users that had used the "feature" to run those fancy LYNYX EMULATORZ on the hardware.

  30. More CUs than in 480 by Kartu · · Score: 2

    480 has 36 units (AMD's "Polaris" chip, competitor of 6Gb version of 1060)

    PS4 Pro has kinda weaker 470 (no serious competition on nVidia side, price wise it is close to 1050Ti, but it is 30% faster)

    CPU is still Jaguar, although on a new process node and much higher clocks.

    All in all, it is a faster than PS4 Pro "Xbox One Pro" from Microsoft.

    Much more serious jumps will become possible in 2019, when Zen and Vega mature.

  31. Scorpio v. Apple? by mckwant · · Score: 0

    I'm no chip designer, but wouldn't this destroy any current Apple offering short of the mostly defunct Mac Pro?

    I mean, yeah, the i7 MBPs go up to 3.6Ghz, but the vast majority are dual core.

    --
    ceci n'est pas un sig.
  32. One more thing.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Give it the ability to boot to Windows 10 so I can also use it to play my non-console games and I would probably buy one.

  33. Re:What does that even mean, a "performance overhe by ChoGGi · · Score: 1

    I assume it means staying at 60 rather than dipping below during busy scenes (it could average above 60, but it's locked at 60).

  34. Too little too late by HalAtWork · · Score: 1

    On the high end it's already outperformed by even a 1070, and launching expensive as a premium system, and is restricted by a software library that must remain compatible with the 1.3 tflop Xbox One. Developers won't want to be designing two discrete games. The system also barely has time to get off the ground before the next generation of consoles expected in 2019, or at the very least Sony's 3 year follow up to the PS4 Pro (which came 3 years after the PS4), whatever form that will take.

    It doesn't seem like a good proposition at this point.

    --
    Twinstiq, game news
    1. Re:Too little too late by Thomas+Charron · · Score: 1

      I am REALLY hoping they upgrade the video before they release it.

      --
      -- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
  35. So, basically, it matches a current gaming PC by Thomas+Charron · · Score: 1

    So, basically, it will be of the same performance as a current decent gaming PC.

        Da Hell?

        NVidia GTX 1070 is at 6.5 TFlops.

    --
    -- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
    1. Re:So, basically, it matches a current gaming PC by Altrag · · Score: 1

      And at 245W. That's the part that really boggles me. Its difficult to find a graphics card that requires less than 300W, and gaming-quality cards seem to bottom out around 400-450W. Some of the top end cards are looking at 750W. The 1070 you bring up is 500W.
          (Recommended system PSU according to http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm.)

      So they've either gone to great lengths to reduce power consumption, or your average gaming PC is running with some serious inefficiencies (though some of that might be necessary in order to retain features like replaceability.)

    2. Re:So, basically, it matches a current gaming PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The power supply demands are bullshit. I've run plenty of cards that claimed they needed 500W power supplies with a 300-watt OEM Dell supply.

    3. Re:So, basically, it matches a current gaming PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those requirements are usually overestimated. So that if you tell people they need at least 750W and they go out and buy the cheapest 750W PSU they can find it will probably still work.

      If you buy a quality PSU and you can expect to get away with a much lower rated one.

    4. Re:So, basically, it matches a current gaming PC by brambus · · Score: 1

      PC gamers are notorious for overestimating power supply requirements. The wattage craze is completely unwarranted UNLESS you overclock. At stock clocks, the cards are actually pretty power efficient. See this graph for example. Under max load, a GTX 1070 draws maybe 150W by itself. Combine that with a 65W TDP CPU (e.g. Core i5 7600) and you're only at 215W at max load. Add in 5W for memory and 15W for the HDD and you can still fit yourself into 235W, 10W less than 245W. Now consider that the XBox Scorpio's CPU & GPU will be lower clocked than your average PC rig and you can see how they can fit into 245W. Also see this short informative video on the same subject.

    5. Re:So, basically, it matches a current gaming PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True. I bought a 750Watt PSU a couple years ago because I had no idea what I was doing.

  36. Will it have a new Kinect? by ghee22 · · Score: 1

    My current Kinect is broken. Review randomly in just dance. Wondering if I should invest in a replacement one or wait.

    --
    "Persistence is annoying success." - ghee22 11:28:1999 - 10:53:PM