We ’ve bed for a while that Microsoft ’s next - gen cabinet , Xbox Series X , willinclude beam trace , but we have n’t seen what it will look like until now . In ablog Wiley Post todayMicrosoft gave the most spec - arduous details about the new organization yet . However , a deep dive byDigital Foundryprovides a closer flavor at what the AMD GPU inside the Xbox Series X , power by next - gen RDNA 2 architecture , can do .
The close look comes courtesy of a demo of Minecraft with DXR , Microsoft ’s homegrown API for making games wait better . But that closemouthed appear into Minecraft with DXR give away a “ meanspirited Nvidia code accommodate and race on AMD - sourced beam trace hardware within Series X , ” as Digital Foundry points out . That sticking point makes it unclear as to what performance will look like on other ray trace games on the Xbox Series X.
Speaking with Digital Foundry , Microsoft technological bloke and Xbox system architect Andrew Goossen said that hardware acceleration is the key to getting the performance Microsoft want out of its next console .

Xbox Series XImage: Microsoft
“ Without ironware speedup , this work could have been done in the shaders , but would have consumed over 13 TFLOPs alone , ” said Goossen . “ For the Series X , this body of work is unlade onto consecrated hardware and the shader can continue to run in parallel with full carrying out . In other Holy Scripture , Series X can efficaciously rap the equivalent of well over 25 TFLOPs of performance while ray tracing . ”
In other words , AMD RDNA 2 plump for the latest DXR measure and works in a similar way to Nvidia ’s Turing architecture . By creating what ’s called a bounding volume power structure ( BVH ) structure , these artwork cards can make lighting and reflections that depend and behave in the same manner they do in the genuine globe . And when you liken the rest period of the artwork card ’s specs to other current - gen AMD and Nvidia graphics card , its performance pull up stakes most mid - range background graphics card , like the Radeon RX 5600 XT and GeForce RTX 2060 Super , in the dust .
But allow ’s not get whole excited about AMD ray tracing .

Screenshot: Microsoft
In the same deep dive , Digital Foundry take a look at an other Xbox Series X Minecraft DXR technical school demo . Looking at the screenshots of beam hound on versus off , you ’d think that those were render by a Nvidia RTX GPU . Well , while the demonstration was full ray - trace ( and calculate gorgeous ) , it was based on Minecraft RTX with way tracing ( or as Digital Foundry put it , base Nvidia code ) , even though the game was run on a customs duty AMD GPU . It ’s not immediately clear-cut how much or what from the Minecraft RTX computer code was alter .
Also , the demo is just that — a demo . It ’s not inevitably a larger reading of what AMD irradiation trace desktop GPUs could do in the future , since this is only an early spirit at Minecraft with DXR on an extremely customs chip .
It ’s also unreadable what other ray follow compatible games like Control and Metro Exodus will look like with on the Xbox Series X. Will the DXR code for those games be sourced from Nvidia as well ? Will this intend ray trace will be usable with certain games spiel over Microsoft ’s xCloud once bring out — and will Microsoft go with AMD GPUs over Nvidia ’s in its servers ? ( Ray tracing in the cloud has been a part of AMD ’s imaginativeness , after all . )

If the supposed holiday 2020 release particular date for the Xbox Series X is any indication , we could see AMD ray trace desktop GPUs around the same time , baring any monumental supplying chain delays . Having another electron beam tracing GPU challenger is needed in the hardware place , but it ’s too early to assure what AMD is exactly bringing to the table .
Here ’s a breakdown of the Xbox Series Xfull specs :
CPU8x Cores @ 3.8 gigacycle ( 3.6 GHz w/ SMT ) Custom Zen 2 CPU

GPU12 TFLOPS , 52 CUs @ 1.825 GHz Custom RDNA 2 GPU
cash in one’s chips Size360.45 mm2
Process7 nm Enhanced

Memory16 GB GDDR6 w/ 320b motorcoach
retention Bandwidth10 GB @ 560 GB / s , 6 GB @ 336 GB / southward
Internal Storage1 TB Custom NVME SSD

I / O Throughput2.4 GB / s ( Raw ) , 4.8 GB / s ( Compressed , with custom hardware decompression block )
Expandable Storage1 TB Expansion Card ( matches national store exactly )
External StorageUSB 3.2 External HDD livelihood

Optical Drive4 K UHD Blu - Ray Drive
execution Target4 super C @ 60 FPS , Up to 120 FPS+
Consumer TechGamingMicrosoftXboxXbox Series X

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