Inside Series S

[the-pi-guy]

I've lost a lot of interest with the spec sheets. This is a few more concessions than I expected. And I understand the price now.

Feels less like "this is a great deal" and more like "this is what we have to cut to reach our target"

Hopefully the RAM isn't as bad in practice as it looks on paper. 

[kitler53]

Its probably good enough to run any 4K games the same at 1080p with a decent amount of optimisation work, that's 4x less pixels. 1440p is going to be a struggle, maybe if a game is 4k60 it can run 1440p30. Also RT is only gonna work at like 1080p30

yeah, but you are assuming that games on xbsx going to be 4k60.   that would be, imo, "holding games back".   you can already see that 30 fps is still going to be the standard on ps5 with sub-4k native resolutions to give more processing power for "other stuff".   oh sure, developers could target 4k60 but as we've seen over and over and over again that means holding back games in other ways.

xbsx will certainly be capable of 4k60 on games like "ori" but for true next gen AAA games it won't be.  ...or shouldn't be.   it will be sub 60 fps and/or sub 4k native resolution.   scale back a game designed for ps5/xbsx at 1440p30 to xbss and what are you left with?   either really low resolutions and framerates or (more likely) developer work to reduce the number of objects on the screen to get back up to acceptable performance.

[kitler53]

I've lost a lot of interest with the spec sheets. This is a few more concessions than I expected. And I understand the price now. 

Feels less like "this is a great deal" and more like "this is what we have to cut to reach our target"

Hopefully the RAM isn't as bad in practice as it looks on paper.  

i mean it is what it is.   not for me probably but i can see there maybe being a market for it.   i just want to see some practical examples of what it means to games.   give me screenshot comparison and performance levels of specific games.  give me a definitive statement on if every game on series x will be on series s.   

historically i'm not really into ms first party exclusives.    but if their output is truly impressive this gen i'd maybe consider the series s as a secondary console to ps5.  i'm more likely to get a switch because i have young kids but series s makes xbox a much more palatable price for a secondary console.

[Dr. Pezus]

I just saw this on Era, god this guy must be on the MS payroll, I can't stand him.

CPU is the only good thing about Series S and that's only because it needs to have the same one.

XSS vs XSX:

3x worse GPU
2x less storage in SSD
40% less RAM at 60% less speed
no disc drive
same CPU slight downclock

XSS vs PS5 digital:

2.5x worse GPU
60% less storage
50% less I/O SSD speed
40% less RAM at 50% less speed
CPU almost identical

Series S is only for people who are broke. Or for people who fall for Tom Warren's shame.

How does it compare to One X?

8 GB @ 224 GB/s
2 GB @ 56 GB/a

I would hope that doesn't become an issue.

How does it not support 4k? Even Pro and One X do that

[the-pi-guy]

How does it not support 4k? Even Pro and One X do that

It does.  
It's just not what they're targeting for the specs.

[Dr. Pezus]

i'm not game developer here but to me this looks like it will really hold back next gen games if series s support is mandatory.    that or game developers will have to spent a lot of time optimizing the series s release to do more than just "lower resolution".

Probably good for Nintendo in the end. Their Switch pro will probably be close to series S

[the-pi-guy]

I know it's been a wait for price, date, pre-order date. Thanks to the community for their support and encouragement :-)  Great to see the reactions, really proud of how the team handled the unscripted announce (was supposed to be next week but oh well...). Can't wait for launch. https://t.co/CxXWDVmmNw

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) September 9, 2020

[Dr. Pezus]

It does.  
It's just not what they're targeting for the specs.

But why don't they say 4k? I mean simple games could run at 4k on that

[the-pi-guy]

But why don't they say 4k? I mean simple games could run at 4k on that

Because it's about what they expect typical games to support.  

[Dr. Pezus]

I know it's been a wait for price, date, pre-order date. Thanks to the community for their support and encouragement :-)  Great to see the reactions, really proud of how the team handled the unscripted announce (was supposed to be next week but oh well...). Can't wait for launch. https://t.co/CxXWDVmmNw

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) September 9, 2020

Unscripted lol. Who was awake in the middle of the night for it?

Because it's about what they expect typical games to support.  

I guess. I'm just used to them quoting the max, not the most likely. Like Pro used 4k for marketing but most games run at less

[the-pi-guy]

[Dr. Pezus]

That black thing still looks fugly. Grey would be better I think

[the-pi-guy]

I guess. I'm just used to them quoting the max, not the most likely. Like Pro used 4k for marketing but most games run at less

They're trying to differentiate between the XSX and XSS for non-techy people.

[kitler53]

Probably good for Nintendo in the end. Their Switch pro will probably be close to series S

oh goodie.   i'm paying $500 for a ps5 so i can play games ported from switch...

[Xevross]

I've lost a lot of interest with the spec sheets. This is a few more concessions than I expected. And I understand the price now.

Feels less like "this is a great deal" and more like "this is what we have to cut to reach our target"

Hopefully the RAM isn't as bad in practice as it looks on paper.  

Yes, this.

yeah, but you are assuming that games on xbsx going to be 4k60.   that would be, imo, "holding games back".   you can already see that 30 fps is still going to be the standard on ps5 with sub-4k native resolutions to give more processing power for "other stuff".   oh sure, developers could target 4k60 but as we've seen over and over and over again that means holding back games in other ways.

xbsx will certainly be capable of 4k60 on games like "ori" but for true next gen AAA games it won't be.  ...or shouldn't be.   it will be sub 60 fps and/or sub 4k native resolution.   scale back a game designed for ps5/xbsx at 1440p30 to xbss and what are you left with?   either really low resolutions and framerates or (more likely) developer work to reduce the number of objects on the screen to get back up to acceptable performance.

No I'm not. I'm saying if games are capable of 4k60 on XSX then it could be capable of 1440p on XSS. And for the games that won't run 4k60 on XSX then 1440p probably isn't possible, hence the struggle.

If XSX is struggling even to run a game at 4k30 then 1080p30 is the max for series S.