Microsoft Reportedly Working On Smaller, More Power Efficient Series X Chip

No news there then lol and I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘Brad Sams’ (whoever that is) is just guessing this without any real ‘insider’ info. It’s obvious that all console manufacturers streamline the process after launch to make things more cost efficient - it’s the way it’s always been. Given we are only a year or so into launch, it’s also feasible that this would be a small internal change rather than a newer / smaller model. Can’t wait for Brads next rumour that MS have more games in the pipeline 😂🙈

A small digital only XSX would be a good idea.

I am extremely happy with my XSX already - basically noiseless as it is even under extreme stress. My PS5 on the other hand is too noisy for my liking Sony should certainly do a lot to reduce heat and noise, and I am not saying this as a xbox fanboy. This alone is enough for me to buy multi platform titles for the xbox.

Great. I'll get this one when Starfield is a hit.

@reidar_vincenzo I hear you, mate. Night and day difference between my XSX and PS5. I’ve exchanged my PS5 six times (yes, really. I’ve had 6 different units) in hope of getting one without coil whine, but alas, no dice so far. My current one isn’t bad to be fair, but hardly dead silent like my XSX.

@Medic_Alert Phil already said before launch they don't really want to be in a "Pro" model situation again. Some are expecting consoles, and especially MS to go into the mobile hardware model of just continuous improvements over time instead of fixed console generations. I think at some point that was the plan. And if one does a "Pro" both have to do a "Pro" so it might be out of their hands if Sony does one, but I don't get the feeling either company wants to go down that route at all this time. Especially with the already protracted launch.

I’d just love the ability to be able to turn it off…

Before people get their heads in the cloud, keep in ming the same console undergoes several chip revisions before a slim or the like is ever through of.

The original Xbox even had multiple chip revisions. This is standard practice and not indicative of a slim model.

@Bleachedsmiles You can.

@InterceptorAlpha Without having to pull the plug? How?

@Killercrab Actually, Brad Sams is a pretty reliable source for all things Microsoft. He was one of the first to say Halo Infinite multiplayer would release before the campaing. At the time, 343 said he was lying, just to some time later announce that exactly.

And that wasn't the first thing he said was right, if you go to his channel on youtube you'll see his 'guesses' are pretty accurate.

@Bleachedsmiles Do a “full shutdown” from the settings menu.

@Bleachedsmiles you can even configure in settings that every time you turn off the console, it performs a full shutdown.
A full shutdown should be performed every time you unplug your console.
I can't guide you exactly because I'm away from my console, but just explore the Setting menu and you will find how to program your console turning off behaviors.

@Pigrotto @Relygon ah ok so it’s hidden away… ok then, I’d be happy if they’d just patch the option to shut down be there next to sleep mode, and rename sleep mode ‘sleep’…instead of calling it ‘turn off console’.

@Bleachedsmiles Well, yes. I agree it’s overly complicated to perform a so called full shutdown.

It doesn’t bother me personally, however, the forced always-on USB ports, are. I don’t want to perform a full shutdown every time. Even in Energy-Saving mode the USB ports are always powered.

@Relygon yes you are right, but if I remember correctly you can decide and configure how your console turns off: it is flexible and I appreciate that.
A friend of mine has the same problem so I helped him to program the turning off so every time it performs a full shut down.
By the way another option in the turn off menu should be appreciated.

I think its inevitable for Hardware companies to start on their 'next' hardware as soon as the new one is basically finished and out on the market.

It was common for a Console to last ~4yrs before the 'next' generation of hardware because the advancement of tech was developing so fast. With global crashes and financial 'gloom', the PS3/360 era dragged on too long and many thought that Consoles were 'over' but MS/Sony took a very 'conservative' approach - hence such weak CPU's as the GPU can at least make games 'look' next gen but things like Physics/destruction, AI etc actually went 'backwards' because of a lack of CPU grunt.

As powerful as the XSX/PS5 is, they aren't great compared to what you can get in the PC market. A RTX 2070Ti seems about 'console' level in terms of performance - until you factor in DLSS, Ray Tracing etc and then an RTX 2070Ti can deliver better image quality and/or higher frame rates.

We often have to pick between 4k/30 RT mode, up to 4k/60 (maybe reconstructed or use DRS) no RT - and look at how UE5 Matrix demo looks and runs on Consoles - its not close to looking 4k and only 30fps - so how do you think the UE5 games will look/run - 30fps to get the 'best' visual quality with Nanite/Lumin and UE5's Temporal upscaling.

I don't think MS will make a 'Pro' Series console - they could but I also think MS may well utilise the 'Cloud' more - instead of running the entire game locally, offload heavy processing aspects (like Physics, AI, destruction etc) to the cloud. Maybe even have games that can only be played in the cloud and streamed to whatever platform you have. I think MS may well invest more in building up the power of the cloud and its server system and using that to deliver better visual/performant games on their hardware and make 'hardware' to make it 'easier' and/or cheaper to turn 'displays' into a Streaming Game Pass device.

@Heroofthenexus I do agree with you sir.

@Pigrotto Yeah, you can probably do that. But truthfully, I would like to keep my console in energy-saving mode or instant-on for the software updates. I wish Microsoft would implement a similar option to Sonys.

@Heroofthenexus I agree and it's just tangentially related to the last bit you said about not having fibre in rural area. Did you know about starlink? This video surprised me: https://youtu.be/Fh1a2K9ZgNA

It's available in the UK now too and apparently you get about 100mbits/sec

It does cost £450 for the satilte dish and rest of the kit as a one off then it's like £80 or £87 a month I think. So, expensive...but an option I didn't know was practical till recently. I'd probably get it if I couldn't get broadband but I can luckily. I live in a village and get 28mbits/sec which is good enough for me!

@Tangerine the problem with cloud gaming is, in my opinion, the fact that the band has to be constant, because there is no buffer.
For example I have a WiMax connection because I live in a rural area: 50mb down / 20mb up.
Problem is it fluctuates quite a bit for several reasons, so cloud gaming is inconsistent and I had to give up.
Said that many friends of mine with fiber has a similar issue even with 300mb down.

However thank you very much for sharing Starlink 🙂

@Medic_Alert It does make more sense for MS than the other two only in that it would make XB follow the PC life cycle, which from a platform/development standpoint is kind of baked into MS's design. Rather than having launches, ramp-ups, etc, it could keep them at pace with their Windows cycles better.

OTOH you're exactly right. PC parts makers and mobile device makers are selling the hardware for profit, so marketing a stream of new hardware is beneficial where it's very opposite for consoles as you said.

@Killercrab He is a journalist or reporter on all things Microsoft and is VERY well connected, and does indeed leak ‘accurate’ information before it is public knowledge or the profit is announced, Brad Sams broke the entire story on the Xbox Series S before anyone else did.
So he doesn’t ‘guess’, he actually knows as fact.

In regards to the story it’s a given MS will launch a slim Series X, not sure if they will launch a more powerful model though, they just need to get the current new ones working properly, like the promised 60FPS 4K with ray tracing…

I’m very happy with my Series X. Any revisions that make things more efficient are good for Microsoft I guess. Not sure I’ll buy a “Pro” or Slim though unless we get significant performance increases. My Series X tucks nicely behind my TV the way it is. The PS5 is awkward and ugly to me, but unless mine dies I’ll very likely just stick with the launch model for this gen. I don’t play it as much as it is. I think it will be enough for the better part of the generation.

@Heroofthenexus you should care! Games are 'held' back by the weakest hardware and that 'gap' will only grow overtime. Its NOT sustainable to build 100m+ consoles to distribute around the world, each with its own 'budget' spec when there such demand for raw materials to make chips for EVERYTHING.

You wouldn't be able to play MSFS without 'streaming' because the amount of storage the whole earth takes up at that scale, that detail etc is far too much to fit on your SSD.

If you 'prefer' to buy a cheap $500 console that has to be 'online' to stream data - whether its 'environmental' data because its 'too big' to fit on SSD/Disc, whether its streaming part of the processing, just to run at 30fps without stripping out the NPC's (too much AI for local to cope with), removing/limiting destructions (too much Physics for local to cope with) or running the entire game in the cloud anyway because that's the 'only' way to play the latest AAA games, when all the games you 'get' on your hardware are all looking and running much better in the cloud.

This gen is more likely to be a 'transition' generation where games will start to rely on the cloud more and more. Part of that is bringing 'streaming' to XB1 to play games that can't run on that hardware and to get people more 'comfortable' with streaming and not owning their 'licenses' to play games. You don't OWN any game, you only own a licence to access the software which can be 'revoked' at any time.

You are NOT preserving games by releasing them on physical formats - they are only accessible whilst the Physical media/hardware is still operational but when your OG Xbox or controllers wear out, then you can't play it at all. If its stored Digitally with a 'licence' tied to your account, then you can stream that to any device anywhere in theory. It could be preserved forever in some Digital server somewhere. Not only that, its also going to be the fully patched and most complete version too. Physical media only contains the software as it was pressed. I'd rather play a 'streamed' version of Cyberpunk 2077 in 20yrs time than to try and play the 'disc' on hardware that's no longer online to get updates/patches etc..

You NEVER own the games you 'buy', as you are buying a 'licence' to access the software (owned by dev/publishers)that can be revoked, lost, removed etc at any time. The only thing that actually needs to be on Physical media is the 'licence', the actual 'software' doesn't and in some cases already, isn't all on disc and certainly not with Xbox these days.

Software has to be 'installed' and if its too big (like CoD games tend to be) to fit on disc, you end up having to 'download' a chunk of the game. With Smart Delivery too, they can just put the licence on the disc as it will trigger downloading the specific version to your hardware - good luck playing these in the future when the consoles 'online' connectivity is turned off. The 'software ' isn't on disc - your licence to access the software is as that is what you purchased

In the future, it may well be more beneficial to have given up the Physical media as all those 'digital licenses' on your account allows you to access all those games basically anywhere and anytime - not have to wait to get home, put the disc in so it registers you have a valid licence to play - assuming your 'hardware' is still functioning, not worn out -because the latest, most complex games will be running in the cloud at much higher visual quality and much better frame rates/input lag because the cloud isn't 'limited' to a 'fixed' spec they could make and distribute globally (with rising raw material costs, rising demand for silicon, rising fuel/distribution costs etc). Its going to be like buying a switch for 'local' gaming when you can stream the same games at 4k/120 with all the visual bells and whistles, the highest quality assets, lighting etc without needing to buy any Hardware at all. You never 'own' games and you can still 'buy' digital licences too...

Yeah, like EVERY console the last few gens? X360 Elite, PS3 slim, Switch v2, Xone, XoneX, etc....

@Relygon ah yes, the coil whine can be loud too. i was merely refering to the fan noise XD

microsoft deserves praise for their job with the acoustics. i didn't think they could make the series x as quiet as the one x, but they surpassed my expectations

@BAMozzy It sadly does feel like the future of Xbox is Don Mattrick's vision of the XB1 but this time with a lot less resistance. Back in 2013, the gigantic pushback existed and was successful largely thanks to the PS4 used game video in Sony's E3 conference and Geoff Keighley's interview with Don Mattrick.

Fast forward to recent years and there isn't that resistance anymore. Sony's using Azure for cloud based Playstation stuff, GT7 has always online single player, people mostly seem ok about the Series X DRM issue where the first time you load up a game (even physical copies) has to be connected to the internet, etc.

@reidar_vincenzo Hah, oh. Yeah, I lucked out on my latest unit and got the “best” fan which is essentially inaudible. Ironically, that makes the coil whine feel worse since that’s all you hear now.

@Grumblevolcano @Heroofthenexus I disagree - you have NO right to own the software that others have created for you to enjoy and I do think the rights of the Publisher/developer to have 'control' over their own creation should be protected from those who would exploit that -like pirates, hackers, etc. The Software and all the 'assets, the artwork etc, are all owned by the dev/pubs and they should have the rights to their intellectual property - not a 'consumer' who only purchased a 'licence' to play it - and if they break the terms and conditions, get no sympathy from me if that License is revoked.

DRM isn't a 'bad' thing - its protecting the 'owner' of the Software and if you have a 'valid' license (regardless of whether its conditional like GwG/GP or not), there is nothing to 'fear'. Just like you 'must' put in the disc to validate your 'licence', even though the software is on your SSD, then you need an 'online' method to check your 'digital' licenses that are stored in the cloud - to make sure you have a 'valid' license. Without that License, you could play any software installed without actually having the 'right' to access (let your Subscriptions lapse or sold your license)

The problem isn't 'bloated' messes, its that the games evolve and try to get closer and closer to that 'interactive, immersive movie'. Having a game with very 'game'-like worlds, game like lighting, pop-in, even the 'repetitive' Animations/AI or 'broken' physics we see in EVERY GAME today are reminders of the 'limitations' of physical hardware. Its all down to the lack of processing power to deliver worlds packed with the geometric detail you'd expect, all lit properly with proper shadows, reflections etc, Proper physics for everything - no more 'clipping' hair/clothes/plants etc but proper physics to 'everything' - no more 'tables' that can't move or get damaged by bullets, no more 'pop-in' of better quality objects, textures etc

Point is, its 'local' hardware that 'limits' the game design - why you had 'lifts' or passageways to hide 'loading', why numerous issues that are inherent in games exist etc. The reason Ambient Occlusion, baked lighting, Screen Space Reflections, Cube Maps, shadow maps etc exist - all these things are used to create the 'illusion' that 'light' is actually present in the world, bouncing around 'properly' but 'breaks' the illusion with light bleed, with reflections being cut off, with shadows not behaving correctly etc etc.

You are limited by the processing capability of the local hardware. Things like Temporal Upscaling, DLSS, VRS, DRS, etc are all about trying to present a 'higher' quality looking image at a 'reasonable' frame rate because the GPU can't cope with running the game 'natively' at that frame rate. Games are asking you to pick between better image quality or frame rate - you can't have 'both' - especially not if RT is actually used in a 'meaningful' way.

People have 4k TV's and want a '4k' image with at least 60fps game-play. The assets themselves are of higher quality and therefore are larger files. More 'unique' objects, all much higher polygon counts take up more space so games are obviously larger. So with games getting more and more complex to become more and more 'realistic' as well as pushing for 'higher' pixel counts, more densely populated, more immersive, more believable etc, the limitations of Local hardware are a hindrance to creativity, ambition and scale - as well as performance of course.

Like I said, when the AAA games are all in the Cloud (or at least rely on the cloud for some aspect), games with the best AI, Physics, lighting etc and can all be played without requiring a $500+ 'box', and can play the games on that $500 box at much higher visual quality and most importantly, at much higher frame rates with lower input lag, you'd rather buy the $500 box to play games you 'never' really own at significantly compromised visual quality, capped to 30fps and still 'need' to be online because its streaming the AI/Physics calculations because its too intensive to hit 30fps on local hardware. Its going to be like owning a Switch/XB1S when the 'only' way to play the latest games at anything close to playable will be via streaming.

Xbox is actively seeking developers to make Cloud based games they will 'publish' to Game Pass. You can play on Xbox, PC, Mobile thanks to Streaming. That's another thing about 'DRM', if you have a 'digital' licence, even if its conditional, I can play those games on multiple platforms -buy the Xbox 'disc' and that licence is only for Xbox and you 'must' put the disc in. What happens if MS/Sony drop 'Blurays' for the next gen because the game files are 'too big' to fit on anyway and it helps them hit the 'low' price point for consoles. You'll have to play on your 'old' hardware, buy a 'digital' licence or hope its offered on whatever Subscription services you have...

@reidar_vincenzo
Then you have a broken ps5. I have two ps5's and both sound exactly the same, completely silient wether they are off or on at full load for hours.
The series x is also silient.

My pc's on the other hand, never quite and never will be

@BAMozzy
Comon, are you not bored yet by this constant promise that 'the cloud' is going to change everything for distributed processing?
Ive been hearing it from microsoft for years and its done absolutely nothing for their releases since.

Its also quite obvious why. They are a global company and so their product must work everywhere.
Distributed processing only works where there is an infrastructure to support it. There are several places in several countries where this is a reality, but the majority of countries and regions do not have the guarenteed infrastructure required. Therefore, if you are to service your market, you need to develop product that works where this infrastructure doesnt reach, and even where being online at all can be inconsistant.
I have decent internet, but i still find geforce now to be inconsistent and i imagine it simply wont work in some regions. You can also feel the input lag, its not awful, but it IS laggier and I wiuldnt want that if I were a competitive gamer.

Its the future, im sure we can agree on that, but its at least a decade away till it becomes ubiquitous, and i suggest closer to 15 years yet.
At least one more console gen yet I think:).

Its interesting to note, to me anyway, that computing started off on this 'central server model' with client using 'dumb terminals' to use the system., which is essentially what you are championing.
When PCs first released , i worked for IBM and spent a lot of time rolling out networked pcs to replace dumb terminals as having local compute power made sense and offered greater flexability.
I still think this is the case, but its interesting that these ideas seem cyclic...

@S1ayeR74 well if he’s reliable then that’s fair enough - the point I was making is that this is hardly world stopping ‘leaked’ news is it - manufacturers have been streamlining the innards of consoles after launch since the 8 bit days lol. Anyone could have told you that and I’m not sure it warranted an article on the site. It’s not like it was about some new hardware or a slim xbsx or anything. Must have been a slow news day 😉

@Titntin I'm not saying its going to happen overnight - but we are in the 'early' days of the technology. Like I said, you have games that are 'only' playable via streaming because the local hardware itself isn't capable of running it. Whether that's 'streaming' to Laptops/Tablets/Mobiles or even last gen consoles, its enabling people to play these games on the 'hardware' they have.

It may well be useful for XSX owners to play games without having to 'download' first, just jump straight in. Can be very useful if you want to try something to see if its worth downloading without having to decide which game(s) you are willing to 'delete/move' to make room.

5yrs ago, the GTX 1080Ti released - and in that time, we are now at the RTX 3090Ti with DLSS, RT Tensor Cores etc. The 1080Ti has nearly 12TF GPU performance -the 3090 Ti has 36TF. In 5yrs time, who knows where GPU/CPU's will be. Instead of 100m 10tf GPU's, 100m 1TB SSD's, 100m CPU's and all that RAM distributed globally, they could use that 'silicon' to make servers with millions of teraflops, capable of running any game at the highest settings streamed direct to people. Games running in the cloud wouldn't be limited by 'local' hardware restrictions. You just 'stream' the game, much like you may have to do on XB1/mobile/laptop etc now.

Its in its 'infancy' right now but its not hard to see where the future is most likely to go. I know some forms of local hardware will exist - whether that is a 'dedicated' console or PC, I don't know. Maybe 'some' games will offer 'offline' gaming, but you have to accept a 'compromised' version because the local hardware won't be able to deliver the same experience with much more limited processing capability.

It will be like playing the 'best' PC version at 120fps - but you have to be online to play although have the freedom to play 'anywhere' at no extra/upfront cost, or buy the hardware and buy a XB1S/Switch downgraded version, capped to 30fps, less densely filled with less physics, less interactivity, less NPC's/enemies etc because that's all too much to process in 33.3ms on 'local' hardware and a LOT of the 'big' games require Online to distribute (too big to fit on discs and not enough 'silicon' to consider 'solid state' distribution - let alone the costs involved) so need 'online' to download, to patch, to play etc

Like I said, streaming is in its 'infancy' right now - a way to reach 'every' gamer regardless of their Hardware (or availability of hardware). Maybe you can play FH6 or 7 on XB1S maybe 720p with a stripped back look, maybe reduced cars on track as they try to keep as much of the Physics at the expense of AI, no RT, and capped to 30fps - but if you stream, you get 1080p/120fps (or even 4k) with the same 'visual' quality as the 'best' local hardware can run and much lower input lag as its 120fps. Maybe you get 4k/120/full path traced RT via streaming or a 4k reconstructed/60 - no RT or a Reconstructed 4k/30 with 'some' RT features on Series X - reduced car counts and reduced deformation/impact damage as that needs 'Cloud' to really crunch through all that processing required in 8.3ms

@BAMozzy
You illustrate your point well.
However. Geforce now is currently the pinnicle of that form of delivery. It doesnt even match the 3090 pc I run at home. By the time it does, who knows what will be available locally.

Theres a very long time till your vision is accepted reality, but like you im looking forward to it as the advantages are easy to recognise Have a good one!

@Killercrab I agree with that, it it's slow on the hardware news currently though, and people are still speculating on other fronts that a PS5 Pro is coming. But I think anyone would expect an updated Series X, they could keep it in the same casing even. I find the Series X to be incredibly thermal efficient though anyway.

@Titntin I do agree with every point of yours: you spoke my words.

@S1ayeR74 - definitely 😊 We’re lucky enough to have both series s and x and my son has a ps5. We love both MS consoles and I think they’ve done a great job in terms of design, thermals and the all important fan acoustics. The ps5 needs more of a redesign though I think - it’s huge and the horizontal orientation (the only way we can fit it in our particular set up) with the wobbly stand is terrible. As for dismantling the machine to upgrade the SSD - I don’t think we’ll ever bother tbh as it gets used a lot less that our Xboxes 😊

Great idea... And it was about time...

• Smaller case
• Less power consumption
• Less heating (better TDP)
• Comfort of "no disk driver"
• Adequate number of availability on market
• 399 $ or under retail price tag, xbox series x (slim)
  I hope it could make it (latest) till November.
  I am ready to buy even now.
  No problem.

Hmm, so far, my PS5 has been quiet and runs cool.

I’ll need your address and phone number in order to see what’s happening if you’re having issues. However I do have strict beverage and food requirements during a visit so please ensure that you have some credit cards handy, thanks.

@Pigrotto You know you’ve messed up when other people have to explain how you turn off your console. I’m all for options…but that’s pretty crazy how they’ve communicated those options. To be fair, Microsoft are new to this software game.