First confirmed Project Scorpio tech info from Digital Foundry. Several written articles up on Eurogamer today - here are two:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-0...-explained
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digita...h-revealed
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So, what did you find out?
Microsoft gave us the full tech specs of the machine. The central processor (CPU) has eight custom x86 cores clocked at 2.3GHz. The graphics processor (GPU) has 40 customised compute units clocked at 1172MHz - a very high clock speed for a console - and it does achieve Microsoft's stated six-teraflop performance figure. There's 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, with a memory bandwidth of 326GB/s. There's a faster 1TB 2.5-inch hard drive, and a UHD Blu-ray drive. Like Xbox One S, it has an integrated power supply, so no external power brick. In terms of input/output ports, it is identical to Xbox One S (so, no Kinect port, but HDMI in is retained).
I didn't understand any of that.
OK, so the CPU is about 30 per cent faster than the Xbox One's. The GPU is 4.6 times more powerful than Xbox One's. What matters just as much, though, is the huge amount of very fast memory available. Even with 4GB reserved for the system, games have a whole 8GB to play with, up from 5GB of much slower memory on Xbox One. That means fast streaming of very high-quality art assets, which will really help at the 4K ultra HD resolutions that Microsoft is gunning for.
So it's as powerful as they said it would be? As powerful as everyone hoped?
Pretty much, yeah. Some were hoping to see next-gen CPU technology in there, but that was never likely, given Microsoft's mandated compatibility with all existing Xbox One software. On the CPU side, what we have is a more modest evolution of the Xbox One unit. But the GPU is a beast. It's very, very fast."
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"Did you see it running a game?
Yes. Well, a ForzaTech demo, which is a stress test based on the Forza Motorsport 6 engine, running the maximum number of cars around a track with dynamic weather and all the bells and whistles turned on.
How did it do?
Smashed it. At the same graphics quality settings as Xbox One, the demo ran at a full 4K resolution, at a perfect 60 frames per second. For Xbox One to do this at a standard HD resolution of 1080p uses about 90 per cent of that console's power. Scorpio was only using 60-70 per cent of its resources to run this demo. The graphics settings were then ramped up to the equivalent of the ultra settings on the PC game Forza Motorsport Apex, and Scorpio still didn't break a sweat.
So that means...
Scorpio potentially has enough power not just to run Xbox One games at 4K resolution at the same frame rate - it's got power to spare on improving their looks further, with higher quality graphics settings, smoother frame rates, and more.
What's the catch?
Microsoft didn't choose the Forza engine to demo to us by accident. It's one of the best optimised, best performing game engines out there. Results on other game engines can and will vary.
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