Microsoft first talked about Project Scorpio at the 2016 E3, and promises were made. Well, the company decided to reveal the specs of the upcoming console, and it ‘s nice to see they kept their word.
Let us begin by listing the things Microsoft promised at the E3: True 4K gaming and high-fidelity VR, 6 Teraflops of computing capability, the most powerful graphic processor that has been put in a game console.
The highest rate and best frame rate, 8 CPU cores, over 320 GBPS of memory bandwidth, and backward compatibility with both games and accessories. The best thing is Scorpio delivered.
Will Project Scorpio feature a Ryzen chip?
No, it will not. Instead, it will use a modified version of the processor that is in the Xbox One S. Microsoft invited the guys from Digital Foundry to its Redmond campus so that they could confirm how powerful Scorpio is. The console does reach the 6 teraflop computing power mark.
The company developed a software called PIX (Performance Investigator for Xbox) and used it to analyze how the Xbox One S behaved with demanding titles. They took that information and went Dr. Frankenstein on the processor, even changing the way the chip sends commands to the GPU.
The engineering team found out they would get better results enhancing a series of aspects, instead of relying on more powerful hardware. They expanded the bandwidth improving the internal communication and developed a sophisticated cooling system to avoid problems.
The result is, as promised, the most powerful gaming console of its time. The company showed off the machine’s capabilities by running a bunch of games at 4K without dropping from the 60 fps mark.
Digital Foundry published a very technical article about their visit to Redmond, but curiously, they said nothing about VR. To be fair, they promised they would make a bunch of follow-up articles because there was too much information to unfold in one sitting.
I see a little problem rising on the horizon
So, Microsoft made the most powerful gaming console, and we are all excited about it. Developers must be losing their minds thinking of all the things they will be able to do with such a machine, right?
Scorpio gives game makers the widest platform to work with in the console segment of the industry. However, exploiting all that potential forces them to make Scorpio exclusives, and in the best case scenario, launch downgraded versions of the games for other consoles. For many companies, that would be a leap of faith.
I see two scenarios. One: Microsoft follows AMD’s example and releases Project Scorpio with an affordable price tag making it a must have home console. Two: Scorpio’s cost narrows its market to the ones who can spend heavy cash on a gaming setup.
Source: Digital Foundry