Microsoft Reveals New Xbox Series X Details, Including Load Times

Microsoft has revealed a ton of new info about the Xbox Series X including console specs, load times, and quick resume.

We should start with the numbers and what some who aren’t… let’s just say tech-savvy, would call the “boring stuff”. Here are the full specs for the Xbox Series X (courtesy of a blog post from Xbox):

• CPU – 8x Cores @ 3.8 GHz (3.6 GHz w/ SMT) Custom Zen 2 CPU
• GPU – 12 TFLOPS, 52 CUs @ 1.825 GHz Custom RDNA 2 GPU
• Die Size – 360.45 mm2
• Process – 7nm Enhanced
• Memory – 16 GB GDDR6 w/ 320b bus
• Memory Bandwidth – 10GB @ 560 GB/s, 6GB @ 336 GB/s
• Internal Storage – 1 TB Custom NVME SSD
• I/O Throughput – 2.4 GB/s (Raw), 4.8 GB/s (Compressed, with custom hardware decompression block)
• Expandable Storage – 1 TB Expansion Card (matches internal storage exactly)
• External Storage – USB 3.2 External HDD Support
• Optical Drive – 4K UHD Blu-Ray Drive
• Performance Target – 4K @ 60 FPS, Up to 120 FPS

But, that wasn’t everything Xbox announced today. In the blog post, Microsoft delved further into the console’s improvements in latency times and ray tracing, the latter of which will essentially allow for better and more vivid lighting in games.

Load Times and Quick Resume

However, just like a classic Billy Mays commercial, that’s still not all. The platform also dropped two tech demos today showcasing the load times and the quick resume feature for the Xbox Series X. You can check out both of those videos down below:

The first demo focused on load times between the Xbox Series X and Xbox One X. As you can see, there’s a sizable difference between the two consoles. That being said, there is a semi-important detail to note. In the description for the video, it was said that this demo used a backward-compatible Xbox title to display the next-gen console’s new technology and it “does not represent gameplay optimized for Xbox Series X.”

Finally, we have a quick resume tech demo. As the video demonstrated, the quick resume will allow players to launch and switch between multiple games at a time without losing progress or having to restart the application.

For far more in-depth descriptions of any of the features or specs listed above, you should definitely check out the Xbox blog post mentioned earlier in the article. Even though this is more than enough to get us hyped for the next-generation of consoles, we unfortunately still don’t know the exact release date or price for the Xbox Series X.

The Xbox Series X will launch sometime in Holiday 2020.

Are you impressed by any of these console specs or new features? Are you planning on buying an Xbox Series X day one? Let us know in the comments below!