Welcome to this deep dive comparison between the new XBox Series X and XBox Series S game consoles from Microsoft.
2020 has had its bad times, but when it comes to new hardware releases, the end of 2020 has certainly made up for the depressing start. Microsoft and Sony are going head to head as they both ready themselves to launch their next gen consoles, already 7 years after the previous generation.
Game quality, rendering and resolutions have exponentially exploded over the last two years, thanks to Nvidia’s efforts of making real time raytracing a reality with the launch of their first RTX Turing cards back in 2018. Since then, we have seen many RTX Raytracing games hit the market, able to run at 4K with all the bells and whistles, thanks to their DLSS technology, but this is only the beginning.
Nvidia have blown their Turing cards out of the water with this year’s release of the RTX 3000 Ampere cards where the entry level RTX 3070 is on par with Turing’s top of the range 2080 Ti, all for only $499.
Thanks to the second generation of RTX graphic cards, Raytracing is going to be the norm in almost all future games.
AMD don’t like to be left behind and are also releasing their new RDNA 2.0 Big Navi RX 6000 series graphics cards soon after, which will be their first generation of Raytracing enabled cards. Not only that, AMD are continuing to put Intel to shame as they ready to release their new Zen 3 CPU lineup alongside Big Navi.
But, where does this all leave the console gamers? In a VERY good position actually.
Thanks to all the competition between Intel, AMD and Nvidia, the PC market has exploded with all the above mentioned advancements making 4k gaming the new standard.
Table of Contents
XBox Series X vs Series S
As AMD finds themselves in the middle with both CPU and GPU divisions, they were able to approach both Sony and Microsoft to deliver them an all in one custom hardware package, leap and bounds ahead of anything the console market has ever seen before.
The new consoles not only look amazing on the outside, but pack a punch on the inside as well, bringing 4K Raytracing to console gamers. Even 8K gaming is possible on the new PS5 and XBox Series X console, while Microsoft have snuck in the Series S console alongside it, capable of 1440p 120fps gaming for only $299.
Not only that, but they have readied their XBox Game Pass for the release, uniting PC and Console gamers on a single gaming subscription based platform, for only $9.99pm.
For the first time in console history, it seems that Sony will need to play catch up to Microsoft – Exciting times indeed!
With all the said, let’s take a look at how the XBox Series X compares to the XBox Series S, so ready your 4K TV’s!
If you are looking at upgrading or building a new gaming PC instead, take a look at my array of new Nvidia Ampere RTX 3000 graphic card comparison benchmarks.
In these benchmark articles, I deep dive into each of the graphic card’s tech specs, comparing them to other graphic cards in the Ampere lineup as well as now older Turning lineup to see how much improvement we see in the new generation of RTX cards.
I also take a look at the now much older GTX Pascal lineup, focusing mainly on the including the GTX 1080 Ti, to see if its finally time for those of you who gave Turning a skip, to finally enjoy some Raytracing goodness.
Check out these Ampere vs Turing vs Pascal benchmark comparisons
Ampere vs Ampere
Ampere vs Turing
- RTX 3090 vs RTX 2080 Ti
- RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 Ti
- RTX 3080 vs RTX 2080 Super
- RTX 3070 vs RTX 2070 Super
Ampere vs Pascal
XBox Series X vs Series S - General Specs
Price
- XBox Series X price of $499 is $200 (67%) more than the XBox Series S price of $299
PCIe Interface
- Both the XBox Series X and XBox Series X use PCIe 4.0 16x lanes at 1,970MB/s
CPU Technology
- Both the XBox Series X and XBox Series X use an AMD Zen 2 CPU
GPU Technology
- XBox Series X GPU is known as Scarlett, while the XBox Series S GPU is known as Lockhart
- Both the Xbox Series X and XBox Series S GPU architectures are based on AMD RDNA 2.0
- Both the Xbox Series X and XBox Series S GPU technologies are based on 7nm (nanometer)
- XBox Series X has a 360mm Die Size, which is 170mm (89%) more than the XBox Series S’ 190mm Die Size.
- XBox Series X has 15,300 million transistors, which is 7,300 million (91%) more than the XBox Series S’ 8,000 million transistors.
Disc Drives
- XBox Series X has 4K UHD Blu-ray drive, while the XBox Series S works via Digital Game Pass only.
Power (TDP)
- XBox Series X runs off 300W TDP, which is 50W (20%) more than the XBox Series S’ 250W TDP.
The XBox Series X and Series S consoles are very similar in many of the feature sets seen above, including both supporting PCIe Gen 4, the same AMD Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2.0 GPU architectures at 7nm.
Beside the obvious $200 price difference, the XBox Series X has nearly double the DIE Size and Transistor amounts.
The Series X also allows you to play games and movies via its optical Blu-ray drive as well as online, while the Series X is all digital baby.
I can’t remember when last I used a DVD or Blu-ray disk for games or movies, so it’s not a major factor to me, but do understand that many people still enjoy their own physical game due to bad internet connections or for trade value.
For me it’s just less plastic waste lying around my home, so I have no problem with the digital only aspect of the smaller and cheaper XBox Series X.
It would have been nice to have a non-optical drive option of the XBox Series X like the PS5, for those like me who have no use for it, thereby saving some costs, or possibly adding in some extra USB ports in its place.
Beside this, the XBox Series X uses 50W more power over the Series S, which in relation to its GPU output capabilities over the Series S listed below, is actually very good.
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XBox Series X vs Series S - CPU Speed & Performance
CPU Clock Speeds (Base & SMT – Simultaneous Multi-Threading)
- XBox Series X has a Base CPU Clock Speed of 3,800MHz, which is 200MHz (6%) faster than the XBox Series S’ Base CPU Clock Speed of 3,600MHz.
- XBox Series X has a SMT CPU Clock Speed of 3,600MHz, which is 200MHz (6%) faster than the XBox Series S’ Base CPU Clock Speed of 3,400MHz.
CPU Cores & Threads (SMT)
- Both the XBox Series X and XBox Series S have 8 CORE CPUs
- Both the XBox Series X and XBox Series S have 16 Threads (SMT)
The 8 Core/16 Thread AMD Zen 2 Processors in both the XBox Series X and Series S are identical, other than the slightly capped clock speeds on the Series S, most likely to keep the temperatures under control in its much smaller form factor.
You really won’t notice the 200MHz difference in any real world gaming situation anyway. Nothing to really see here so let’s move on to where you will see a massive difference between these two Microsoft consoles – the GPU performance.
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XBox Series X vs Series S - GPU Speed & Performance
GPU Clock Speeds (Base & Boost)
- XBox Series X has a Base GPU Clock Speed of 1,825MHz, which is 260MHz (17%) faster than the XBox Series S’ Base GPU Clock Speed of 1,565MHz.
The XBox Series X has a moderate speed advantage over the XBox Series X in terms of its raw GPU clock speeds, but this is not where it truly shines.
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Rasterization (ROPs/TMUs/CU/Texture Rate/Pixel Rate)
- XBox Series X outputs 80 ROP/s (Rasterization Operations), which is 48 ROP/s (150%) faster than the XBox Series S’ 32 ROP/s.
- XBox Series X has 208 TMU (Texture Map Units), which is 128 TMU (160%) more than the XBox Series S’ 80 TMU.
- XBox Series X has 52 CU (Compute Units/Streaming Multiprocessor), which is 32 CU (160%) more than the XBox Series S’ 20 CU.
- XBox Series X has a Texture Rate of 379.6 GT/s (GigaTexels), which is 254.4 GT/s (203%) faster than the XBox Series S’ Texture Rate of 125.2 GT/s.
- XBox Series X has a Pixel Rate of 146 GP/s (GigaPixels), which is 96 GP/s (192%) faster than the XBox Series S’ Pixel Rate of 50 GP/s.
The major core difference between the XBox series X and Series S consoles is in the GPU Rasterization performance. This section alone is what makes up the majority difference in the price of these two consoles.
The Rasterization, Texture Map Unit and Compute Stream Processors are all THREE TIMES more on the XBox Series X than on the XBox Series S
The Series X then delivers a FOUR TIMES faster Texture and Pixel Rate.
The Series S really stands no chance against the Series X in terms of graphical performance and will be the deciding factor when choosing between the two consoles in relation to their price.
Theoretical Performance (Throughput)
- XBox Series X has a Floating Point (FP32) Speed of 12.15 TFlop/s, which is 8.15 TFlop/s (204%) faster than the XBox Series S’ Floating Point (FP32) Speed of 4 TFlop/s.
Much like the rest of the GPU specs above, the XBox Series X annihilates the XBox Series S, with 4 times the throughput capabilities.
Cache
- XBox Series X has 5 MB of L2 Cache, which is 2 MB (67%) more than the XBox Series S’ 3MB of L2 Cache
The XBox Series X also has a substantial amount of extra ache over the Series S, although nothing as big as the Rasterization and throughput figures above.
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XBox Series X vs Series S - Memory
Memory Specs
- Both the XBox Series X and XBox Series S use GDDR6 Memory
- XBox Series X has 10GB of GPU RAM, which is 2GB (25%) more than the XBox Series S’ 8GB of GPU RAM
- XBox Series X has 6GB of System RAM, which is 4GB (200%) more than the XBox Series S’ 2GB of System RAM
Memory Speeds
- Both the XBox Series X and XBox Series S have a single lane memory speed of 1,750MHz
- XBox Series X outputs 560GB/s of GPU Memory Bandwidth, which is 336GB/s (150%) faster than the XBox Series S’ 224GB/s GPU Memory Bandwidth.
- XBox Series X outputs 336GB/s of System Memory Bandwidth, which is 280GB/s (500%) faster than the XBox Series S’ 56GB/s System Memory Bandwidth.
- XBox Series X has a 320-bit Memory Interface, which is 192-bits (150%) more than the XBox Series S’ 128-bit Memory Interface
Both XBox Series consoles make use of GDDR6 Memory running at 1,750MHz, for both their system and GPU RAM. The difference comes in the amounts and bandwidth speeds.
The XBox Series X sports 10GB of GPU RAM with a bandwidth of 560GB/s, while the XBox Series X has slightly less, with its 8GB of GPU RAM, but significantly slower at a 224GB/s bandwidth.
We see a similar trend with the system RAM, as the XBox Series X sports 6GB of system RAM with 336GB/s bandwidth, while the XBox Series S has 4GB of system RAM with a much slower 56GB/s bandwidth.
The XBox series X also has a much larger memory interface.
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XBox Series X vs Series S - Storage
Storage Specs
- Both the XBox Series X and XBox Series S support PCIe 4.0 M.s NVMe SSD storage
- XBox Series X has a 1TB (1024MB) Internal NVMe, while the XBox Series S has a 512MB Internal NVMe.
- Both the XBox Series X and Xbox Series have an extra NVMe slot, expandable to 1TB
The pricier XBox Series X comes with an internal 1TB M.2 NVMe drive, with an exterior port on the rear to add in another custom 1TB NVMe drive, the first being from Seagate.
Unfortuntely you cannot make use of regular NVMe drives such as the the Samsung 970 EVO 1TB PCIe 3.0 M.2 NVMe ($157.99) or Sabrent 1TB Rocket PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe Drive ($99.99), but maybe in the future an adapter will be built by some 3rd party or Microsoft themselves.
The cheaper XBox Series S on the other hand, comes with a 512MB M.2 NVMe drive, as well as also being able to add in an extra 1TB in the rear port.
It will be interesting to see if you can actually go beyond 1TB, as storage capacity is never really a limited factor in computers.
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Storage Speeds
- Both the XBox Series X and XBox Series S storage outputs 2,300MHz/s of Uncompressed Data
- Both the XBox Series X and XBox Series S storage outputs 4,800MHz/s of Compressed Data
- Both the XBox Series X and Xbox Series S have 3x USB-A Ports (1x in Front & 2x on Back)
- Both the XBox Series X and Xbox Series S have a 1x Ethernet Port
Thanks to the super fast NVMe technology (which runs via the PCIe 4.0 interface BUS), both the internal and expandable storage devices on both XBox consoles, will be able to blast through data at rates of 2,300MB/s with RAW/Uncompressed data and at a blistering 4,800MB/s with compressed data.
This is going to make your load times practically vanish, if not, only last a few seconds when dealing with large open world games.
The 3x USB-A ports versions and speed on both the XBox Series X and Series S are still unconfirmed, but will most likely be USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 (10Gb/s) at the back and possibly the front as well, otherwise USB 3.2 Gen 1×1 (5Gb/s) on the front port.
These USB ports will allow you to expand your storage even further, with fast SATA SSD Drives such as the Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB SATA ($149.99) or with slower, but much larger capacity Western Digital Black 4TB Drives ($144.99), making sure that you have more than enough space to install all your Xbox Game Pass Games
There are unfortunately no USB-C ports on either of the two consoles. I would have liked to see at least one of the rear USB-A ports to be a USB-C port instead, (especially on the Series X) as this is the future of USB.
There is an Ethernet Port on the back of both the XBox Series X and Xbox Series. Its speed is still unconfirmed, but will most likely be 1Gb/s, MAAYYBE 2.5Gb/s on the XBox Series X, but I highly doubt it.
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XBox Series X vs Series S - Resolution
Resolution Specs
- XBox Series X has a maximum Resolution of 7680x4320px (8K), which is 4x larger than the XBox Series S’ maximum Resolution of 3840x2140px (4K).
- XBox Series X is designed for an Optimal Resolution of 3840x2140px (4K) at 120fps, while the XBox Series S’ is designed for an Optimal Resolution of 2560×1440 (2.5K) at 120fps
The XBox Series X advertises that it is 8K ready, but we will have to wait and see how well it can deliver on this. 8K is FOUR TIMES the resolution of 4K, so it’s a lot more processing that needs to be done by the GPU.
If the XBox Series X can output 4K 120p frame rates, then it will be able to output 8K 60p as well, because:
- 4K 120p = 8K 60p.
However, even the new Nvidia RTX 3080 with DLSS is only able to output around 120-150fps in 4K in DOOM Eternal using VULKAN, which is basically the most ideal parameters, most likely being the pinnacle performance of its life cycle (unless new drivers and more optimized DLSS comes into play in the future).
Thus, I doubt the XBox will be able to do the same, seeing as the RTX 3080 is a dedicated, standalone GPU unit, almost the same size as the entire XBox and costing $200 more.
It also has DLSS behind it, which is a massive performance booster. Hopefully AMD can match DLSS with their own AI deep learning algorithm, but even then, the RTX 3080 just has more raw hardware power and will always be faster.
DOOM Eternal is a heavy 3D title though, so more cartoony/2D style games will definitely be able to reach 120fps on the XBox Series X, and as I said, if it can do 4K 120fps, it can do 8K 60fps.
Even if a game on the Series X only outputs 4K 60fps, it will still be able to output 8K 30p, because:
- 4K 60p = 8K 30p.
On the other side, the XBox Series S is advertised as being able to do 2560×1440 (2.5K) at 120fps which is a remarkable feat for an entire console with such a small form factor and only costing $299.
This is basically inline with what an RTX 2070 Super can do, and that graphics card alone cost $200 more than the entire Series S console.
Again, whether or not the Series S will be able to do that in every game isn’t likely, as this will probably only happen in more simplified cartoony/2D style games. Heavy 3D games will definitely cause this to drop significantly.
Remember, much like the XBox Series X advertised speeds of 4K @120fps, and 1440p @120fps on the Series S are BEST CASE scenarios only.
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Potential/Optimal Frame Rates
- XBox Series X has a maximum Frame Rate of 60fps at 8K, while the XBox Series S cannot output sustainable 8K Frame Rates
- XBox Series X has a maximum Frame Rate of 120fps at 4K, which is 67fps (126%) faster than the XBox Series S’ 53fps at 4K
- XBox Series X has a maximum Frame Rate of 240fps at FHD, which is 73fps (44%) faster than the XBox Series S’ 167fps at FHD
While there haven’t been any official benchmarks, I ran some maths to work out how much the XBox Series S will be able to output in 4K and FHD (1080p) resolutions, based on its 1440p @120fps marketing.
As mentioned above, if the Series X can do 4K 120fps, then it can do 8K 60fps and FHD 240fps as these are equivalent in GPU performance requirements.
- 8K 60p = 4K 120p = FHD 240p
Based on the above, we can do a rough calculation on what the Series S will be able to output in 4K and FHD. First we need to work out the difference in resolution from 1440p (2.5K) and FHD, which is pretty simple.
Just take one side (Width or Height) of each resolution (1440 and 1080) or (2560 and 1920) and divide them as follows:
- 1440 ÷ 1080 = 1.33
Then multiply our known 120fps by 1.33, giving us our FHD performance of around 159.6fps in the same game.
- 120 x 1.33 = 159.6fps (33% more) at FHD
33% increase from FHD to 1440p is also inline with other real world benchmarks I have done in the past, which usually fall in between the 30-35% mark.
For 4K, the maths is similar. We divide 1440p by 2160, giving us 0.66 and then multiply 120fps by 0.66, which gives us a total of 79.2fps in 4K:
- 1440 ÷ 2160 = 0.66
- 120 x 0.66 = 79.2fps (34% less) at 4K
Remember that these are estimates and each game varies significantly.
For example, Borderlands 3 on PC running on a TITAN RTX is only able to output 93fps at 1440p. So don’t expect the tiny XBox Series S to outperform a TITAN by 30fps (29%).
On an RTX 2070 Super, Borderlands achieves 64fps, which is more inline with what you would realistically expect with the Xbox Series S console.
The 120fps mark at 1440p is only going to happen in the most simplified graphical games.
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XBox Series X vs Series S - Size & Weight
Dimensions
- XBox Series X has a Height of 301mm (11.85”), which is 26mm (1.02“) (9%) larger than the XBox Series S’ Height of 275mm (“).
- XBox Series X has a Length of 151mm (5.94”), which is 0mm (0“) (0%) larger than the XBox Series S’ Length of 151mm (5.94”).
- XBox Series X has a Width of 151mm (5.94”), which is 88mm (3.46“) (140%) larger than the XBox Series S’ Width of 63mm (2.48“)
- XBox Series X has a Cubic Size of 6,863,101mm3, which is 4,247,026mm3 (162%) larger than the XBox Series S’ Cubic Size of 2,616,075mm3.
Microsoft has said that the XBox Series S is 60% smaller than the XBox Series X, so let’s take a look at the actual dimensions and work out the cubic size.
First let take the XBox Series X dimensions of:
- 301mm (H) x 151mm (W) x 151mm (L) = 6,863,101mm3
Now let’s take the XBox Series S dimension of:
- 275mm (H) x 151mm (W) x 63mm (L) = 2,616,075mm3
Now let’s just run some simple percentage maths and work out the difference in cubic size:
- 6,863,101mm3 – 2,616,075mm3 = 4,247,026mm3
- 4247026mm3 / 6863101mm3 = 0.618
- 0.618 x 100 = 61.8% smaller
Microsoft weren’t lying here, as the XBox Series S is in fact 61.8% smaller than the XBox Series X
Weight
- XBox Series X has a Weight of 4.45KG (9.81lb), which is 2.25KG (4.96lb) (102%) heavier than the XBox Series S’ Weight of 2.2KG (4.84lb).
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XBox Series X vs Series S - Conclusion
Well guys, that’s it from me and this XBox Series X vs Series S comparison.
Check out the XBox Series X and Series S on Amazon in the links below
Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Xbox Series X 1TB SSD Console - Includes... | $499.99 $449.00 | Buy Now | ||
Microsoft Xbox Series S 512GB SSD... | $349.95 | Buy Now | ||
Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Gaming... | 39,996 Reviews | $179.99 $150.99 | Buy Now | |
Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller +... | $79.95 $74.99 | Buy Now | ||
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If you are looking at buying the PlayStation 5, then check out these links:
Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Xbox Series X 1TB SSD Console - Includes... | $499.99 $449.00 | Buy Now | ||
Microsoft Xbox Series S 512GB SSD... | $349.95 | Buy Now | ||
Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Gaming... | 39,996 Reviews | $179.99 $150.99 | Buy Now | |
Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller +... | $79.95 $74.99 | Buy Now | ||
Xbox Live Gold: 12 Month Membership... | Buy Now |
With the new PlayStation 5 ($449.99) and XBox Series X ($449.00) releases, all console gamers can finally start to enjoy at least 4K 120Hz gaming.
If you are a console gamer looking for a new gaming monitor, check out these monitor buying guides: