Difference In Xbox Series X And S

Xbox Series X vs Xbox Series S – Which one should you buy?

Microsoft'south latest gaming consoles, the Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series Due south have finally hit the stores. While stocks have been very limited, the holiday season might be the perfect time to become your hands on either one of them. Speaking of which, Microsoft is offering two options for consumers. The fairly affordable Series Due south tin can evangelize 1440p 120fps gaming along with HDR and Ray Tracing features while the Series 10 pushes the boundaries by offering 4K 120fps gaming that can even become up to 8K resolution. Now, this itself should requite you a fair idea as to which is the correct one for you. But allow's quickly first compare the new consoles with the previous-gen offerings, to get better clarity as to how big of an upgrade are we looking at.

Xbox Series X and Series S — The Big Upgrade

The Xbox Series X and Series Southward, both have a generational spring over the Xbox One Ten and One Southward. Permit'due south consider the four main aspects that you lot should be looking at. First of all, the new Serial X takes a whole new direction when it comes to design. The Serial X comes with a alpine belfry design, unlike the 1 X that would hands slide under your TV. Similarly, the Series S besides gets a new design where Microsoft has managed to shrink it quite a flake, making it the smallest Xbox console ever. This one, however, can still make space nether your Boob tube as information technology tin can lay apartment, different the Serial 10.

Functioning is where the new consoles are obviously going to shine. The Xbox Series X comes with a custom made octa-cadre AMD processor based on the Zen 2 architecture clocked at 3.8GHz. The One X also came with a custom eight-cadre AMD processor, but that ane runs at a maximum of ii.3GHz and was based on an older architecture. The Series Ten also gets 16GB of GDDR6 RAM that outperforms the 12GB of GDDR5 RAM on the One X and of form more than powerful graphics hardware that can deliver 12 teraflops of power and 52 compute units running at 1.825GHz. The GPU on the One 10 on the other hand only comes with half dozen teraflops of ability, 40 compute units and runs at 1.172GHz.

This basically means that the Series Ten can run games at 4K 60fps hands whereas the One X has the ability to run but a handful of titles in full 4K natively. The Series Ten really goes beyond that and can play certain titles at 4K 120fps and 8K 30fps. The Series S as well makes use of the same custom octa-core CPU that is clocked at 3.6GHz as seen on the Series X which is a huge jump over the i.75GHz octa-core processor on the I S. At that place is also an increase in terms of memory where the Series South makes use of 10GB GDDR6 compared to the 8GB of DDR3 RAM and 32MB of ESRAM on the One S.

The more than powerful hardware then brings a significant deviation in the graphical output betwixt the Xbox Series Southward and the One S. The older panel cannot output 4K while the new Series S aims at 1440p 120fps as well as 4K resolution upscaling features. Besides offering obvious graphics improvements, the two new consoles as well bring ray tracing for improved lighting besides as auto HDR features that bring a huge change in the overall expect of the games.

The new consoles also make use of a faster SSD instead of using hard drives that were seen on both the Xbox One X and One South. In doing so, Microsoft promises super-fast load times, as well equally a new quick resume characteristic that lets you switch between games and resume where yous left off, without having to load the game all over once again. It is notable that the Serial S only gets a 500GB SSD, which is less storage compared to the 1TB HDD on the One S, but that was probably washed to proceed the cost of the new console in cheque.

Another of import aspect here is the optical drive. If that is an of import feature for you, then you should know that while the Series X does come with one, the Series S does not. In comparison, the Ane S was offered with and without the optical drive, while the One X came with a congenital-in optical drive.

Lastly, the cost. The Serial 10 is priced at $499 which is similar to the launch price of the 1 X, making information technology a valuable upgrade. On the other mitt, the Series South is priced at $299, which is again a great price only you do need to consider that unlike the One S, this one doesn't come in an optical-drive version. The Ane S was priced at $299 and $249 for the digital-edition.

Now that we cleared that up, permit'south take a look at how the ii new consoles compete confronting each other.

Design

The Series X comes with a tall 'monolithic' design, about like a small-scale form factor tower PC. It can be placed horizontally, nevertheless it is suggested otherwise since the cooling fan is going to blow hot air out from the vent on top. It only comes in a black color cease with green accents on the frazzle grill. The design approach for the Series X is debatable. While it makes a lot of sense for optimized thermal performance, information technology could exist catchy to fit inside your existing Tv chiffonier.

The Series Southward on the other paw comes in a white end and has a more than conventional blueprint where you place it flat. Now it tin can stand up alpine just like the Series X, and being super compact one tin easily slide around their TV, vertically or horizontally. Of grade, you need to make certain that you lot don't block the large round frazzle equally it does become quite hot. I personally prefer the design of the Series S, fifty-fifty though I know it isn't the more than powerful 1. It merely looks actually modern and minimalistic with perforations all effectually for improved airflow.

Performance

Both the consoles are powered by a custom fabricated AMD eight-core processor based on the Zen 2 compages. The Series X has the CPU clocked at three.8GHz per core (3.6GHz with multi-threading) while the clock speeds on the CPU of the Serial Due south are at three.6GHz (iii.4GHz with multi-threading). Information technology is the graphics operation that really sets them apart equally the Series X comes with AMD's RDNA2 GPU capable of 12-teraflops performance using its 52 compute units clocked at 1.825GHz. The Series Southward offers simply iv-teraflops operation making use of 20 compute units at 1.565GHz. The Series Southward gets 10GB of DDR6 memory which is once again less than the Series X that comes with 16GB of DDR6.

The higher specced Series Ten promises 4K gaming and can push up to 8K resolutions at lower frame rates. At its native resolution, the console can go up to 120fps. The Serial South on the other manus is optimized for 2K (1440p) gaming at up to 120fps but tin offering dynamic resolution going up to 4K. There are certain common features including Ray Tracing, support for quick resume, HDR as well as variable refresh rates (VRR). Both the consoles also offer similar sound features including back up for DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby TrueHD with Atmos, and Windows Sonic.

	Xbox Series X	Xbox Serial S
CPU	Octa-core AMD Zen 2, 3.8GHz (iii.6GHz with multi-threading)	Octa-core AMD Zen two, 3.6GHz (3.4GHz with multi-threading)
GPU	1.825GHz clock speed, 12 TFLOPS, 52 compute units	1.565GHz clock speed, 20 compute units, 4 TFLOPs
Memory	16GB GDDR6	10GB GDDR6
Resolution support	2160p at 120Hz, up to 8K	1440p at 120Hz, up to 4K
Internal storage	1TB NVMe SSD	512GB SSD
Storage expansion	1TB expansion carte	1TB expansion card
External storage	USB iii.1 external HDD back up	USB 3.one external HDD back up
Optical disc	4K UHD Blu-Ray Drive	Not available
Connectivity	3x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports HDMI 2.1 802.11ac dual-band wireless 1Gbps Ethernet	3x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Blazon-A ports HDMI 2.1 802.11ac dual-band wireless 1Gbps Ethernet
Audio	DTS 5.i DOLBY Digital five.i Dolby TrueHD with Atmos Windows Sonic	DTS 5.1 DOLBY Digital v.ane Dolby TrueHD with Atmos Windows Sonic
Dimensions	301mm ten 151mm ten 151mm	275mm x 151mm x 65mm
Weight	4.45kg	1.93kg
Price	$499	$299

Storage

Both Xbox Serial X and Series S feature custom super-fast NVMe SSD storage. This helps the panel to load games way faster than the previous generation consoles. While the Serial X gets a larger 1TB bulldoze, the Serial S features a 512GB unit. Of class, you tin can further add together a proprietary storage expansion card that would run exactly similar the internal drive. Additionally, both the consoles come up with three USB 3.1 ports to attach external drives. Thanks to the new SSD drives, these consoles offer a new quick resume feature. Users can pause a handful of games allowing them to quickly jump back in where they left off and fifty-fifty switch between them without reloading the game. Having more than storage makes a lot of sense especially because the fact that games are now tipping the 100GB marker. Also, since these consoles offer backward compatibility, ane would definitely demand a lot of space to maintain their library.

Price

The consoles are priced at a substantial difference. The Series X is priced at $499 while the smaller Series S is priced at $299. When it comes to the pricing, it makes sense to go for the more powerful Series X. You lot non only get a more powerful console, simply y'all are also getting double the storage which is going to exist crucial if yous desire to accept a solid library of games bachelor at your disposal. While the Series Due south is indeed cheaper, information technology makes sense as a purchase only if you have a very strict budget and do not intend to become a 4K Television set in the future.

Decision: The Xbox Series X should be your de-facto choice

Microsoft has taken the right path by launching two consoles at unlike price points, similar to how information technology did with the Xbox One lineup. The Serial X is the obvious hero product and feels like a justified side by side-gen console upgrade. It should be your choice if you intendance about the best performance along with a high-resolution 4K gaming experience. Along with that, you become larger internal storage compared to the Serial Due south which is of import if you want to store more games from the go. The Series S is non as beefy every bit the Serial X. It offers a more compact package and is just optimized for 1440p resolution. Information technology does offer some of the benefits from Series 10. Simply for an extra $200 for the Series X, y'all are getting a lot more, and honestly, it does brand sense to buy the Series X.

Xbox Serial X and Serial S Restocks: When, where, and how to buy Microsoft'south new gaming console

Go for the Serial S only if you are willing to compromise on the resolution and internal storage or just don't want to spend actress for a 4K TV in the nigh futurity, or accept a very strict upkeep. For all other cases, the Xbox Series X is the i you should be ownership.