Microsoft unveils Xbox Series X technical details; Powered by AMD's Zen 2 and RDNA 2 with 12 TFLOPS of power

A generally quiet Monday for tech was turned on its back with Microsoft unveiling a host of technical details and design goals for their upcoming console, the Xbox Series X.

The Series X, which forms part of the ninth generation of consoles alongside Sony's under-wraps PlayStation 5, was earlier announced by Microsoft during The Game Awards, is being given a serious amount of power, in line with Phil Spencer's goal of being "twice as fast" as the Xbox One X.

The Xbox division seems to have taken Spencer's goal literally. The console, earlier known to be powered by AMD's Zen 2 and RDNA architectures, has been confirmed to be powered by the unreleased RDNA 2 graphics architecture, with 12 Teraflops of raw compute power, putting it at exactly twice that of the Xbox One X's 6 Teraflops, though that number does not account for architectural improvements going from a GCN architecture-powered core on the Xbox One to a RDNA-powered core.

In addition, the Series X also features support for Microsoft's DirectX Raytracing, only seen so far in Nvidia's implementation of the technology, called RTX. The technology enables more realistic lighting, reflections, shadows and even sound, all rendered in real time.

This, in combination with the next-generation SSD storage and the high-performance Zen 2 CPU, promises support of up to 120 frames per second rendering, though developers can continue to choose whatever target frame rate they want.

The console will also feature Variable Rate Shading, which is a technique that involves telling the GPU which areas of the image being rendered it should focus on.

Essentially, in VRS, the image rendered is split into grids, with the grids of the image where the player is more likely to focus getting a higher image quality compared to the rest of the image. This helps improve overall utilisation of the graphics horsepower and gives some breathing room to the GPU, potentially allowing better performance.

The Xbox Series X also has what Microsoft calls 'smart delivery', which allows gamers to play the version of the game they buy on the console they're playing it on, removing the need to purchase separate copies for different consoles.

For example, if you're buying a copy of Cyberpunk 2077 for the Xbox, you will play the version intended for the console you're plaing it on. This means a player on the Xbox One will get the Xbox One version of the game, while a player on the Xbox Series X will get the Series X version of the game, without needing to buy dedicated copies for each console.

It also has a new feature called 'quick resume', allowing players to keep multiple games under suspension simultaneously, enabling them to enter their game instantly whenever they want.

The Series X will also feature backwards compatibility for past Xbox console games, going back all the way to the original Xbox. Microsoft says games from that era will look and play better on the Series X without developer intervention, hinting at some form of machine-based remastering or hardware emulation.

The Xbox Series X releases towards the end of 2020. More details will be made available at the Electronic Entertainment Expo later this year.