[Update] Xbox One S performance boost revealed

[vcfan]

Quote

 

The new console has a faster GPU and we've benchmarked it.

 

By Richard Leadbetter

Published 02/08/2016

 

Xbox One S releases today and we finally have detailed data on exactly how the new console is faster than the original model. What's more, we've had access to production hardware for several days now, meaning we can test it. The bottom line is this: Xbox One S has a GPU clock-speed of 914MHz, up from 853MHz in the older unit. That's a 7.1 per cent increase and ESRAM bandwidth increases in line, taking that up to 218GB/s effective. Some games see no difference - others run noticeably faster.

 

As you can read in today's extensive Xbox One S tech interview, the GPU 'overclock' is one of a number of enhancements in a new system-on-chip (SoC) package that adds support for 4K HDR media and gaming. According to Microsoft, upclocking the graphics core is needed to support rendering real-time non-HDR versions of the game for the GameDVR feature, streaming and screenshots. The firm could have disabled it for non-HDR titles, but they chose not to - it's effectively a small, bonus value-added feature. In essence, the difference is rather like a factory overclocked PC graphics card compared to a stock model. By and large, Xbox One S runs like a standard console, but there are scenarios where the improvement is dramatic - far more so than we envisaged when Microsoft supplied the spec.

 

"Some games (ones that utilise dynamic resolution and/or unlocked frame-rates) may see a very minor performance improvement," says Microsoft's Albert Penello, senior director of product management and planning. "Our testing internally has shown this to be pretty minor, and is only measurable on certain games, so we didn't want to make it a 'selling point' for the new console."

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-xbox-one-s-has-a-gpu-overclock-and-we-have-benchmarked-it

 

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Gears of War 4 employs a dynamic resolution system that tweaks the game's rendering resolution in both single-player and multiplayer to maintain its target frame rate in each mode (30 frames per second and 60 fps, respectively). According to Fergusson, the Xbox One S has additional raw GPU and CPU power compared to the Xbox One, and The Coalition's engineers have been able to take advantage of that to reduce the frequency of frame rate or resolution penalties in more demanding sections of the game.

 

http://www.polygon.com/2016/6/13/11927732/xbox-one-s-performance-gears-4

Edited August 3, 2016 by Andrew

[BajiRav]

I doubt it's anything substantial, probably just minor bump similar to the 360S.

[Gerowen]

6 minutes ago, BajiRav said:

I doubt it's anything substantial, probably just minor bump similar to the 360S.

Yeah if I remember correctly even the various models of the Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 had ever increasing amounts of horsepower, but the difference was negligible because the games were always designed to the lowest common denominator, the classic/original version of the system.

[George P Global Moderator]

3 hours ago, Gerowen said:

eah if I remember correctly even the various models of the Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 had ever increasing amounts of horsepower, but the difference was negligible because the games were always designed to the lowest common denominator, the classic/original version of the system.

While true, the difference here is that todays games, like GoW4 specifically, use dynamic resolution which goes up and down to keep the frame rate stable.  If this bit is true, that extra bit of CPU/GPU could mean the resolution drops are lower on the newer S compared to the original XB1.      Another 100mhz CPU and maybe 50-100Mhz on the GPU side help keep things more smooth in the end.

 

[George P Global Moderator]

http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/14/11934898/microsoft-xbox-one-s-additional-processing-power

 

A bit more info here, the additional CPU/GPU looks to be for HDR games,  probably allowing for a small OC to specific titles .

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

And the confusion continues! GG MS

[George P Global Moderator]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

And the confusion continues! GG MS

Not really, Phil talked about it now, it's just a small bit extra for HDR titles, nothing big ( I don't know who thought it'd be something big though).

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Just now, George P said:

Not really, Phil talked about it now, it's just a small bit extra for HDR titles, nothing big ( I don't know who thought it'd be something big though).

Yes really.

 

Quote

Xbox One games will look "identical" on Xbox One S, Microsoft has said, despite the newer console's slight boost in processing power.

Speaking with Eurogamer today at E3, Xbox planning lead Albert Penello stated that the additional CPU and GPU access granted to developers for Xbox One S in order to enable HDR will have "literally no impact" on the performance of games.

"When we made changes to the box for 4K we unlocked a little bit more processing power to enable HDR. That's it. It's exactly the same architecture as the existing one," Penello told me during a presentation on the new console.

"To support HDR, we give people access to a little more CPU and GPU. That's it. It is so insignificant it is mind boggling it is being picked up."

Yesterday, a Polygon report claimed Gears of War 4 would perform better on Xbox One S, and that the newer console's raw processing power could be used to improve its frame-rate and resolution.

Some have speculated Xbox One would overclock its GPU and CPU, but Penello denied this.

When asked whether there would be any performance difference, Penello was clear:

"I promise, it won't even show up. It will have no impact on games at all. Literally no impact. They will be identical. It's nothing, it is literally nothing."

Is conflicting with

 

Quote

According to Fergusson, the Xbox One S has additional raw GPU and CPU power compared to the Xbox One, and The Coalition's engineers have been able to take advantage of that to reduce the frequency of frame rate or resolution penalties in more demanding sections of the game.

 

[George P Global Moderator]

6 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Yes really.

 

Is conflicting with

 

 

They both say there's additional CPU/GPU resources unlocked for HDR, which is fact,  Gears of War 4 is going to use HDR so it gets access to it, if that "reduces the frequency of frame rate or resolution penalties in more demanding sections of the game" when you're playing on a HDR TV then ok?   Games will look the same though, you probably won't notice it, and Fergusson could be talking about something so minor it'll be hard to pick up, yet still be technically true.

[Mando]

so essentially they are facilitating Texture scaling, just as Nvidia do with Windows PC games and DSR  adding HDR is nice and all, no real merit if you dont have HDR capability on your TV, but thats changing

[Skiver Veteran]

I'm with Andrew here,

 

This

 

Quote

Xbox One games will look "identical" on Xbox One S, Microsoft has said, despite the newer console's slight boost in processing power.

is not

 

Quote

to reduce the frequency of frame rate or resolution penalties in more demanding sections of the game.

This to me says that there are sections of the game that will run better and look better on the S then it will on the XB1 standard. 

 

My opinion has been the same since rumour became fact - this will only damage the console market IMO. 

[-T- Member]

Ordered my One S anyway, I am merely hopeful it'll fix the controller disconnect I've have on my day 1 since release 

[George P Global Moderator]

11 minutes ago, Skiver said:

I'm with Andrew here,

 

This

 

is not

 

This to me says that there are sections of the game that will run better and look better on the S then it will on the XB1 standard. 

 

My opinion has been the same since rumour became fact - this will only damage the console market IMO. 

I don't think they'll look different at all unless you're on a HDR TV compared to a normal one, but that's to be expected.   I still bet you the difference is so minor it doesn't matter at all.

[Skiver Veteran]

2 minutes ago, George P said:

I don't think they'll look different at all unless you're on a HDR TV compared to a normal one, but that's to be expected.   I still bet you the difference is so minor it doesn't matter at all.

I agree that the difference won't matter to your normal person. It always amazes me when people claim they can tell whether it's running at 1080 or 900... 30 or 60 frames etc.

 

The problem is MS got off on the wrong foot this generation with poor information, and if they make statements that are then countered in other interviews then people will be put off. They need to be clear and precise and not worry about hurting someones feelings, if they tell me the S will do things my X1 won't then so be it, if anything they'll get more sales out of it if they do say those things and be honest.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Just now, Skiver said:

I agree that the difference won't matter to your normal person. It always amazes me when people claim they can tell whether it's running at 1080 or 900... 30 or 60 frames etc.

 

The problem is MS got off on the wrong foot this generation with poor information, and if they make statements that are then countered in other interviews then people will be put off. They need to be clear and precise and not worry about hurting someones feelings, if they tell me the S will do things my X1 won't then so be it, if anything they'll get more sales out of it if they do say those things and be honest.

MS seem to prefer the tactic of allowing 5 different people to say 5 different things a day apart from each other, then fight over who is right

[Mando]

2 hours ago, George P said:

I don't think they'll look different at all unless you're on a HDR TV compared to a normal one, but that's to be expected.   I still bet you the difference is so minor it doesn't matter at all.

this in a nutshell! , if there is no HDR display connected, it will look EXACTLY the same. HDR is literally just a wider colouration range being supported by the output display. its not magic or voodoo  all consoles (and a good amount of PC titles these days) use Texture scaling/up/down on the fly to achieve consistent frame rates, its pretty natty the methods used.

[BajiRav]

9 hours ago, Andrew said:

And the confusion continues! GG MS

where is the confusion coming from?

Someone already has Xbox One: Start a game, play it.

Someone buys a new Xbox One S: Start a game, play it.

The games will look identical on a normal TV but on a HDMI 1.4 TVs that support HDR, you will get those benefits. Some games might perform slightly better but I can bet that the difference is not noticeable for average user.

The possibility of people buying Xbox One S when they already have a perfectly working Xbox One is next to zero (or at least I would like to think). You are not going to get a game that runs at 1080p/30fps to suddenly go 1080p/60fps because it is running on One S.

 

I will repeat again, Xbox 360S had faster Xenon chips but no one complained because most didn't read the Ars Technica article that talked about it.

 

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Just now, BajiRav said:

where is the confusion coming from?

Someone already has Xbox One: Start a game, play it.

Someone buys a new Xbox One S: Start a game, play it.

The games will look identical on a normal TV but on a HDMI 1.4 TVs that support HDR, you will get those benefits. Some games might perform slightly better but I can bet that the difference is not noticeable for average user.

The possibility of people buying Xbox One S when they already have a perfectly working Xbox One is next to zero (or at least I would like to think). You are not going to get a game that runs at 1080p/30fps to suddenly go 1080p/60fps because it is running on One S.

 

I will repeat again, Xbox 360S had faster Xenon chips but no one complained because most didn't read the Ars Technica article that talked about it.

 

The confusion begins here:

 

 

[BajiRav]

1 minute ago, Andrew said:

The confusion begins here:

 

 

already addressed that in my post. Are you going to swap your One for a OneS because it runs GoW4 at 32fps instead of 30 fps or 1080p instead of 1000p?

[xendrome]

8 hours ago, -T- said:

Ordered my One S anyway, I am merely hopeful it'll fix the controller disconnect I've have on my day 1 since release 

Why didn't you have a console swap under warranty?....

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

8 hours ago, -T- said:

Ordered my One S anyway, I am merely hopeful it'll fix the controller disconnect I've have on my day 1 since release 

 

32 minutes ago, BajiRav said:

The games will look identical on a normal TV but on a HDMI 1.4 TVs that support HDR, you will get those benefits. Some games might perform slightly better but I can bet that the difference is not noticeable for average user.

The possibility of people buying Xbox One S when they already have a perfectly working Xbox One is next to zero (or at least I would like to think). You are not going to get a game that runs at 1080p/30fps to suddenly go 1080p/60fps because it is running on One S.

 

28 minutes ago, BajiRav said:

already addressed that in my post. Are you going to swap your One for a OneS because it runs GoW4 at 32fps instead of 30 fps or 1080p instead of 1000p?

Well our fellow member -T-  here owns an X1 and he has pre-ordered. So your probability just went out the window. You can bet he's not the last.

 

And I'll take Rod's word over yours or Phil's any day, seeing as he is the developer after all with real world results, not promises, PR or theories.

 

 

 

 

[-T- Member]

1 hour ago, xendrome said:

Why didn't you have a console swap under warranty?....

Honestly, I've never seen any of those actually fix it. Plus I have a day one and don't want to give that up

[BajiRav]

14 hours ago, Andrew said:

 

 

Well our fellow member -T-  here owns an X1 and he has pre-ordered. So your probability just went out the window. You can bet he's not the last.

 

And I'll take Rod's word over yours or Phil's any day, seeing as he is the developer after all with real world results, not promises, PR or theories.

 

Well..read my post again. Will he go for One S if his One didn't have controller disconnect problem? You don't have to believe me for anything but I didn't say anything that is opposite of Rod or any other developer. There are performance gains with One S but it won't be as big as PS4 > PS4K but more like 360 > 360S.

The APU went from 28nm to 20nm, these process improvements typically come with power and performance gains. This is just a natural order of things.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

1 hour ago, BajiRav said:

Well..read my post again. Will he go for One S if his One didn't have controller disconnect problem? You don't have to believe me for anything but I didn't say anything that is opposite of Rod or any other developer. There are performance gains with One S but it won't be as big as PS4 > PS4K but more like 360 > 360S.

The APU went from 28nm to 20nm, these process improvements typically come with power and performance gains. This is just a natural order of things.

We both know we're not going to agree on this. Let's wait for the tests in August to see how "identical" these consoles perform.

 

Meanwhile...

 

1080p Project Scorpio games "will look different" and some "run a little better" than on Xbox One/S

 

Microsoft's mixed messages at E3 aren't pretty for Xbox One owners

 

Clear as day!

[BajiRav]

19 minutes ago, Andrew said:

We both know we're not going to agree on this. Let's wait for the tests in August to see how "identical" these consoles perform.

 

Meanwhile...

 

1080p Project Scorpio games "will look different" and some "run a little better" than on Xbox One/S

 

Microsoft's mixed messages at E3 aren't pretty for Xbox One owners

 

Clear as day!

Right from horse's mouth

 

 

 

Much better than that click-bait editorial on Eurogamer. He clearly says you should not buy One S thinking it will run One games faster. You are just trying look for a problem that doesn't exist.