Gaming has been popular ever since they were developed for computers as well as for consoles in the 1960s. Since then gaming has grown leaps and bounds, and today it is a business worth more than 100 billion dollars a year. Some of the early games like PacMan, Space Invaders, and Donkey Kong played a big role in increasing the popularity of gaming around the world. Electronic gaming was further revolutionized by the introduction of gaming consoles. Initially dominated by Nintendo and Sega, they gradually ceded ground to Sony PlayStation due to its superior third party support. And with the introduction of Xbox by Microsoft, the competition stiffened further.
The introduction of gaming consoles also increased the popularity of esports, with most major gaming titles becoming available for both PC as well as gaming consoles. Numerous esports betting guide became available, helping novices place bets on various e-sporting events held around the world, making gaming even more lucrative for developers.
And now, the much-awaited successor to the third generation of gaming consoles, Xbox One have finally been announced by Microsoft. Named as Xbox series X and Xbox series S, both these consoles will be available, starting November 10th, 2020. While the series X is being marketed as the premium gaming console, series S provides a more affordable alternative costing 200 dollars less than the series X.
Key differences between Series X and Series S
There are two main differences between the two consoles. The first difference being in the GPU. Series X contains top of the line 12.5 teraflops of GPU performance at 1.825 GHz, while the series S has a more modest 4 teraflops of performance at 1.55 GHz.
The other major difference between the two consoles is in the resolution. With a more powerful processor, series X can run games at 4k resolution at 60fps, while the resolution of the S series is capped at 1440p, but can hit up to 120fps.
Other minor differences include a smaller storage capacity of 512 GB in series S compared to 1 TB of series X, and a RAM of 10 GB in S series compared to 16 GB in the X series. The memory can be upgraded by a Seagate storage expansion card, but the cost of it has not been revealed yet.
How does series S compare to the older Xbox One X?
On paper, Xbox one X seems to have a higher GPU performance of 6 teraflops compared to 4 teraflops in series S, but the newer console runs on a newer architecture of AMD’s DNA compared to the previous GCN architecture, which provides a 25% increase in performance. With significant improvements in CPU performance and the use of an SSD drive, gamers can expect a smoother playing experience compared to the older version.
Series S has some next-gen features like VRS, mesh shaders and ray tracing that provides a gaming experience as good as the X series, but at a lower resolution.
Both series X and Series S will be able to play the same games. And thanks to Xbox Game Pass, backward compatibility should not be an issue for new consoles.
With series S, Microsoft has given a preference to framerates and visual quality over higher resolution allowing for a better playing experience for the gamers. According to developers, the new series S will not hold back the next generation of gaming, but it will require the developers to strike a balance within their games.
Although series S doesn’t have the fastest hardware, when paired with the various subscription plans offered by Microsoft, seems to be a good value for money, and could be an ideal gaming console for most people.
