Details of Microsoft's best kept secret video game console have finally been unveiled. From the looks of it, the Xbox Project Scorpio is out to sting the life out of the PlayStation 4 Pro.
Microsoft uncharacteristically gave Eurogamer a first crack at the much-awaited Xbox Scorpio. Digital Foundry, a division of the video game-centric website and YouTube channel, was tasked with scrutinizing the Xbox Project Scorpio. Digital Foundry has been very critical of the previous Xbox device and this move by the company of having one of its staunchest critics review the Xbox Scorpio shows how serious it is about its new product.
The first thing that struck the Eurogamer team was the console's design. After commending its smart design, the reviewers agreed that Microsoft managed to make good on its promise of creating the "world's most powerful console ever". The Xbox Project Scorpio did have six teraflops of power courtesy of a specially-designed GPU.
As reported by Extreme Tech, the Xbox Project Scorpio could be based on Polaris instead of Vega. The new console will supposedly increase its L2 cache from 512KB to 2MB which is the same configurations of the RX 470 and RX 480. The render backends on the chip have also been doubled from 16 in the Xbox One to 32 in the upcoming console. The Xbox Scorpio will also have 40 Radeon compute units that clocks in at 1172MHz. Its clock speed boost is 1.37 times higher than the Xbox One.
The Microsoft Xbox Project Scorpio will also have more GPU fill-rate, 2.7 times more than its predecessor. This will allow the console to support 4K gaming. Another huge improvement from the Xbox One is the Scorpio's memory bandwidth. From DDR3, the new console will sport a GDDR5 which is similar to what Sony uses in the PlayStation 4 Pro. Microsoft took it one step higher by giving Project Scorpio 12GB as compared to the PS 4 Pro's 8GB storage.
Eurogamer also noted that the development of the console is well ahead of schedule so much so that a release date is possible within six months. The technical aspect of the Microsoft Xbox Project Scorpio assures that it will be better than the current leader, the PlayStation 4 Pro. However, for the Xbox Scorpio to truly succeed, it needs to do more than just have impressive specifications.
