Xbox Series X could draw up to 300W of power
The Xbox Series X's new Mini-ITX tower design isn't just for show. Its shoebox shape is specifically for heat management, and the new Xbox could belt out some serious thermals as it gobbles up lots of power.
Microsoft touts their new Xbox SX is the world's most powerful console that will "eat monsters for breakfast." It also might eat your power bill. New calculations from DigitalFoundry peg the Xbox Series X's power consumption at up to 300W thanks to the new high-end components housed in the monolith-shaped box. This represents a huge 76% spike in power draw compared to the Xbox One X's 170W.
The TDP numbers are based on the Xbox Series X's new SoC hardware that includes a Navi GPU and Zen 2 CPU combo, which may be overclocked to higher frequencies and stacked with more CUs in order to hit the promised native 4K 60FPS and even 120FPS performance targets. Microsoft says the Xbox SX is twice as powerful as the Xbox One X, and it could pull in twice the power as a result.
Xbox's Phil Spencer asserts the Xbox SX is not only cool, but quiet during gameplay, strongly hinting at an advanced thermal solution for the console. This is probably the most important question especially considering most people will lay the box on its side and nestle it on an entertainment center shelf, not leave it vertically standing for more ventilation. Drawing this much power for a console will generate some serious sizzle, and heat mitigation is tremendously important.
The Xbox Series X's new Mini-ITX tower design isn't just for show. Its shoebox shape is specifically for heat management, and the new Xbox could belt out some serious thermals as it gobbles up lots of power. Microsoft touts their new Xbox SX is the world's most powerful console that will "eat monsters for breakfast." It also might eat your power bill. New calculations from DigitalFoundry peg the Xbox Series X's power consumption at up to 300W thanks to the new high-end components housed in the monolith-shaped box.
This represents a huge 76% spike in power draw compared to the Xbox One X's 170W. The TDP numbers are based on the Xbox Series X's new SoC hardware that includes a Navi GPU and Zen 2 CPU combo, which may be overclocked to higher frequencies and stacked with more CUs in order to hit the promised native 4K 60FPS and even 120FPS performance targets. Microsoft says the Xbox SX is twice as powerful as the Xbox One X, and it could pull in twice the power as a result. Xbox's Phil Spencer asserts the Xbox SX is not only cool, but quiet during gameplay, strongly hinting at an advanced thermal solution for the console. This is probably the most important question especially considering most people will lay the box on its side and nestle it on an entertainment center shelf, not leave it vertically standing for more ventilation.
Drawing this much power for a console will generate some serious sizzle, and heat mitigation is tremendously important. We could see a more advanced vapor chamber cooler similar to the one used in the Xbox One X--a solution which is typically reserved for dedicated graphics cards. So if the Xbox SX pulls in 300W while gaming, how does that compare to other consoles? Here's a quick TDP breakdown: Xbox One - 112W Xbox One S - 70W Xbox One X - 170W PlayStation 4 - up to 230W PS4 Pro - 165W
Check below for confirmed specs and details, and a huge content listing of everything we've heard about Xbox Series X so far: Xbox Series X confirmed details (Formerly Project Scarlett): 8-core, 16-thread Zen 2 CPU Navi GPU on RDNA architecture Highly customized 7nm SoC from AMD GDDR6 memory 2x Xbox One X's 6TFLOPs of GPU perf 4x CPU power of Xbox One generation Can deliver up to 40x more performance than Xbox One in specific use cases Adaptive sync supported Super-fast SSD that can be used as VRAM Supports 8K resolution (likely media playback) 120FPS gaming Variable refresh rate (adaptive sync/FreeSync) Variable Rate Shading Raytracing confirmed with dedicated raytracing cores Backward compatible with thousands of Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games New controller with a dedicated share button Compatible with Xbox One accessories
The Xbox Series X's new Mini-ITX tower design isn't just for show. Its shoebox shape is specifically for heat management, and the new Xbox could belt out some serious thermals as it gobbles up lots of power. Microsoft touts their new Xbox SX is the world's most powerful console that will "eat monsters for breakfast." It also might eat your power bill. New calculations from DigitalFoundry peg the Xbox Series X's power consumption at up to 300W thanks to the new high-end components housed in the monolith-shaped box.
This represents a huge 76% spike in power draw compared to the Xbox One X's 170W. The TDP numbers are based on the Xbox Series X's new SoC hardware that includes a Navi GPU and Zen 2 CPU combo, which may be overclocked to higher frequencies and stacked with more CUs in order to hit the promised native 4K 60FPS and even 120FPS performance targets. Microsoft says the Xbox SX is twice as powerful as the Xbox One X, and it could pull in twice the power as a result. Xbox's Phil Spencer asserts the Xbox SX is not only cool, but quiet during gameplay, strongly hinting at an advanced thermal solution for the console.