Microsoft has spilled some beans on the capabilities of its next-generation Xbox. Set to arrive during the holiday season 2020, the next-gen system will sport an AMD CPU and GPU and will be capable of hitting 120FPS for high-speed gaming. It will also support 8K, although we have to imagine that will be more for future proofing against next-gen movie watching than gaming.
Currently known as "Project Scarlett," Microsoft's new Xbox will be based on AMD's upcoming Zen 2 CPU architecture with Navi graphics on board. It sounds like it'll be an APU design again, much like the Xbox One, which used much older hardware from AMD. Its new-gen kit should be much more capable. As much as four times more so. There will also be support for variable rate shading and ray tracing.
The Zen 2 CPU is a monster 7nm chiplet design which looks set to become the most capable CPU generation ever for gaming and multitasking on PCs, so a console with one fitted is an exciting prospect. With it coming in 2020 too, we might even see a Navi 20 chip in it, which is the next-generation, high-end AMD graphics that we've heard little about.
Either way, the next Xbox will be plenty powerful and Microsoft claims it will be capable of hitting 120 FPS in most games, as well as offering 8K resolution support. Unless we're talking 30 FPS at most, we think it's most likely 8K support for a next-generation of movies and TV.
Perhaps the more exciting news, however, is the use of high-speed SSDs in the design, which Microsoft claims can cut game loading times to almost nothing — much like Sony is promising with the PS5.
Expect to learn more about the next Xbox over the coming year.
