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Xbox Series S

PoetPhilosopher

Veteran Member
The XBox Series S console, a cut-down value version of the XBox Series X, is starting to struggle in some of the latest games according to this article, with one game being referred to as a "blurry mess" due to having to run at a low resolution to handle the complexity of the game:

https://www.tomsguide.com/opinion/psa-do-not-buy-an-xbox-series-s

I'm not overly surprised, myself. I just didn't think it would start to happen quite this soon. I figured a few more years.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
All I read is new console starting to suck. I haven't even bought a new console yet. Still playing the One. And my Switch.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I'm still on Xbox one. I find no need for any of the newer consoles. There are no games to justify the massive price they are asking.
 

Debater Slayer

Vipassana
Staff member
Premium Member
The Series S has a GPU within the ballpark of a 5600 XT and a CPU a tad slower than a Ryzen 7 3700X. These specs can and should comfortably run a game like FIFA 22 at 1080p at a stable, smooth frame rate. That the game has issues on the console makes me suspect the problem is a lack of optimization and improper porting, not a shortcoming of the console itself.

From what I can see in the article, I think the main issue is having unrealistic expectations and comparing the Series S to the Series X, which has a significantly stronger GPU and a slightly faster CPU. For example, in the case of F1 2021, the article calls having no 120 Hz mode and not running at 4K "compromises" compared to the Series X version. Well, of course; those aren't realistic or fair expectations to have for a $300 machine running hardware that, on a roughly equivalent (spec-wise) PC, would be just perfect for 1080p/144 Hz gaming in most games.

The article also mentions poorly implemented ray tracing in Resident Evil: Village. I don't know about others, but I certainly wouldn't expect any kind of decent ray tracing from a $300 console when a GPU that can realistically do it with good visual quality on PC would by itself cost more than double the price of the entire console.

The Series S is great value for the money for what it is: a budget option to play current-gen games at 1080p (and sometimes 1440p) at 30 FPS in many cases (and 60 FPS if the game can achieve that with the available hardware). Sure, the Series X and PS5 are much more powerful, but they're also a lot more expensive and bigger in size. For $300, the Series S really is an amazing deal in today's GPU-starved market.
 
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PoetPhilosopher

Veteran Member
New The Series S has a GPU within the ballpark of a 5600 XT

More or less. The Series S has two-thirds the graphics GFLOPs as the 5600 XT and is probably less powerful than one. But I get what you're saying.

That the game has issues on the console makes me suspect the problem is a lack of optimization and improper porting, not a shortcoming of the console itself.

I agree wholeheartedly. It's really that.

I just hope the problem doesn't become worse, because while the new consoles tend to have more options now for adjusting settings, sometimes there aren't workarounds to things like low resolution / poor settings in the same way there is for PC games. So if developers somehow manage to botch that up, there may not be much one can do.

However, if the resolution on a game is really low, like has to be run at 800x600 due to poor optimization and the complexity of the game, it can look really bad on some modern screens. I've experienced it first-hand.
 
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