Xbox Velocity Architecture: Closer Look at the NextGen Tech Driving Gaming Innovation Forward on XSX

Jason Ronald writes, "When we set out to design the Xbox Series X, we aspired to build our most powerful console ever powered by next generation innovation and delivering consistent, sustained performance never before seen in a console with no compromises."

[mrsolidsteel20]

Nice

[Marquinho]

2.5 SSD speed multiplier? Those are BIG words. Can't wait to see how it stacks up against competition in real world.

[Fantangoooo]

Indeed and one thing people are forgetting.... the ps5 SSD at 5.5gb or 8-9gb compressed are just peak numbers NOT sustained!l. Sony are clever how they word things, it’s the same with their gpu at 10.28tflops and 3.5ghz gpu.. those are all peaks not sustained. Velocity and Microsoft’s custom Nvme drive are sustained 2.4 raw and 6gb(2.4x 2.5 average) so that’s another aspect to consider if compared. I am curious to know the low end of Sony’s performance as what Microsoft is given us are locked throughout the velocity ... no fluctuations, just stable numbers

[IRetrouk]

Wow you really do make some crap up dont you?

First you make stuff up about sonys ssd as fact, then post the WRONG info for xboxs lol

The ssd in th ps5 is as sustained as Microsofts lol, it's a better ssd and io setup full stop...

2.4 raw and 4.8 compressed, not 6gb, the 6gb is the number microsoft gave for the decompression block, sonys is up to 20, I dont really think you know what you are talking about to be honest. Not surprising.

[Fantangoooo]

@IRetrouk
iNa dude ... YOU DONT KNOW what you are saying..
It’s simple maths 2.4 x 2.5 =6

Sony said with the use of Kraken, they get 5.5gb to 7-9gb. That’s a yield of 20% compression rate.
The BCPack on Microsoft is 10%more efficient at 30% which give you the numbers they have stated on the velocity architecture.
When you add samplier feedback, Gpu x2.5, A.I, the 100gb of directX storage API It greatly reduces the SSD delta which makes the 5.5gb not as amazing as you like to think. It will be faster to offload assets but the bottleneck of the which the Xbox has a larger size than the ps5 you will only see a load time difference of 2 second tops!

Plus we do not play load times, we play games and we want it on 60fps/4k, leave that 30fps mess in this gen.

Go read up on the tech before you argue with me

23rd baby

[IRetrouk]

Dude, it's you that doesnt understand.... you need to read up on the tech instead of just making stuff up, 40% faster than last gen at 2.4 raw, 100 times faster with the compressed 4.8 speed..., ms said this themselves...in this very article🤦‍♂️again the 6gb number is for their decompression block, and again cerny said they can get up to 22gb with theirs.....you dont know what you are talking about full stop lol.

"1TB NVME SSD, delivering 2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput, more than 40x the throughput of Xbox One."

"Assuming a 2:1 compression ratio, Xbox Series X delivers an effective 4.8 GB/s in I/O performance to the title, approximately 100x the I/O performance in current generation consoles. To deliver similar levels of decompression performance in software would require more than 4 Zen 2 CPU cores."

Sonys decompression is the equivalent of 9 zen 2 cpu cores.

Also nobody mentioned load times... both ssds are going to do way more than just allow faster loading.

[FanboySpotter]

Been trying to tell these people that were overhyping ps5 ssd not to sleep on XVA.

[lazyboyblue]

You are aware sony has their own fast i/o system new to ps5? It's not just a faster drive.

[Dissidia]

That's fine and I'm sure the PS5's i/o system will be phenomenal. The point he was making is that people say the PS5's SSD etc will be the best thing ever seen, while the XSX one will be just okay or pail in comparison which just isn't true. They will both be major improvements over the current gen and a joy to experience.

[PigPen]

You are talking about kraken? If that's where you're going, you're wrong.

[DarkHeroZX]

Mark Cerny said when they built their I/O system it was to compensate for 8-10 Zen 2 CPUs. From what I read about the Series X. Theirs is for 4 Zen 2 CPU cores. Sony literally went all in on this thing being fast.

[Marquinho]

There's a lot of algorithm on I/O managing. I'm pumped to see how Velocity Architecture impacts on games. Looks like we're getting a much bigger upgrade in SSD speed to what the specs alone say.

[cooperdnizzle]

Shhh you are making to much sense

[THC CELL]

40 X faster than Xbox one
Ps5 is 100 times faster than ps5

[darthv72]

"Ps5 is 100 times faster than ps5"... wow, that is some next level shit. it's already faster than itself. What kind of sorcery is this?!?!?!?!?

[nirwanda]

If you scroll down a little bit and carry on reading with compression it's also 100x data through put.

[IRetrouk]

Yeah xbox is 100 times faster than last gen with compression at 4.8, ps5s is 100 times faster than last gen at its raw 5.5, cerny didnt speak about the speed with compressed numbers.

[Fantangoooo]

I don’t think most understand just how important Velocity is... The one thing I will say is even far more impressive is the “sampler feedback”. Which really makes the ssd and gpu highly efficient, by ensuring just what the player sees on screen will be rendered and not the entire image. This save an enormous amount of what needs to be passed through the I/O So in essence it is extremely efficient and multiplies the amount of work possible compared to what the raw numbers tell you.. which is explained with the Directx12 ultimate vid below
/ https://youtu.be/6HGVFyr-2D...
not to mention VSS. The XSX is a beast with raw power but that needs to be used smartly And velocity leverages all that power smartly. From what I hear B/C pack can compares 30% more than Kraken’s 20% but we shall see won’t we...
Either way next gen is going to be a treat

[tontontam0]

mark cerny explaining ps5 ssd architecture
xbox fanboys: meh boring

ms explaining xbox ssd architecture
xbox fanboys: wow, yeah , the beast, the power, so innovative.

[Harryvok]

XVA looks to just be a fancy term for 'custom built hardware made to work together efficiently'... like most consoles.

[Vasto]

Velocity Architecture is going to be better than what PS5 has. Also Microsoft will actually show in detail how Series X games are using it when they have their show on July 23rd.

Right now the cant show many games in these trailers but after July 23rd these trailers will have the new AAA 1st party games in them and they are going to be amazing.

Get your popcorn ready.

[Hellcat2020]

You see how Halo keeps getting mentioned more than any news on new games.
It’s because It’ll be a repeat of this gen and last gen
The same ol Halo, Forza and Gears rinse and repeat.
They’re banking hard on Halo being their system seller.

[goldwyncq]

Welp, I guess they just acquired all those new studios for decoration huh?

[darthv72]

We really only got 1 new Halo game this gen and 2 new Gears games. So no... nothing like last gen where we had 4 new halo games and 4 new gears games. But you keep up that narrative now. Maybe it will come true.

I will give you forza though. Last gen there were 5 games (3 mainline and 2 horizon) and this gen there are 5 (technically 6) as well (3 mainline and 2 horizon with 1 crossover).

[AngelicIceDiamond]

@Cat Or maybe JUST maybe its a launch title and they're trying to bring the game back to prominence?

[Automatic79]

@Hellcat

Another individual living under a rock for last several years.

Please understand 15 Xbox 1st party Studios. Games are practically being delivered every month so far in 2020.

[THC CELL]

Halo will flop mark my word

[Dissidia]

The worst performing title in the franchise sales numbers wise (Halo 5) sold 5 million in 3 months on Xbox One. It's been 5 years since there's been a new Halo game and it's launching with the next generation. I think they're smart to bank hard on it being their initial system seller. Don't let how YOU feel about the game blind you. The fanbase is still massive and have been impatiently waiting for the next entry. But don't take it from me, just watch ...

Oh and they'll be announcing new games ALONG with Halo next Thursday. Tune in

[darthv72]

@CELL, how should we mark it... SPAM or Inappropriate?

[Wulfer]

I guess that's why they revealed the system with Hell Blade 2 with a REAL-TIME showing! Get over it those days are GONE!

[Kavorklestein]

Right now people are talking about hardware and you bring up bashing Games.
Gotta shift the goalpost any time you can right?

[Sol4ris]

@Vasto

""Also Microsoft actually show how in detail Series X games are using it July 23rd."

So did M Cerny, and then Sony showed games taking advantage of it, at their games reveal.

Now as you noted it is MS's turn ;).

[Vasto]

I must have seen the wrong show then.

[PETE1985]

In my opinion only 1 game of Sony's thus far actually uses the speed and that is Ratchet and Clank. It is cool and obviously designed in order to show off that capability.

[DJStotty]

Sony showed trailers with a bit of gameplay for a current-gen game with world switching bolted on.

Microsoft will show gameplay, there is the difference.

[crazyCoconuts]

@vasto- in terms of Velocity architecture, I'm getting my stopwatch ready. Can't wait to see how facts line up with the narrative

[NealGamby]

Ahh, the life of an xbox fan. Forever waiting.

[Sol4ris]

@NealGamby

""Ahh, the life of an xbox fan. Forever waiting.""

Except you are simply talking (saying) dinosaur sized c**p.
Xbox fans are waiting for MS to show games running on XSX, (just like Sony fans waited to see games running on PS5) from franchises they love and any new announcements forth coming.

Bloody hell, it is not rocket science, hombre.

[Sol4ris]

@Vasto

""I must have seen the wrong show then.""

Perhaps, or maybe you didn't pay attention 🙂. R&C has shown features only possible with the SSD's in next gen consoles.

Look, I'm not looking to discredit or downplay any particular console. I just mentioned that Sony has shown some of it's games taking advantage of next gen hardware, and it's only fair that MS should do the same.
Peace.

[Vasto]

R & C's warp portals? All that SSD talk and thats it? Just 1 game out of all the ones they showed? LMAO

Microsoft going to blow that away bro. We want to see real benefits of the SSD and how it helps build worlds. Not some gimmick.

[crazyCoconuts]

@Vasto - point is that they showed SOMETHING that can only be done on a PS5. Over a month later and we're still over a week away before MS shows us something similar so we'll have to wait and see.

[RazzerRedux]

"Ratchet and clank not being 60FPS really disappointed me"

Ray Tracing will do that.

[Atom666]

Isn't RC using the SSD in the same way as Medium? Switching between worlds?

[Obscure_Observer]

@crazyCoconuts

"Over a month later and we're still over a week away before MS shows us something similar so we'll have to wait and see."

Did you missed The Medium?

[Koolaidude]

The Medium says hi.

[Drew345]

All hype

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

PS5 has already shown off the SSD with the new Ratchet and Clank.

And the XsX’s SSD and supportive hardware and software will be objectively inferior to PS5’s setup. Both use hardware and software to support their SSDs, but the PS5’s SSD is twice as fast as the one in the XsX.

Twice as fast.

And, all Xbox first party games are launching for the One X for the next 18-24 months, so how exactly will game development for the XsX NOT be held back by forcing compatibility with old HDDs?

The only hope for the XsX is for Halo Infinite to be a system-seller... we’ll see.

[crazyCoconuts]

Well said. There's the argument about how much game design / graphics will change based on a super fast SSD, that's one thing. But comparing IO on PS5 to IO on XSX, it's important to remember that there's a big difference in hardware and PS5 has hardware decompression as well. Hard to expect XSX to beat PS5 on IO any more than I'd expect PS5 to beat XSX on resolution.

[ThinkThink]

Twice as fast on paper and without taking the velocity architecture into account, yes you are correct.

The main draw of the velocity architecture is the dedicated decompression block to get those 5 + Gbps speeds. Without that decompression block, xbox series x would be capped at half that and would require the cpu to decompres.

[RazzerRedux]

@CyberCowboy

Next gen first party games can be $140 and still have to drop down to 30fps if ray tracing is enabled as it was with R&C. You can't just look at frame rate. There is more to it than that.

[Dissidia]

You ignore non first party games like 'The Medium' which will not be on Xbox One, but only Series X and PC. There will be more and more games that will not be on the Xbox One.

This article will kindly explain to you how games won't be held back anyway.
https://www.ibtimes.com/xbo...

Wether you choose to believe it or not is your choice. But I'm sure you won't because you dislike Xbox. Here's a tip, Xbox doing well doesn't threaten PS5. You can rest easy.

"The only hope for the XsX is for Halo Infinite to be a system-seller" you guys just get off on writing BS, I'm convinced.

[crazyCoconuts]

@think did you know that PS5 also has hardware decompression on top of the twice as fast SSD?

[Kavorklestein]

If both use hardware and software, then we know we need to see the efficiency of both the PS5 and Series X, when all the components and everything is used together.
Whose I/O hardware and software setup is better in the end, remains to be seen.
We know Sony's SSD is faster.
But does that mean their I/O Throughput systems are faster?
Or is it just the SSD?
I saw something in the trailer, and Roland expanded on it in the article.
In the trailer it said: "2.5x multiplier of speed performance on average."
And to Quote Roland's article directly: "This innovation results in approximately 2.5x the effective I/O throughput and memory usage above and beyond the raw hardware capabilities on average."
Sounds like he's saying that these systems and the software setup will allow the I/O Throughput to reach 2.5x faster performance than the components (ssd, memory, decompression hardware) would be able to reach without the Architecture in place? Software improving hardware...
Sounds like a pretty bold claim.
I liked reading this article.
But,
I want more of this. I want More from Sony and Microsoft's teams. I want to see performance tests and readouts. I want to see real world use and comparisons.
Digital Foundry is gonna have a geek party with everything they have to test and compare coming later this year.

[Koolaidude]

Do your research for Xbox series optimized games and games like the medium built only for series X. PlayStation historically takes a while to release good games anyway for new systems, so not sure what the issue is.

[NeoGamer232]

From what I can see from both consoles I doubt either one is going to be a whole lot better then the other.

To me, I am considering holding off on both, until they are cheaper and have a bigger next gen game library. Or at least a game I can't do without the new consoles.

[lazyboyblue]

"Velocity Architecture is going to be better than what PS5 has." Wow. You know the future! 🤡

Anyone else with even the slightest shred of intelligence should wait and make their own comparisons when the damn things are actually out. Or wait for an expert opinion such as Digital foundry.

[crazyCoconuts]

Load times of third party games will be super easy to compare for starters

[sinspirit]

Lol.

There is never any way to be faster than the drive itself. So, since we know that the PS5 drive is not bottlenecked and can run its full speed all the way to the VRAM. We already knows that it reaches the 5.5GB/s. There is no way for the XBox to somehow be faster than it's current drives speed in order to catch up to the PS5's drive and I/O. It doesn't work like that.

[mkis007]

Microsoft are the gods of marketing and publicity buzzwords. So many people here have latched on to Velocity Architecture and smart delivery. Simple concepts given big words to up the wow factor.

[rainslacker]

So, MS secret sauce is better than Sony's secret sauce?

[mkis007]

You can call out buzzwords until you are blue in the face; The fact is whatever ssd things series x can do, ps5 can do twice as fast. full stop. Microsoft doesn't refute this.

[Locutus_of_borg]

Certainly a nice lead up to the games reveal, but I’m not gonna get too excited just yet...

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Same, MS needs to show it all in action next week. It all needs to be backed up.

[Minute Man 721]

Need to see what it can really do

[GamerRN]

Exactly... Let's all stop bickering like children and wait and see what these things can do

[Sonyslave3]

Guys expect to see more of velocity and DirectML at their GameStack in August, I forgot what date but they announce it already.

[Minute Man 721]

That DirectML

[ThinkThink]

I'm excited to see what DirectML is going to do gaming.

[Ghostbob]

Velocity architecture is neat but no matter what speed it has PS5 SSD I/O throughput is over 2x faster just facts so deal with it.

[BillyG0AT]

Does this annoy you?

[olafu]

Heh, does it annoy you?

[Whitey2k]

Exactly just as bad as people saying ps5 wont look as good as the series x in its games if the gpu wont be good as the series x then the ssd on series x wont be good as the ps5 simple as that! No matter what mumbo jumbo they come out with

[Dissidia]

No one asked you about PS5 though, this is an xbox article, does it offend you?

[Imortus_san]

Just like the PS3 120fps, and that super fast Memory, right?

[Minute Man 721]

@ Imortus

The Powa of the Cell 😉

[Fantangoooo]

Clearly you don’t understand how this works... Ssd doesn’t make a console... there are lots of other moving parts... Velocity vs an ssd is like comparing a brain to an arm...
the ssd,gpu,cpu,ram these are the parts of a system... Sony will likely use Vulcan perhaps a modified version of what what they used for the PS4 whilst Microsoft is the Velocity based on directx12 ultimate.
So mentioned an SsD in this context doesn’t make sense sorry.

I have tried to explain sample feedback above which kinda kills this whole ssd I/O throughput which ponies keep singing about as if it’s the be and end all of the console.

[olafu]

No, you just made up a bunch of BS that shows you don't understand what your talking about and just used a bunch of buzz words.

[THC CELL]

So Xbox s X is 40 times faster then Xbox one nice

Wait ps5 is 100 times faster than PS4

[Destiny1080]

Exactly, the PS5 is 100x faster and the xbox is 40x

i suspect its more like 5x faster due to the custom design of the PS5

[ThinkThink]

You guys are just setting yourselves up for disappointment with these ps5 numbers.

[Fantangoooo]

I keep telling em they won’t listen

[IRetrouk]

No you keep telling people the xboxs io is better than sonys....its not.

[THC CELL]

Could say same to u Xbox fans think think when u all talk about Xbox studios recent aqusition

[Sonyslave3]

Epic games in their unreal engine fest confirm hellblade2 is real time 😲😲 they even gave a shout to Ninja Theory and told people to watch the trailer.

[Battlestar23]

They didn't say Hellblade 2 was running in real time. They showed a rough demo of a passerelle and that one was running in real time. Still, this is disingenuous, because real time =/= running on the target system.

[Sonyslave3]

Dude go watch the vid at 20 min Mark when they talk about realism characters he mention Senau at ninja theory. He said real time lol

[Sonyslave3]

https://video.twimg.com/ext...

Here he said it and even tell people to go watch Hellblade2 trailer lol

[Fantangoooo]

Nice one Sonyslave3, trust me XSX packs a major punch when it comes rendering. Epic knows this and only snuck it in casually in that vid. People didn’t believe that trailer was running on XSX. And don’t forget that trailer came out 2019 in a very very early build on UE5 and the XSX console, with even more optimisation it will be even far better now. Epic had confirmed for the ps5 demo they were only able to optimise for 30fps but they believe they will get the lumen demo to go up to 60fps once they are able to get the engine tooled properly by late 2021. Don’t sleep on XSX.

[IRetrouk]

Yep it was real time in engine, not real time in gameplay, think uncharted 4s original announce video....

Fantangoo, why do you make so much stuff up for? You are mixing up nanite and lumen, nanite can now run at 60fps while the lumen tech can only hit 30 at the moment, they are optimising and might get to 60...might. they said nothing about only being able to optimise 30fps on ps5... or really mentioned ps5 at all.

https://mobile.twitter.com/...

[Wotbot]

Great insight and balance of design

[mrsolidsteel20]

One thing that’s puzzling is why did they say it’s “40 times faster than the Xbox One” instead of saying how much faster it is compare to the Xbox One X?

In any case, now that MS is advertising how “super duper” their SSD is, maybe the Xbox fanboys will finally see the importance of the SSD’s are in these systems.....especially the one in Sony’s.

[Locutus_of_borg]

I’m more interested in the difference between the SSD’s ... more to the point, What can the Sony machine do that the Microsoft machine can’t ... I get the loading time ... but what else ....

[Wulfer]

That's just it, PS5 can't the XSX 17.7 percent more powerful system. It's balanced and locked. No variable frame rates and no variable CPU usage. Finally, no down clocking because the system hit a ceiling mark!

[Whitey2k]

I give it more time tbh there both gonna hit there strides. Series x and its split ram and ps5 could have lower resolution. No1 knows what the ps5 ssd can achieve it. People know it wont create better graphics as its not a gpu. But due to its speed im sure its fast enough to swap in and out higher quality assets compared to the series x. But who knows maybe there be the same cut backs or what not

[Imortus_san]

The hard drive is the same in both consoles.

[stuna1]

No it is not!

[Imortus_san]

@stuna1

Yes it's, the same crap 5.400RPM HARD drive, the brand and the model are diferent but the sces are the same.

[Locutus_of_borg]

I think your both talking about different things....

[DJStotty]

@Imortus_san

SSD's do not work off RPM, they have no moving parts.

[Imortus_san]

@DJStotty

@mrsolidsteel20 comented: "One thing that’s puzzling is why did they say it’s “40 times faster than the Xbox One” instead of saying how much faster it is compare to the Xbox One X?"

My answer was: Because XBox One and Xbox One X HDD are the same, it's a 5.400 RPM drive in all Xbox One consoles.

[derek]

The SUPER TERRIFIC ULTIMATE VELOCITY ARCHITECTURE.

[tontontam0]

Lol insecurities kicking in.
They are so afraid of the ps5 i/o sped... they've had to make a flashy advertisement like this to counter the hype.

[Apex13]

Reading the comments brings a proud tear to my eyes. It reads just like it was in the playgrounds back when it was the SNES vs Mega Drive. 🤣

No you are wrong
No this one is more powerful
Yeah but yeah but yeah but this one is faster
This one has a better plastic shell around it
This one weighs less 🤣🤣

Nostalgia of fanboyism. What about the games people 🤣.

On a serious note. Non of this matters of Xbox has a poor and dull line up of games as it did this current gen. Sony out the gate done an all round better job coming off the the near failure that was the ps3. Even I got rid of my Xbox for a PS4 at that point, because some had better exclusives, much. Enter diversity of games and they had the multiplayer games so it was a no brainer. I hope MS stuns on the 23rd As I want back in but only if the games are there.

Nintendo have proved over and over that raw power without the games don’t mean sod all.

[Minute Man 721]

If Microsoft can impress, the next gen will be split like PS3/360 in terms of consoles

[Apex13]

I really hope they do. I always buy all but this gen is the first time I got rid of one (Xbox) just because it felt pointless.

[Games1st]

Good, fast ssd as a minimum standard should be possible

[XBManiac]

This is like a... "We too" answer to PS5... isn't it? But it continues lacking some juice, as speed is half of what PS5 will offer and CPU will handle most of the work on Xbox Series X for compression/decompression. I hope Xbox has some more to add and developers can use it from day One.

[Minute Man 721]

The cpu doesn't do any decompression on the Series X, they built custom hardware to to just that