Xbox Series S vs Ray Tracing: The story so far

The Xbox Series S is, on paper, every bit as feature-rich as the Series X. It's based on the same fundamental RAM, storage, CPU, and GPU technologies - which of course means that it is ray tracing capable. You can absolutely get RT acceleration on the system, just like any other RDNA 2-based hardware platform.

[darthv72]

The S is a pretty impressive machine. I could see MS transitioning it to a more portable form factor if they so desired. Maybe even team up with Valve to make steamdeck 2 essentially a portable Series S.

[Tacoboto]

I don't know why Microsoft hasn't taken any initiative in making a more gaming-friendly Surface Laptop. They had those 1-2 cycles with one or two AMD variants but those aren't part of the lineup anymore. AMD announced new mobile chips with massive battery life and Surface hardware financials are nosediving - in the face of Steam Deck, Windows on ARM continuing to be ASS, and Nvidia gaming laptops ever growing, MS could really use a shakeup.

[Mr Logic]

Imagine writing this with 0 knowledge of anything that you're talking about. Please explain how they would "transition" a 100W device into a 15W portable form factor.

[darthv72]

...die shrinks tend to increase efficiency and reduce tdp which would result in a more cost effective and portable friendly chip. Reducing the amount of power reduces the amount of heat which reduces the need for the current heat dissipation design which can lead to a reduced overall size and make it more portable.

It's really not that hard to figure out as it has been done for decades with each revision of hardware over the course of a platforms lifecycle.

[ChasterMies]

MS will never team up with Valve. They run competing stores on PC. Also, the Series S hardware couldn’t work as a handheld. That giant cooling fan is an indicator of the kind of heat that is pumped out by those chips. I don’t see much investment from Microsoft into ARM based chips and mobile graphics chips.

[darthv72]

...well not in its current state. I swear people all of a sudden just forgot how chip technology evolves. Just look at something like the PS2 and PS2 slim. Same tech but they cut the size to 1/4 of the original. If we apply the same logic to something that is digital in nature, the series s can be shrunk down to roughly the same size as the slim ps2 or possibly even smaller. If the PSP is basically a portable PS2 and the Vita a PS3 then why is it so hard to think there could be a portable series s?

I have no doubts about 'could it be done'... the bigger question is 'would it be done'? That is for MS to decide. And looking at the steamdeck for comparison, the deck is pretty much already a portable PS4 so if it had a beefier CPU/GPU (like the Series S) then yes it can be done as a portable. Dont be surprised if steam deck 2 comes out as a 4tf or even 6tf machine. Like i said above, shrinks happen.

[darkrider]

Ray tracing... If the ps5 and series x got problems to have games with rt without huge drops on rez.... Why even talk about a console that most games run at dynamic 1080p... Playing games at 540p with Ray tracing like the matrix demo or fortnite... That's why almost all games don't use on the s...

[Elda]

The very reason I traded in my Series S for the Series X.

[darkrider]

Huge upgrade. Good move. Get ready for next Gen gaming and forza will be the top dog in terms of ray tracing.

If you play in big TV, having a series x is the best choice between those two consoles.

[ChasterMies]

You can run games at lower graphic settings on Xbox Series S, but do you want to? For $100 more, you can buy a PS5 digital that has better graphics and more hard drive space. When it comes to game consoles, less is not more. Save your pennies.