[Update: Processor and Internal Assembly] Xbox Project Scorpio Revealed - Mid cycle 4K console revolution?

[randomhkkid]

UPDATE 17.04.17:

Digital Foundry have done 2 deep dives into the processor architecture and the cooling/construction of Scorpio

 

Architecture deep dive

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-the-scorpio-engine-in-depth

 

Cooling/construction

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-project-scorpio-hardware-deep-dive

New images of all components apart from the plastic shell

Spoiler

 

UPDATE 11.04.17:

 

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-project-scorpio-supports-freesync-and-hdmi-vrr

 

In an article released today digital foundry has release more details regarding the variable refresh rate capabilities of the console. 

 

The article confirms that project scorpio includes a full freesync 2 implementation over hdmi 2.1.

• Hdr
• Variable refresh from sub 30fps to 60fps

 

This  should be great! Consoles have sorely needed variable refresh in recent years, as the article states this could mean developers no longer have to target a full 60fps if it isnt possible but they still have headroom at 30fps. I don't have experience with it myself but I assume 45fps freesync is noticeably better than 30fps. 

 

ORIGINAL POST:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-project-scorpio-tech-revealed

 

 

Edit: Lol thank you whichever mod changed this so the embedded video works

 

Quick Specs

'Scorpio Engine' SoC

100% backwards compatibility with Xbone and Xbone S

360mm squared

8x Jaguar x86 cores 16nm - Clock bumped from 1.75Ghz to 2.3ghz (PS4 Pro is 2.1Ghz)

40 'customised' CUs @1172mhz - Up from 12 from GCN @853/914mhz (PS4 Pro 36 'improved' GCN @911mhz)

12GB GDDR5 384-bit - Up from 8GB+32MB DDR3+ESRAM (PS4 Pro 8GB GDDR5)

326GBps Memory bandwidth - Up from 68GBps+204/219GBps (PS4 Pro 218GBps)

4K UHD Blu-ray - Same as Xbox One S (Xbone and all PS4s have just standard Blu-ray)

1TB HDD with 50% more bandwidth

 

More stuff

Microsoft is aiming this console at 4K gaming, any 900p or better title on current Xbones can easy run at the same frame rate at 4K on Scorpio.

The Scorpio GPU is only 96mhz off the RX480 GPU whilst having 4 more more compute units. - Most likely Polaris based

4K60 demonstrated on Forza rock solid @60 - 70% GPU utilisation - 4K screenshots in the article

With Forza at PC ultra quality settings utilisation is at 88% - 4K60 GTX1070 level performance

Each SoC tuned at the faactory for a specific power profile - Vapour chamber cooling + centrifugal fan

245W power supply - This is insane

2.7x triangle and vertex rate, 6.0 tera-flops

8GB ram for games, 4GB for system

Spatial surround and Dolby Atmos sound

Direct3D 12 pipeline

4K60 HEVC decode and encode

HDMI 2.0

Downsampling enabled from 4K to 1080p screens - Not per game basis a la Sony

All previous games using bilinear/trilinear texture filtering will be replaced by maximum anistropic when run on Scorpio - This is a dark horse improvement

Free sync adaptive refresh rate support - So is this

 

Possible E3 2017 release

~$499 according speculation in the second article from related links section below

 

Thoughts

This actually looks pretty impressive, to have at least 480X performance in a console system at 245W is an engineering feat in itself. I wonder what the cost will be like?

Expecting them to drop the VR compatibility bombshell at E3, but apart from that this just confirms all the detective work that Digital Foundry have done.

The only slight surprise is the utilisation of the ancient Jaguar cores, I guess this was done for compatability reason but it's disappointing. From the PS4 Pro coverage by DF the CPU seems to be a bottleneck in many situations so I don't see how the Scorpio will alleviate this, hopefully the use of D3D12 is better at utilising that CPU than the PS4's OGLES implementation.

 

Related links

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-project-scorpio-back-compat-five-ways-your-existing-games-will-be-better

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-scorpio-is-console-hardware-pushed-to-a-new-level

 

Pictures!

Motherboard

Spoiler

 

SoC w/memory modules

Spoiler

 

Major components:

Spoiler

 

The cooling system:

Spoiler

 

[Vode]

Hmm looks pretty sweet! I will buy this 100%. Forza, Halo and Doom are all instantly going to get better resolution scaling and probably an additional 4k patch later on.

 

Although that blower style cooler doesn't look too good. Guess I'm not replacing my fan on the new Xbox with an aftermarket 120mm.

 

Will replace the internal HDD with an SSD though just like with my Xbox One S.

 

HYPE!

[johnnysasaki]

1 minute ago, Vode said:

Source?

DigitalFoundry video on youtube probably, but yeah should've included a source.

[TidaLWaveZ]

5 minutes ago, randomhkkid said:

Quick Specs

8x Jaguar x86 cores - Clock bumped from 1.75Ghz to 2.3ghz (PS4 Pro is 2.1Ghz)

40 'customised' compute units @1172 - Up from 12 from GCN compute units @853/914mhz (PS4 Pro is 36 'improved' GCN @911mhz)

12GB GDDR5 - Up from 8GB+32MB DDR3+ESRAM (PS4 Pro 8GB DDR5)

326GBps Memory bacndwidth - Up from 68GBps+204/219GBps (PS4 Pro 218GBps)

4K UHD Blu-ray - Same as Xbox One S (Xbone and all PS4s have just standard Blu-ray)

I'm not a big console fan but I'm anxious to see the performance increase, the memory looks like the biggest adjustment but I wonder what effect it will have.

 

You might want to fix the OP to fit the Tech News and Reviews format(Include source and your thoughts) before the thread police arrive.

 

Any pics or anything yet?

[Ostwind]

 

6 minutes ago, Vode said:

Source?

the source video is literally in the article thats linked in the OP

[The Benjamins]

what GCN version is in it?

is it the same v3 or polaris v4?

[Zagna]

Pretty interesting that the GPU command processor has full hardware implementation of the DX12 API.

1 minute ago, The Benjamins said:

what GCN version is in it?

is it the same v3 or polaris v4?

Polaris is mentioned in the video.

[johnnysasaki]

5 minutes ago, Ostwind said:

 

the source video is literally in the article thats linked in the OP

That link wasn't there originally.

[The Benjamins]

Just now, Zagna said:

Pretty interesting that the GPU command processor has full hardware implementation of the DX12 API.

Polaris is mentioned in the video.

I am at work so couldn't watch it, thanks

[Notional]

12 minutes ago, Vode said:

Source?

 

Gotta say, it looks quite good.

[randomhkkid]

Sorry guys my internet decided to die as I was trying to insert more info. Article and video now linked at the top.  On mobile now so adding more stuff as quickly as I can

[malon]

Instead of dooing mid cycle revisions they should start making completly new consoles every 5 to 7 years like in the old days, if they plan to keep the current (and mid gen refresh)  for 5 more years it will be what the ps3 and xbox360 all over again, were at the end of their usable lifespan any new AAAgame ran like crap and only hurt the consumer who bought those games.

[Notional]

2 minutes ago, malon said:

Instead of dooing mid cycle revisions they should start making completly new consoles every 5 to 7 years like in the old days, if they plan to keep the current (and mid gen refresh)  for 5 more years it will be what the ps3 and xbox360 all over again, were at the end of their usable lifespan any new AAAgame ran like crap and only hurt the consumer who bought those games.

 

No they really shouldn't. Not only would those consoles be beyond obsolete at eol, but it would hold back the entire gaming industry. It was also only the 360/ps3 that ever had such extraordinary lifespans for consoles, and it really hurt everyone. Releasing consoles more often, but having them be backwards compatible is much better for everyone.

[Dabombinable]

Ok. I'll stop right at the Jaguar x8 and tell Microsoft to fuck right off.

[The Benjamins]

5 minutes ago, malon said:

Instead of dooing mid cycle revisions they should start making completly new consoles every 5 to 7 years like in the old days, if they plan to keep the current (and mid gen refresh)  for 5 more years it will be what the ps3 and xbox360 all over again, were at the end of their usable lifespan any new AAAgame ran like crap and only hurt the consumer who bought those games.

well this is a big jump, you could say a 4x performance boost, which is kinda like a new generation BUT they made it so that the game library is not split which makes it nicer for consumer upgrade.

[johniem]

In the video he mentions for a special dedicated directx12 compute unit. Anyone knows more about that?

[randomhkkid]

1 minute ago, johniem said:

In the video he mentions for a special dedicated directx12 compute unit. Anyone knows more about that?

I think they mean that the system uses D3D12, can't watch the video atm but that's what the article says.

[YamiYukiSenpai]

This actually sounds exciting.  Hopefully this console allows Microsoft to close the gap between it and Sony.

[MEC-777]

All sounds great... Except those CPU cores.  

[Trixanity]

I called it. Overclocked and tweaked Jaguar cores running on some FinFET process.

 

I don't think we can necessarily call these customised GPU cores either Polaris or Vega. Since it's a custom chip and they're somewhat modular, you can replace certain IP blocks on the chip which it sounds like they have (kinda like how they added the new display controller on the Xbox One S without really touching the compute performance). It probably has some Vega blocks in it but not necessarily everything Vega has (due to time constraints). Very interesting chip indeed.

 

I understand why they didn't go with Zen (other than time constraints). It would mess with backwards compatibility and developers would have to adjust to the new architecture. Zen also has a lot of early adopter problems that still needs to be fixed so it isn't ready for a project like this. By 2018 when Zen is officially ready for custom chips, it'll be a lot more mature. I can imagine a PS4 refresh/PS5 launching in 2019-2020.

[AG1233]

The price would be the main factor that makes or break this console.

 

I also hope they step up the amount of first party games because IMO current Xbox exclusives are lacklustre in comparsaion to what PS4 offers.

 

 

[malon]

1 minute ago, The Benjamins said:

well this is a big jump, you could say a 4x performance boost, which is kinda like a new generation BUT they made it so that the game library is not split which makes it nicer for consumer upgrade.

I hope for the people who buy the scorpio it realy is such a big improvement, and indeed the backwards compatible game library is a good thing but we first need to see if it is priced well for what it can do.

[coldhelios]

Im completely fine with Xbox and sony making more revisions more frequently. but if they keep on doing this they have to keep the operating systems the same and make everything backwards compatible. they also have to make sure that the consoles are valid for at least a full console lifetime.

[Trixanity]

6 minutes ago, johniem said:

In the video he mentions for a special dedicated directx12 compute unit. Anyone knows more about that?

In the article it states that they've moved some of the DX12 API onto the command processor. So instead of relying on the CPU entirely, they can off-load some of it to the command processor to reduce instructions required and I guess therefore latency resulting in increased efficiency. It's all pretty vague but I guess the benefits are real.

[DocSwag]

I was hoping for Zen but whatevs. At least it's 2.3 ghz now.

 

Interesting that the GPU has 2560 shaders and a 384 bit bus though.