Anmerkung der Redaktion: Der Xbox Series X Technologie-Duden ist zu einem späteren Zeitpunkt auf Deutsch verfügbar.
As we enter a new generation of console gaming with Xbox Series X, we’ve made a number of technology advancements across hardware and software that will take your gaming experience to the next level. We’ve created the below guide to help familiarize yourself with some of the new terms we’re introducing to describe the tech and functionality of Xbox Series X.
Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) – As part of commitment to responsiveness for the
next generation of console gaming, Xbox Series X supports Auto Low Latency Mode
(ALLM) with capable displays. ALLM automatically enables your display’s lowest
latency mode when you start playing. This functionality exists on Xbox One
consoles today
Backward Compatibility – At Xbox, we’ve made a promise to compatibility: you
can expect thousands of your favorite games across four generations of gaming,
your Xbox One gaming accessories, your Xbox gaming legacy, and industry-leading
services like Xbox Game Pass to work with Xbox Series X. Backward
compatible games will benefit from the power and performance of Xbox Series X,
resulting in steadier framerates, faster load times, improved resolution and
visual fidelity. Fans and game creators can feel confident they will be able to
play and create the best version of their games on the Xbox Series X.
DirectML – Xbox
Series X supports Machine Learning for games with DirectML, a component of
DirectX. DirectML leverages unprecedented hardware performance in a console,
benefiting from over 24 TFLOPS of 16-bit float performance and over 97 TOPS
(trillion operations per second) of 4-bit integer performance on Xbox Series X.
Machine Learning can improve a wide range of areas, such as making NPCs much
smarter, providing vastly more lifelike animation, and greatly improving visual
quality.
DirectStorage – DirectStorage is an all new I/O system designed
specifically for gaming to unleash the full performance of the SSD and hardware
decompression. It is one of the components that comprise the Xbox Velocity
Architecture. Modern games perform asset streaming in the background to
continuously load the next parts of the world while you play, and DirectStorage
can reduce the CPU overhead for these I/O operations from multiple cores to
taking just a small fraction of a single core; thereby freeing considerable CPU
power for the game to spend on areas like better physics or more NPCs in a
scene. This newest member of the DirectX family is being introduced with Xbox
Series X and we plan to bring it to Windows as well.
Dynamic Latency Input (DLI) –Another innovation we are making to reduce latency for
Xbox Series X is Dynamic Latency Input (DLI). With DLI, developers can more
accurately synchronize the player’s input with the game’s simulation and render
loop, even further reducing input latency while playing the game.
GPU Work Creation – Xbox Series X adds hardware, firmware and shader compiler
support for GPU work creation that provides powerful capabilities for the GPU
to efficiently handle new workloads without any CPU assistance. This provides
more flexibility and performance for developers to deliver their graphics
visions.
Hardware Accelerated DirectX Raytracing (DXR) – From improved lighting, shadows
and reflections as well as more realistic acoustics and spatial audio,
raytracing enables developers to create more physically accurate worlds. For
the very first time in a game console, Xbox Series X includes support for high
performance, hardware accelerated raytracing. Xbox Series X uses a
custom-designed GPU leveraging the latest innovation from our partners at AMD
and built in collaboration with the same team who developed DirectX Raytracing.
Developers will be able to deliver incredibly immersive visual and audio experiences
using the same techniques on PC and beyond.
Hardware Decompression – Hardware decompression is a dedicated hardware component
introduced with Xbox Series X to allow games to consume as little space as
possible on the SSD while eliminating all CPU overhead typically associated
with run-time decompression. It reduces the software overhead of decompression
when operating at full SSD performance from more than three CPU cores to zero –
thereby freeing considerable CPU power for the game to spend on areas like
better gameplay and improved framerates. Hardware decompression is one of the
components of the Xbox Velocity Architecture.
Intelligent Delivery – Microsoft’s developer facing technology to reduce the size
of game installs. Intelligent Delivery empowers developers to only install the pieces
of the game you need, thereby minimizing the amount of content that needs to be
installed or downloaded to the SSD.
Latency – Latency refers to responsiveness of the console and controller,
including the time it takes for your input to be registered by your console and
then displayed on your screen. Reducing latency results in a more connected and
immersive experience. Xbox Series X will be our most responsive console ever
featuring ultra-low latency with advanced technology that minimizes latency at
every stage of the gaming pipeline so that you instantly see the impact of your
actions on the screen.
Mesh Shading – Mesh shading will enable developers to dramatically
improve the performance and image quality when rendering a substantial number
of complex objects in a scene. As an example, mesh shaders could enable the
player to experience asteroid belts and fields of flowers in more pristine
detail without seeing a loss in performance.
Native Resolution – Native Resolution is an Xbox Series X backwards
compatibility enhancement for select Xbox One games that allows them to render
at native 4K even if they weren’t originally designed for 4K.
Optimized for Xbox Series X – Games built using
the Xbox Series X development kit and designed to take advantage of the unique
capabilities of the Xbox Series X. These include new titles built natively using
the Xbox Series X development environment as well as previously released titles
that have been rebuilt specifically for Xbox Series X. They will showcase
unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness and framerates up to 120 fps.
Parallel Cooling Architecture – Parallel Cooling Architecture is
the name of the innovative system design used to cool Xbox Series X. Building a
console that delivers four times the processing power of Xbox One X in the most
quiet and efficient way – something that is critically important with all the
extra power of our next generation console – led to its unique vertical design.
Project Acoustics – Incubated over a decade by Microsoft Research, Project Acoustics accurately models sound propagation physics in mixed
reality and games, employed by many AAA experiences today. It is unique in
simulating wave effects like diffraction in complex scene geometries without
straining CPU, enabling a much more immersive and lifelike auditory experience.
Plug-in support for both the Unity and Unreal game engines empower the sound
designer with expressive controls to mold reality. Developers will be able to
easily leverage Project Acoustics with Xbox Series X through the addition of a
new custom audio hardware block.
Quick Resume – A new feature powered by the technical capabilities and the
innovative Xbox Velocity Architecture in Xbox Series X, Quick Resume enables
players to seamlessly switch between multiple titles and resume instantly from
where you last left off.
RDNA 2 – The custom designed processor in the Xbox Series X leverages RDNA 2, the
latest next generation graphics architecture from our partners at AMD. RDNA 2
provides a significant advancement in performance and efficiency as well as
next generation graphics features such as hardware accelerated raytracing and
variable rate shading.
Sampler Feedback Streaming (SFS) – A component of the Xbox Velocity
Architecture, SFS is a feature of the Xbox Series X hardware that allows games
to load into memory, with fine granularity, only the portions of textures that
the GPU needs for a scene, as it needs it. This enables far better memory
utilization for textures, which is important given that every 4K texture
consumes 8MB of memory. Because it avoids the wastage of loading into memory
the portions of textures that are never needed, it is an effective 2x or 3x (or
higher) multiplier on both amount of physical memory and SSD performance.
SDR to HDR Conversion – With Xbox Series X, existing Xbox games, including recent
titles within the ID@Xbox program, that don’t already have native HDR support
will get the next-gen treatment. Xbox Series X is able to leverage an
innovative HDR reconstruction technique to enhance existing SDR games with no
work from developers and no impact to available CPU, GPU or memory resources.
Smart Delivery – Smart Delivery is a new technology introduced with Xbox
Series X that will ensure you always play the best version of the games you own
for your console, across generations. All Xbox Game Studios titles that are
optimized for Xbox Series X, including “Halo Infinite” will support Smart
Delivery, providing the best available version for whichever console you choose
to play on. For example, this means if you purchase the Xbox One version of a
supported title, we will identify and deliver the best version of it to your
Xbox One, as usual. If you decide to jump into the next generation with Xbox
Series X, we will automatically provide the Xbox Series X optimized version of
the game at no additional cost if and when it becomes available. Smart Delivery
is available to all Xbox developers.
Spatial Audio – Spatial Audio delivers deeply immersive audio which
enables the player to more accurately pinpoint objects in a 3D play space. With
full support for Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Windows Sonic, Xbox Series X has custom
audio hardware to offload audio processing from the CPU, dramatically improving
the accessibility, quality and performance of these immersive experiences.
TFLOPS (Teraflops) – TFLOPS (or
“teraflops”) stands for Trillion Floating-point Operations Per Second and is a
measure of raw mathematical performance of a GPU. While Xbox Series X delivers
12 TFLOPS of 32-bit float performance, two times that of the Xbox One X, the
architectural efficiency improvements brought by AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture plus
our next generation features such as Variable Rate Shading (VRS) and hardware
accelerated DirectX Raytracing means that Xbox Series X will deliver well over
twice the effective graphics performance of Xbox One X for games.
Variable Rate Shading (VRS) – Variable Rate
Shading increases GPU efficiency by concentrating shader work where it’s most
needed and reducing shader work in areas where it won’t be noticeable. With minimal
developer effort, VRS significantly improves GPU performance resulting in more
stable and higher resolutions and frame rates with no perceptible loss in
visual quality.
Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) – Variable Refresh Rate is a new addition to HDMI 2.1 which
enables capable displays to refreshed as fast as the console can render images,
thereby eliminating tearing, increasing smoothness, and reducing latency. We
have been working with the industry’s leading TV manufacturers to ensure the
display ecosystem is ready for the features we are bringing with Xbox Series X.
Xbox Series X Storage
Expansion Card – Built in partnership with Seagate, this 1 TB
custom storage solution expands storage capacity of Xbox Series X with the full
speed and performance of the Xbox Velocity Architecture Previous generation Xbox titles can still be played
directly from external USB 3.2 hard drives. However, to receive all the
benefits of the Xbox Velocity Architecture and optimal performance, Xbox Series
X, optimized games should be played from the internal SSD or Xbox Series X
Storage Expansion Card.
Xbox Velocity Architecture – The Xbox Velocity Architecture is the new architecture we’ve created
for the Xbox Series X to unlock new capabilities never-before seen in console
development. It consists of four components: our custom NVMe SSD, a dedicated
hardware decompression block, the all new DirectStorage API, and Sampler
Feedback Streaming (SFS). This combination of custom hardware and deep software
integration allows developers to radically improve asset streaming and
effectively multiply available memory. It will enable richer and more dynamic
living worlds unlike anything ever seen before. It also effectively eliminates
loading times, and makes fast travel systems just that: fast.
Xbox Wireless Protocol – One of the first points to reduce latency is within the communication
between your controller and your console. By bringing our existing high-bandwidth,
low-latency wireless protocol on the Xbox One family of devices to Xbox Series
X, we’re able to not only reduce latency in your gaming experience but also
ensure all of your existing Xbox One gaming accessories will be compatible with
Xbox Series X.
Zen 2 – The custom designed processor in the Xbox Series X leverages AMD’s latest
Zen 2 CPU architecture. Zen 2 provides a significant advancement in CPU performance
delivering more than 4 times the performance of an Xbox One X.
120 FPS – With
support for up to 120 frames per second (FPS), Xbox Series X allows developers
to exceed the more traditional 60 FPS in favor of heightened realism and more
precise controls for fast-paced action.
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