Is the series S a worthwhile step up from the One X?

tpr007

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I think I’m finally starting to old and confused.

I want one of the new consoles, but haven’t decided between a PS5 or Xbox

I had the PS4 and the Xbox One (and Switch) but sold both of the former when I moved back to the uk.

Basically, until the end of next year (2021) I will be stuck with a 1080p TV. I also want to save space and go fully digital only.

Should I:
- Get an Xbox One X
- Get a series S

Bearing in mind I’ll be playing on a regular 1080p TV

Will I benefit with a series S?

Thanks for understanding. I’ve been here a long time, but since hitting 40, my tech brain seems to have gone elsewhere...
 
Series S is a next gen console. With all the next gen features. It is built to play games around 1080-1440p. So in reality if you haven’t got a 4K TV is ideal.

Let’s use a tangible recent example you can run Gears Tactics at 1440p 60FPS on the series S and the One X. But the Series S has higher settings so looks better.

This is the thing the One X will still play some games at 4K yet the series S is not designed for 4K. But you basically have Series S - next gen sub 4K console or Series X - next gen 4K console.

The One X is a last gen 4K console.

Hope that helps. Other thing to keep in mind is that the Series S has a relatively small SSD so you won’t be able to store lots of games forever. It depends on how you go about game management. If you want to keep lots and lots of games on your hard drive for ever then you may need to invest in a good external SSD and transfer them back and forth to play.
 
Why would you even consider the One X? It’s last generation and underpowered compared to the Series S.
The series S will give better frame rates and also load games much faster than the One X. It also has a much more powerful GPU so can provide better graphics on optimised games. A total no brainier.
 
Personally I would go Series S. It'll give you the option of both Xbox One games and Series X/S titles. Plus the SSD will be significantly quicker than the One X so I think it'll give a better overall experience.
 
I agree with the above get the S over the One X every day and twice on a sunday, But one thing the S is digital only so no existing disks (if you have any) will work and you of course cannot buy new ones.
 
I agree with the above get the S over the One X every day and twice on a sunday, But one thing the S is digital only so no existing disks (if you have any) will work and you of course cannot buy new ones.

He says he wants to go fully digital so the Series S is the perfect option being a digital only console.
 
Hopefully the PUBG situation doesn't become common for other games. With devs running a 'locked to 30fps' Xbox One build on the Series S and an Xbox One X build on the Series X

 
Hopefully the PUBG situation doesn't become common for other games. With devs running a 'locked to 30fps' Xbox One build on the Series S and an Xbox One X build on the Series X


This is a BC game - its not a next gen patch - which is why the S maintains the framerate of the One S. The devs say they will provide a future patch to increase the Series S framerate.
 
Microsoft have said the Series S will not run X Enhanced versions of One X games though, which the Series X will, so what benefits does the Series S bring for that scenario?
 
Microsoft have said the Series S will not run X Enhanced versions of One X games though, which the Series X will, so what benefits does the Series S bring for that scenario?

The S will get a set of auto enhancements for games. Beyond that it will be down to devs (or MS) patching the games to unlock framerates for example. I'd not expect that across the board but clearly for live games like PUBG you've got a good chance.
 
Microsoft have said the Series S will not run X Enhanced versions of One X games though, which the Series X will, so what benefits does the Series S bring for that scenario?
So as a current One X owner who's next 2 purchases will be AC Valhalla and Cyberpunk I'm better sticking with the One X rather than the Series S I have on pre order?
 
So as a current One X owner who's next 2 purchases will be AC Valhalla and Cyberpunk I'm better sticking with the One X rather than the Series S I have on pre order?

Do you run your One X at 4K?

With Valhalla and Cyberpunk, it is difficult to predict how they will run on the Series S compared to the One X, since they are new games.

@MarkyPancake was referring to the backwards compatible games that had been enhanced for the Xbox One X.
 
So as a current One X owner who's next 2 purchases will be AC Valhalla and Cyberpunk I'm better sticking with the One X rather than the Series S I have on pre order?

The answer to this for these specific games is do you want to play the current gen version at dynamic 4K 30FPS OR the next gen version at 1080p (I'm guessing but anything above that is a bonus) and 60FPS (again we know 60 for Valhalla - cyberpunk is still not known)?

Only really you can decide and of course its hard because we've not seen ACV running on the S (beyond a glimpse) or the X and Cyberpunk next gen patch isn't till next year....

There isn't a 'better' in these circumstances it depends what you care about. The One X is a '4K' current gen console the Series S is a 1080p next gen console - at some point the games you want to play will ONLY work on Series S and X - but until then then I'd say that's the bottom line.
 
To be fair there are some advantages to owning a One X and not upgrading (well at least in the 1st year);
  1. 1TB hard drive
  2. UHD blu ray player
  3. Can play disc games
  4. 4K gaming and yes some games do look absolutely gorgeous despite only being 30fps like Red Dead 2 and many others, I'm sure Cyberpunk and Assassins Creed may look better on the One X than S series.
  5. One X can also play plenty of games 1080p/60 FPS in performance mode.
I'm still in 2 minds about my Series S pre-order, hopefully we'll start seeing the performance next week with gameplays of COD/Assassins Creed etc;
 
To be fair there are some advantages to owning a One X and not upgrading (well at least in the 1st year);
  1. 1TB hard drive
  2. UHD blu ray player
  3. Can play disc games
  4. 4K gaming and yes some games do look absolutely gorgeous despite only being 30fps like Red Dead 2 and many others, I'm sure Cyberpunk and Assassins Creed may look better on the One X than S series.
  5. One X can also play plenty of games 1080p/60 FPS in performance mode.
I'm still in 2 minds about my Series S pre-order, hopefully we'll start seeing the performance next week with gameplays of COD/Assassins Creed etc;

Well there is no way games on One X will look better than Series S at equivalent framerates. So if you take a game like ACV then it might look the same if One X is running at 30FPS but that's the thing - on S it will run at 60FPS.
 
Thanks lads, leaning towards keeping the One X but will keep the pre order open for another week yet incase we see some comparisons
 
going from the top end Xbox One generation to the low tier Series Genereation is the smallest upgrade possible and while the S is a great specced system the One X was also so personally I think its not a good move for you. Save up and get and Series X as the Series S is for 1080./1440p gaming and in 12 months thats all it will be doing on new games, if your OK rolling back from 4K on your current system then fine but I suspect its going to be dissapointing to be playing at 1080p come late 2021
 
I think if you haven't got a current gen console and are a casual gamer not looking to spend too much then buying a Series S will fill a gap, but it's probably not worth upgrading if you already have a One X.
Its entirely individual though so what works best for one person may not work for others.
 
Microsoft have said the Series S will not run X Enhanced versions of One X games though, which the Series X will, so what benefits does the Series S bring for that scenario?
But they do run the Series S enhancements which are above and beyond just back compat.
 
Only if they take the effort to specifically make Series S enhancements though

I suspect people might be surprised when we start getting comparisons Series S Vs One X - yes more CPU grunt but also

Less memory
Lower memory bandwidth

I game on a 1080p set but went for a Series X as an upgrade for my One X
 
Only if they take the effort to specifically make Series S enhancements though

I suspect people might be surprised when we start getting comparisons Series S Vs One X - yes more CPU grunt but also

Less memory
Lower memory bandwidth

I game on a 1080p set but went for a Series X as an upgrade for my One X

But the Series S is next gen RDNA 2 architecture vs the One X. The point is that the One X is a last gen machine the Series S is a next gen machine.

The Medium for example - you can't even play that on the One X. Whilst cross gen games will run at 4K on the One X you won't have the framerate of the Series S.
 
I'm not so sure ....

You've still got to.get all that data to and from the GPU and even then the GPU is only about equivalent to One X ?

We will see soon it'll be very interesting
 
I'm not so sure ....

You've still got to.get all that data to and from the GPU and even then the GPU is only about equivalent to One X ?

We will see soon it'll be very interesting

The thing you're missing is that a GPU is not just a power measurement. The Series S GPU is two generations on from the One X. So the RDNA 2 efficiencies baked in which give absolutely huge efficiencies over the GCN One X architecture....

But in terms of raw pixel pushing yes the two machines are roughly the same BUT the Series S isn't going to be pushing as many pixels and has a GPU that is from 2020 not 2010. And a CPU that is orders of magnitude greater than that in the One X.

The problem with comparisons is you're not taking like for like. Lets take watch dogs legions - on Series S it has ray tracing on One X it doesn't. We know how expensive ray tracing is - so how do you compare?

ACV will run 60FPS on Series S but 30FPS on One X - again you're doubling the framerate - its a huge boost. But the One X will run it at 4K. You can't judge games by the raw resolution metrics because that is not what the Series S does. It plays next gen versions of games at 1080-1440p of thereabouts. The One X plays last gen versions.

If you have ACV at 60FPS on One X then compare that to Series S - it would be ugly.
 
Only if they take the effort to specifically make Series S enhancements though

I suspect people might be surprised when we start getting comparisons Series S Vs One X - yes more CPU grunt but also

Less memory
Lower memory bandwidth

I game on a 1080p set but went for a Series X as an upgrade for my One X
As I understand it, if a developer optimises for Series X, they are obliged to optimise for Series S. The optimisation list makes no distinction. Optimised | Xbox

The S is designed to be scaled down only in ways required for resolution - you need less throughput for less GPU data, it makes sense. The gameplay experience of the Series S vs Series X should be very similar, though there are some outstanding questions about how framerates will hold up but we'll know soon enough.

If MS have done their maths right, they should be very comparable experiences (Series S vs Series X).
 

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