Eight-core 3.8 GHz CPU. 12 TFLOPS GPU. 1TB NVME SSD. 16GB RAM. Not a half-decent workstation, it's the new Xbox

Microsoft drops some more detail of fourth-gen console: The Series X

Microsoft has revealed some more specs for its forthcoming Xbox Series X, the fourth generation of its gaming console.

Here’s the tale of the tape:

Part	Specs
CPU	8x Cores @ 3.8 GHz (3.6 GHz w/ SMT) Custom Zen 2 CPU
GPU	12 TFLOPS, 52 CUs @ 1.825 GHz Custom RDNA 2 GPU
Die size	360.45 mm2
Process	7nm Enhanced
Memory	16 GB GDDR6 w/ 320b bus
Memory bandwidth	10GB @ 560 GB/s, 6GB @ 336 GB/s
Internal storage	1 TB Custom NVME SSD
I/O throughput	2.4 GB/s (Raw), 4.8 GB/s (Compressed, with custom hardware decompression block)
Expandable storage	1 TB Expansion Card (matches internal storage exactly)
External storage	USB 3.2 External HDD Support
Optical drive	4K UHD Blu-Ray Drive
Performance target	4K @ 60 FPS, Up to 120 FPS

The CPU and GPU come from AMD’s Zen 2 and RDNA 2-class ranges respectively. AMD supplied silicon for the previous Xbox, 2016’s Xbox one. Xbox Series X is due to debut in the 2020 holiday season.

Microsoft’s gushing description of the new device talks up the presence of an SSD and a new “Velocity Architecture” that makes more effective use of memory to reduce game load times and “effectively eliminate” loading times between levels”.

The description also waxes lyrical about latency-reducing features baked into everything from the wireless controllers’ comm protocol to tweaks to HDMI 2.1. The Register does not begrudge faster fragging. But what we’d really like to know is if the Xbox Series X can run Linux. Or Tetris. ®