The console world has just been shaken by a new wave of information from Redmond. The folks at Digital Foundry got access to Project Scorpio's hardware, and if we follow the available technical data, Microsoft created a beast. The customization at the silicon level is impressive, and the concentrated processing power can not only chew through games in 4K at 60 FPS, but also has the potential to transform Scorpio into the fastest console ever made.
A classic aspect of consoles, and frankly one of their strongest points, is that the user is not obligated to enter an arms race to enjoy the latest games. Once the investment is made, it is expected that, one way or another, all titles will run on that hardware without issues. In the last generation of consoles, a high price had to be paid: backwards compatibility. Hardware cycles are longer, but players have repeatedly demanded the ability to run their old games on new systems, and both Microsoft and Sony had to respond accordingly. The most traumatic part is over; however, the next step for Microsoft is Project Scorpio. The master plan includes perfect backwards compatibility with Xbox One games, but it certainly doesn't stop there. Redmond has every intention of unleashing the fury of 4K on our screens, and Project Scorpio seems to have everything it needs.
Scorpio Engine: The Beast Inside
The folks at Digital Foundry (Eurogamer) received exclusive access to the console, which also included a surprising demo of Forza Motorsport 6 in 4K at 60 FPS, but before discussing that we need to know what's inside Scorpio. Its heart is what Microsoft calls «Scorpio Engine», a chip based on eight AMD Jaguar cores at 2.3 GHz, and a graphics module with 40 custom compute units at 1.172 MHz. It's virtually a miniaturized AMD Radeon RX 480, but the most interesting thing is that the real graphics card has a smaller number of units. All of that is backed by 12 GB of GDDR5 memory, with a 384-bit bus and total access for developers of 8 gigabytes (5 on the Xbox One). The final result is a bandwidth of 326 GB/s, reaching the mark of 6 TFLOPs. By comparison, the PS4 Pro reaches 218 GB/s and 4.2 TFLOPs.
4K and Beyond
With such firepower on its side, the Scorpio console can deliver 4K / 60 FPS even without touching the limit of its resources, but the key is that this resolution extends to all Xbox One games, including those at 900p. Basically, Microsoft used a tool called PIX (Performance Investigator for Xbox) to detect the bottlenecks affecting the main titles. By entering PIX data into a hardware emulator, Microsoft precisely determined the level of customization needed in the silicon. In other words, software made the hardware. It only took Forza Motorsport 6 developers two days to finish the port of the game to Scorpio, and it ran at full speed from the start. Of course, it would be crazy to judge the entire platform with a single game, but it's impossible to deny it: We're facing a monster.
