Xbox One X shows the trail of Microsoft to challenge Sony | TudoCelular's opinion

The Xbox One X was unveiled for the first time in E3 2016, arriving on the market late 2017. Microsoft claims that it is the most powerful console ever created, able to do everything in 4K resolution and in HDR. 19659002] Initially called the Scorpion project, the powerful console provides 4 times more graphic power than the Xbox One . Much of the architecture is the same, but the changes made ensure that it can deliver the Ultra HD resolution natively in a variety of games – something that your main rival, the PS4 Pro, does not have. is not able to do.

in December, it cost $ 4,000 salted – curiously the same amount that Sony asked for the launch of PlayStation 4 a few years ago. Is it worth paying all this to play 4K?

Microsoft is not the only one to hit the 4K key. Sony also came a year earlier by betting on the same trend with PS4 Pro. What changes with the Microsoft console, is that its more powerful hardware is able to reach this resolution more often.

Having games running at 2160p requires powerful hardware. Most modern PCs can not run games in this resolution with good performance. To have at least 30 fps, you must have a GeForce GTX 1060 or higher, for example.

For those who have a 4K TV, playing at this resolution or something close ensures a much sharper picture. Here we have an image 4 times larger compared to Full HD, as we can see in the picture below.

Playing such a high resolution not only offers a higher level of detail, but also reduces the need to use special filters to eliminate jags in games. This image processing is the most important in rendering 3D content, which relieves CPU and GPU load in 4K.

Having a cleaner image is not an exclusive owner of a TV or 4K monitor. The Microsoft console uses the subsampling technique to compress the ultra-high definition image on a Quad HD screen or even Full HD. The result is that aliasing is greatly minimized and often completely eliminated.

In all cases, the Xbox One X is intended for the public owner of 4K TV. And it is estimated that by 2020, more than half of the TVs on the market will offer this resolution, which should further increase the demand for 2160p content. And that's where the Microsoft console comes in.

The Xbox One X comes out with the One S. The first is black plastic, the second in white. Both are almost the same size, even with the huge difference in computing power.

We have 30 x 24 x 6 cm for One X and 29.5 x 23 x 6.5 cm for the One S. The best of Everything is smaller and narrower than the original Xbox One released in 2013. The control that accompanies the console is also pretty much the same and follows the same tone of the image of each model.

we have the chrome button with the Xbox brand logo with backlight. The Blu-ray player is more hidden here in the center and it is able to play discs with 4K content, unlike the PS4 Pro. At the bottom we have the infrared sensor, buttons to eject the disc and synchronize the control, plus a USB port

On the sides, air intakes allow to cool the console. This air flows through the components and is expelled with the aid of a cooler at the back. Even if you place the video game vertically, your cooling will not be compromised, but keep in mind that it ends up heating up a bit more when you stay in this position.

On the back we have the power connector, HDMI input and output USB 3.0 ports, infrared, optical audio output, network port and padlock (same security standard used in laptops).

The layout is the same as that of the old Xbox One console. powerful, they will have no trouble connecting all cables.

The control offers the same ergonomics as before. Of course, it's a matter of taste, since some prefer the Sony DualShock. For those who were fans of Xbox One control, they will continue to enjoy what comes with Xbox One X.

The disadvantage is that Microsoft's control still uses batteries. For a console called "premium" it should come with a version that uses a rechargeable battery – something that is on Sony's rival since PlayStation 3. The good news, though, is that when you use batteries Good quality you will have an average autonomy of two weeks (playing 2 to 3 hours per day).

Microsoft still talks about the 6 TFLOP by mentioning the Xbox One X. But what does that mean? 1 FLOP is a calculation unit per second. This means that 6 TFLOP would be 6 trillion calculations done at the same time.

This measurement serves only to give us an idea of ​​what a video card is capable of providing, but that does not always mean that in practice, a TFLOP will provide better performance in games than another with 4 TFLOP, for example. ] In the case of the Microsoft console, we have 6 trillion calculations per second against 1.3 trillion Xbox One, a difference of 4.6 times, but that does not always mean that a game will work 4, 6 times better in One X of This happens because the firepower of a video card is not only important, but that the CPU and memory must also take into account the higher resolution and the higher level of graphic details.

Here we have a custom processor by Microsoft on Jaguar architecture from AMD, the same present in the old Xbox One. What's changing is that some optimizations have been

Another differential is the amount of graphics memory, ie 8GB of DDR3 on Xbox One and 12GB of GDDR5 on One X. The old console it had 32 MB ESRAM to help reduce the choke bottleneck caused by slower main memory, but that did not help much – which made the Microsoft console still deliver lower performance than the PS4.

higher, delivering 326 GB / s against 200 GB / s before. Having a faster memory is the key to dealing with textures in high definition, especially when talking about games running in 4K

Internally, we have the same 1 TB HD of the Xbox One S, which fills up quickly when saving games optimized for the One X. Gears of War 4, for example, occupies absurd 120 GB. With half a dozen games installed, you quickly occupy half of the console's storage.

The good news is that you can expand this storage by connecting an external hard drive up to 4TB, which also records the videos you capture. And by the way, it's possible to record everything in 4K at 60 fps – while Sony's rival only records in Full HD.

The time is right: does Xbox One X really provide native 4K? We tested major versions of Microsoft Studios, plus some third-party games, and it was clear that ultra-HD is a priority, even when the console can not handle it.

Halo 5 delivers 2160p at 60 frames per second on the powerful Microsoft console, but uses the same dynamic resolution as the Xbox One S. In more intense scenes, you might notice to be a considerable drop in the details of the picture, but not everyone should notice the change. What matters is that most of the time we have 4K or something very close.

Compared to Xbox One S, the game runs in Full HD at 60 frames per second. Dynamic resolution is also used here to handle 60 fps all the time. In the most frenzied fights, it is also possible to perceive a considerable decrease in the quality of the image.

On average, we have a resolution difference of 4 times between the two consoles, which exceeds the theoretical gain of 4.6 times its raw power. Gears of War 4

In the main campaign, you must choose between modes Quality or Performance . The first book 30 fps in the cited resolution, while the second reduced to 60 fps in Full HD

Unfortunately, the Xbox One X processor shows its bottleneck here, not supporting 60 frames per second all the way time. The Xbox One S uses dynamic resolution to ensure that performance is not affected, but the resolution changes constantly as in Halo 5.

It would be interesting to see this type of approach in all games, allowing the player to choose a higher quality or higher performance, even if the console can not always handle 60 fps.

The state of Decay 2 follows the same path as Halo 5. Here we have a dynamic resolution that reaches a maximum of 2160p. It's much bigger than the 900p provided by Xbox One S. The problem is that the big increase in resolution weighs for the more grumpy console, which suffers from 30 fps.

This is nothing that will spoil the game, but it is quite remarkable gagging during the game, especially when we turn on the camera.

It would be interesting to see the same options present in Gears of War 4, allowing you to hide the problem, the developer uses a very aggressive motion blur effect, leaving all the blur when you turn the camera of a side or the other. the player chooses to play in 4K or with a better frame rate.

The Tomb Raider ascent is a fine example to follow for all producers who intend to launch games optimized for the Xbox One X. Here we have not only two options but three. In addition to offering 4K at 30 fps and Full HD at 60 fps, there is also one with turbocharger, something close to the Ultra quality on PC

In this option, the console uses a dynamic resolution between 1080p and 2160p, but only 30 fps. This is for those looking to have the highest level of detail on the stage, with denser vegetation, more defined shadows, fewer artifacts and better textures.

The game flows well in all modes. In this way, it is up to each player to decide what is most important: graphic quality, high resolution or superior performance.

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, better known as PUBG, also benefits from the Xbox One X. Here we have a native resolution of 4K, but the lack of optimization compromises a little performance. Sometimes it should be noted that the commands are slow, which clearly shows that Microsoft's powerful console suffers from maintaining at least 30 fps.

This does not happen all the time. Whatever it is, what is clear is that PUBG needs improvements and the developer has promised to release a 60 fps mode for Xbox One X, but we still do not know. when we will see this mode published.

A big advantage of the Xbox One X against the PS4 Pro is its backward compatibility. It lets you run Xbox 360 games and even the first Microsoft console directly into the most powerful model of the company.

The process is quite simple: simply insert the game disc you already have or download directly from the Microsoft Store. But it is important to keep in mind that the title in question has been adapted to the new material. Not all games are compatible but the list goes up every month.

We tested with the acclaimed Red Dead Redemption . When you inserted the disc into the console, a notification appeared stating that an update was available (about 8 GB). In this particular case, the update not only made the game compatible with the latest hardware but also increased the resolution to 4K – well above the HD resolution of the Xbox 360 game.