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Xbox One S releases today and we finally have detailed data on exactly how the new console is faster than the original model. What's more, we've had access to production hardware for several days now, meaning we can test it. The bottom line is this: Xbox One S has a GPU clock-speed of 914MHz, up from 853MHz in the older unit. That's a 7.1 per cent increase and ESRAM bandwidth increases in line, taking that up to 218GB/s effective. Some games see no difference - others run noticeably faster.As you can read in today's extensive Xbox One S tech interview, the GPU 'overclock' is one of a number of enhancements in a new system-on-chip (SoC) package that adds support for 4K HDR media and gaming. According to Microsoft, upclocking the graphics core is needed to support rendering real-time non-HDR versions of the game for the GameDVR feature, streaming and screenshots. The firm could have disabled it for non-HDR titles, but they chose not to - it's effectively a small, bonus value-added feature. In essence, the difference is rather like a factory overclocked PC graphics card compared to a stock model. By and large, Xbox One S runs like a standard console, but there are scenarios where the improvement is dramatic - far more so than we envisaged when Microsoft supplied the spec.
"Some games (ones that utilise dynamic resolution and/or unlocked frame-rates) may see a very minor performance improvement," says Microsoft's Albert Penello, senior director of product management and planning. "Our testing internally has shown this to be pretty minor, and is only measurable on certain games, so we didn't want to make it a 'selling point' for the new console."
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