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Two-and-a-half years ago, we stacked up the then-new Xbox Series S up against Xbox One X, finding that Microsoft's junior console had genuine competition on its hands in the form of the prior generation flagship... but now things have changed. Xbox Series S is now a stronger focus for developers, while One X is finally being left behind - and in some cases, there's the sense that the older machine just isn't receiving the care and attention it once did. Here's Oliver Mackenzie with the breakdown.

00:00 Overview
01:17 Diablo 4
03:18 Assassin's Creed Mirage
04:30 Persona 3 Reload
05:41 Like a Dragon: Ishin!
06:52 Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
07:56 Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty
09:07 Loading Tests
10:37 Analysis and Conclusion

 

[adamsapple]

Diablo IV
- One X takes a hit on terrain quality, other than that the IQ looks very similar.
- Both run at ~864p internally with up-scaling to 1440p.
- One X runs at 30 FPS lock with traversal stutters, lacks motion blur and can feel choppy.
- Series S is 60 FPS with minor dips, but largely smooth 60 FPS with no stutters ala One X.
- DF thinks the game isn't taking full advantage of One X despite the Jaguar CPU's weakness.

AC Mirage
- One X has few downgrades, reduced quality, missing textures, missing foliage animations, simplified lighting
- But One X runs at higher rendering resolution and higher shadow resolution.
- One X: 1728p, Series S: 1080p
- Series S runs and holds 60 FPS most of the time with some tearing. Cut-scenes drop to 30 FPS
- One X targets 30 with a decent lock.

Persona 3 Reload
- One X has 30 FPS performance lock with highly uneven frame-pacing, no motion blur so it feels messy
- Series S runs at 60 FPS, operates much more smoothly
- Both have SSR (SX and PS5 have RT in some places)
- One X: 1440p, Series S: 1080p
- One X's frame pacing makes it difficult to recommend over even with higher resolution.

Like a Dragon: Ishin
- Same performance issues as P3R on One X, One X has near constant frame pacing issues and targets 30 FPS
- Series S reaches 60 FPS and is locked in typical play with one-off drops
- Both count around 1080p with minor lighting differences with a stronger AO on Series S
- DF thinks One wasn't given a proper treatment here

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
- One X renders at 1080p, Series S renders at 720p but look similar, Series S is using effective up-sampling
- One X is 30 FPS without frame pacing issues
- Series S targets 60 FPS with minor drops here and there

Wo-Long
- One X has some of the worst frame-pacing seen in a while
- Series S is 60 FPS but doesn't maintain a locked frame-rate like the above examples
- One X has worse texture quality than Series S
- 900p on Series S and 1080p on One X

General Loading Tests:
- Series S's native SSD makes it loads all the above examples a lot faster on Series S
- Generally One X is always 3x or more slower at loading things compared to Series S

 

[TVexperto]

IGN already forcing DF to make awful videos

 

[intbal]

Haven't watched the video yet, but I noticed that as soon as they switched Xbox One S/X development over to the GDK (instead of the XDK), performance and/or quality on all titles dropped.

 

[Fart Knight]

IGN already forcing DF to make awful videos

 

[consoul]

Kinda surprising how well One X holds up. For 2017 console hardware, it's still very capable.

 

[Topher]

I'm surprised DF isn't using PS5 to compare Xbox One X and Xbox Series S.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I still use the XBONEX as a media player in the bedroom, bought a remote many years ago.
I think it's worth that. I still play older games on it while in bed.
Gamestop trade in still says it's worth 77 bucks. More than the price of a new Embracer game.

 

[damidu]

the little box, that couldn't

 

[UltimaKilo]

Not sure what the point of this video is other than they may have run out of topics to discuss.

I do love my Series S, though I wish Microsoft would release an even smaller Series S Lite built on 5nm.

 

[ReBurn]

Kinda surprising how well One X holds up. For 2017 console hardware, it's still very capable.

I used my One X on another TV a lot before GameStop sent me a free Series S. It was still an OK way to play until load times became an issue. Mass Effect Legendary Edition plays really well on One X and the load times aren't too bad. Then Guardians of the Galaxy came along. It looked great on One X but the load times were unbearable after playing it on Series X. So I swapped in the Series S on that TV and haven't used the One X much since.

 

[Team Andromeda]

DF is fast becoming a JOKE.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Series S is much better than One X. Okay, the resolution in One X games is often higher, but XSS almost always wins in terms of framerate and load times which is ultimately more important. Psychonauts 2 for example, it has native 4k on One X with terrible load times and 30fps. Series S runs this game at 1680p ish at 60fps and even has a 120fps mode, not to mention no load times.

Its just that when last-gen games aren't optimized, you are stuck with One S profiles on XSS. But for me XSS is for me the only way to play games like Prey and Sonic Unleashed at 60fps. Which is why I keep it around.

 

[twilo99]

I do love my Series S, though I wish Microsoft would release an even smaller Series S Lite built on 5nm.

The natural progression for that machine is a handheld device

 

[yazenov]

The different Xbox names and models still confuses me till this day.

 

[adamsapple]

Not sure what the point of this video is other than they may have run out of topics to discuss.

It's a follow up to the same comparison they did 2 years ago with newer games.

Cross-Gen Face-Off: Xbox Series S vs Xbox One X

The first year of the new console generation has been quite unlike any other - Xbox One and PlayStation 4 releases are …

www.eurogamer.net

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

This reminds me that I need to offload my One X. It's been unused since late 2021 and since now I have a Series X it's just another dust magnet in my house.

 

[squarealex]

One X renders at 1080p, Series S renders at 720p but look similar,

 

[adamsapple]

The up-scaling is good, at least.

 

[Topher]

The up-scaling is good, at least.

Geez......Series S is much blurrier in both of those.

 

[adamsapple]

Geez......Series S is much blurrier in both of those.

Ehhh, I don't think other than the blur on the character's hair it's that different. Take this cross-section. The distant detail looks about identical in both. The biggest difference here is that the wires on top are easier to see in One X but that's the kind of fine detail that FSR etc miss in most games.

 

[diffusionx]

This was kind of interesting a couple years ago but in 2024 who realistically cares or is thinking about “upgrading” from a One X to a Series S.

 

[Kilau]

Shame MS couldn't deliver something more like the One X at the launch of last gen but that much GPU power coupled with the weak CPU always seemed like a talking point rather than something that could ever be utilized properly.

 

[Wolfpact1983]

 

[Topher]

The up-scaling is good, at least.

Yes, it really is. Not sure why these are not lining up, but Series S is on the right. It IS blurrier.

 

[SHA]

IGN already forcing DF to make awful videos

Ryan is a cool guy but he should stay away from that stuff, he has his own place but that, that's really not who he is.

 

[adamsapple]

Yes, it really is. Not sure why these are not lining up, but Series S is on the right. It IS blurrier.

It trades in different places, both left one's are One X and right ones are Series S.

The overall image at 720p looking interchangeable with 1080p is still pretty decent and a good show that modern upscaling makes higher native pixels kinda redundant.

 

[Disco Dave]

IGN already forcing DF to make awful videos

Digital Foundry will be making "100 things you DIDNT know about Breath of the Wild!" videos shortly.

 

[Thanati]

Releasing the series S was just a dumb move by MS. Totally no need for it and just screws up development by forcing devs to program for it.

 

[ShadowkillXNA]

Series S is much better than One X. Okay, the resolution in One X games is often higher, but XSS almost always wins in terms of framerate and load times which is ultimately more important. Psychonauts 2 for example, it has native 4k on One X with terrible load times and 30fps. Series S runs this game at 1680p ish at 60fps and even has a 120fps mode, not to mention no load times.

Its just that when last-gen games aren't optimized, you are stuck with One S profiles on XSS. But for me XSS is for me the only way to play games like Prey and Sonic Unleashed at 60fps. Which is why I keep it around.

Series S cant even run xbox one games with one x enhancements due to it's lack of ram.
Digital Foundry still doing their best to convince people (and themselves) that series s wasn't a complete waste of time and resources and isn't an anchor around developers necks.

 

[King Dazzar]

The up-scaling is good, at least.

Yes, it really is. Not sure why these are not lining up, but Series S is on the right. It IS blurrier.

Looking at the photos up close on my 85" Sony in graphics picture mode and the top pic looks sharper on X1X and the Series S looks a touch sharper on the second in places. On the first set, the distant brickwork in the mid part of the pictures shows the X1X as sharper. But you can look at certain elements on the second set and they trade blows. Which makes me wonder if its just the capture variance as the lighting is slightly different between the two machines too.

 

[SkylineRKR]

Series S cant even run xbox one games with one x enhancements due to it's lack of ram.
Digital Foundry still doing their best to convince people (and themselves) that series s wasn't a complete waste of time and resources and isn't an anchor around developers necks.

Its kind of what I said. But when patched, they do outperform One X versions regardless. You'd be crazy to prefer a classic like Alien Isolation or Dead Space 2 on One X, instead of XSS.

The price of Series S was the same as a base PS4 mind you.

Series S was a decent idea on paper, a cheap entry level into the new gen, but it sort of backfired. I think it worked if it really was an XSX at lower resolution only, but there are more cutbacks. In hindsight MS was better off selling a discless X for 399, like Sony did with the PS5. This would make it easier for developers.

 

[intbal]

Oliver always sounds like he records his videos with a pillow over his mic.

 

[LordCBH]

The biggest shocker in that list is the One X being locked to 30fps on Persona 3 Reload, a game with a fantastic art style to make up for its not great looking actual graphics.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

Replace the internal drive with a SSD and the One X is a nice media plus classic BC games device.

 

[adamsapple]

The biggest shocker in that list is the One X being locked to 30fps on Persona 3 Reload, a game with a fantastic art style to make up for its not great looking actual graphics.

Like they say in the video a few times, doubt the developers spent much time dedicated on the One X versions other than taking the One S version and increasing its resolution. One X should comfortably be able to run a game like P3Reload at 60 FPS without the RT reflections.

 

[DaGwaphics]

The up-scaling is good, at least.

Not a bad trade off for twice the frame rate. If they had compared the 30fps modes these might swing the other way.

 

[Topher]

It trades in different places, both left one's are One X and right ones are Series S.

The overall image at 720p looking interchangeable with 1080p is still pretty decent and a good show that modern upscaling makes higher native pixels kinda redundant.

That's fine but overall the One X version simply looks clearer. You pointed out the hair yourself

 

[FunkMiller]

Shitbox console vs old console… which one is worse?

Why they bothered making the Series X, I’ll never know.

 

[adamsapple]

Shitbox console vs old console… which one is worse?

Why they bothered making the Series X, I’ll never know.

Guessing you meant to write 'why they bothered making the Series S' here?

 

[semiconscious]

'it's a bad mother-'
'shut your mouth!'
'i'm just talkin' about series s...'

 

[Topher]

Not a bad trade off for twice the frame rate. If they had compared the 30fps modes these might swing the other way.

Good point. I missed that those were 30 vs 60.

 

[Leonidas]

Xbox One X was a BEAST

 

[Boots_the_God]

Not surprising. Wasn't the original intent for the series S to offer higher refresh rates anyway?

 

[Radical_3d]

The only reason why the X doesn’t wipe the floor with the S is that devs put no care in such a small niche. But giving the limitation of the CPU that forces 30fps in the majority of games and the grunt of its GPU/RAM the difference should be way higher.