A brand new report has indicated that Microsoft could be concentrating on a 2027 launch for its next-gen Xbox consoles. In response to YouTube channel Moore’s Regulation is Lifeless, Microsoft has seemingly been discussing a 2027 launch window for the console with its companions. Together with this, the YouTube channel has reportedly additionally gotten its arms on some particulars concerning the specs of the AMD APU (accelerated processing unit), dubbed Magnus, that can energy the console.
In response to the report, the Magnus APU will likely be composed of two separate chiplets – an SoC (system on a chip) that can deal with CPU duties, and a GPU primarily based on related applied sciences to AMD’s desktop Radeon merchandise. The CPU is slated to be made with AMD’s Zen 6 structure, and can characteristic as much as 3 cores, together with 8 Zen 6c cores, all of which share a 12 MB L3 cache. The GPU, however, could have 68 RDNA5 compute models, with 4 shader engines. The {hardware} is anticipated to characteristic a 24 MB L2 cache, which has been famous as being equal to 5 instances the quantity on the Xbox Sequence X.
Whereas no concrete particulars on features like reminiscence have been revealed as of but, the reminiscence bus is ready to be 192-bit, with the {hardware} being doable to configure to make use of 24 GB, 36 GB or 48 GB of RAM. Together with this, AI workloads like picture upscaling and Microsoft Copilot will likely be dealt with by an 110 TOPS (trillion operations per second) NPU that may go all the way down to 46 TOPS for low-power mode. The entire energy necessities for the Magnus APU are estimated to be someplace between 250 to 350 watts.
Curiously, from the numbers supplied by Moore’s Regulation is Lifeless, the chip powering the next-generation Xbox isn’t fairly providing as radical a efficiency lead over the rumoured chip powering the PS6 as one would possibly count on. Whereas the Magnus APU would possibly find yourself having a TDP of 350 W – round 70 p.c larger than what is anticipated of the PS6’s chip – efficiency good points are reportedly solely within the 30-35 p.c vary in keeping with the report.
Nonetheless, these good points aren’t fairly meaningless. Whereas it could not provide the flexibility to play video games at larger resolutions, multiplatform titles will probably find yourself providing smoother and better body charges on the Xbox moderately than the PS6. An instance supplied by Moore’s Regulation is Lifeless states {that a} title operating on the PS6 at 4K decision and 120 FPS can run on the Xbox’s APU at 4K and 144 FPS.
Different rumours surrounding the next-generation Xbox have indicated that Microsoft could be trying to create a PC/console hybrid machine that, together with having the ability to play video games bought specifically for the console, may even seemingly have the ability to run video games purchased from Steam or GOG. These stories point out that Microsoft could be planning an excellent more durable push into its Xbox Play Anyplace initiative. The stories have additionally indicated that the console will probably be costlier than Sony’s providing.
