Microsoft Boosts Xbox One GPU Clock Speed
Microsoft will boost the clock speed of the Xbox One’s AMD graphics processor from 800 MHz to 853 MHz, Marc Whitten, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Xbox, said during the Major Nelson podcast. He also noted that game makers are now working with final Xbox One development kits.
Perhaps Xbox One engineers found that the GPU is most efficient at the said clock speed. The new “mono driver” is also a new “100% optimized for Xbox One” DirectX driver, Microsoft’s proprietary API.
In the podcast, Whitten also stated that Microsoft “dropped” the Xbox One GPU after E3 2013, allowing them to tweak and fine tune the hardware to match their vision of the experience that they wanted the Xbox One to provide the gamer/user with.
The Xbox One is slated to launch later this year, and the next-gen console will sport an 8-core CPU, 8 GB of system memory and a 500 GB hard drive. Sony’s PlayStation 4 will sport a similar system-on-a-chip architecture. Both semi-custom APUs will be manufactured by AMD.
The move comes after Microsoft’s console has been criticised for having significantly less raw performance compared to Sony’s PlayStation 4.
What do you think of Microsoft upgrading the Xbox One’s GPU? Does it matter to you at all? Why or why not? Let us know below!
[Via]
