(Credit: Microsoft) One unanswered question facing the Xbox Series X is how much the console will cost.
Well, it’s probably going to be expensive, according to a new presentation from Microsoft.
On Monday, the company’s Xbox architects gave a presentation at the Hot Chips technology conference on the hardware inside the next-generation gaming system.
The talk revealed one major challenge facing the project’s development has been keeping costs down.
According to the presentation, the Xbox Series X will boast 15.4 billion transistors inside the console—a major increase from the 4.8 billion to 6.6 billion transistors found in the Xbox One generation hardware.
(Credit: Microsoft/Hot Chips) However, the slides from Microsoft’s presentation point out the cost to produce each chip inside an Xbox Series X has gone up.
To build the chips, the company is relying on manufacturer TSMC’s “enhanced” 7-nanometer technology, which can pack more transistors on the silicon wafer.
But according to Microsoft, the wafer prices for the 7nm manufacturing process are higher than the 16nm tech used to build chips for the Xbox One.
The yield rate for the 7nm process is also lower, meaning the overall cost to produce each chip for the Xbox Series X has increased.
(Credit: Microsoft/Hot Chips) One way Microsoft can reduce the expense is by shrinking the chip’s die, which can help boost the yield rates.
However, Xbox architect Jeff Andrews pointed out during the presentation that the chip die on the Xbox Series X is not much smaller than the die in the Xbox One X, which launched in 2017 for $499.
“Basically we have the same die area across three different technologies, and it’s significantly more expensive for the die in the newest one,” Andrews added.
So don’t be surprised if the Xbox Series X ends up costing more than $500.
There are already suggesting the system will cost $600 when it launches in November. Of course, Microsoft could decide to price the system lower to compete against Sony's PlayStation 5, which also arrives this holiday season.
(Credit: Microsoft/Hot Chips) During the same talk, Microsoft also revealed a look of the actual Xbox Series X chip, and how it’s been architected.
The system-on-chip spans 360.4 mm² and contains both an 8-core CPU and a 12 Teraflop GPU from AMD, in addition to 16GB of GDDR6 RAM memory.
(Credit: Microsoft) One unanswered question facing the Xbox Series X is how much the console will cost.
Well, it’s probably going to be expensive, according to a new presentation from Microsoft.
On Monday, the company’s Xbox architects gave a presentation at the Hot Chips technology conference on the hardware inside the next-generation gaming system.
The talk revealed one major challenge facing the project’s development has been keeping costs down.
According to the presentation, the Xbox Series X will boast 15.4 billion transistors inside the console—a major increase from the 4.8 billion to 6.6 billion transistors found in the Xbox One generation hardware.
(Credit: Microsoft/Hot Chips) However, the slides from Microsoft’s presentation point out the cost to produce each chip inside an Xbox Series X has gone up.
To build the chips, the company is relying on manufacturer TSMC’s “enhanced” 7-nanometer technology, which can pack more transistors on the silicon wafer.
But according to Microsoft, the wafer prices for the 7nm manufacturing process are higher than the 16nm tech used to build chips for the Xbox One.
The yield rate for the 7nm process is also lower, meaning the overall cost to produce each chip for the Xbox Series X has increased.
(Credit: Microsoft/Hot Chips) One way Microsoft can reduce the expense is by shrinking the chip’s die, which can help boost the yield rates.
However, Xbox architect Jeff Andrews pointed out during the presentation that the chip die on the Xbox Series X is not much smaller than the die in the Xbox One X, which launched in 2017 for $499.
“Basically we have the same die area across three different technologies, and it’s significantly more expensive for the die in the newest one,” Andrews added.
So don’t be surprised if the Xbox Series X ends up costing more than $500.
There are already suggesting the system will cost $600 when it launches in November. Of course, Microsoft could decide to price the system lower to compete against Sony's PlayStation 5, which also arrives this holiday season.
(Credit: Microsoft/Hot Chips) During the same talk, Microsoft also revealed a look of the actual Xbox Series X chip, and how it’s been architected.
The system-on-chip spans 360.4 mm² and contains both an 8-core CPU and a 12 Teraflop GPU from AMD, in addition to 16GB of GDDR6 RAM memory.
