Xbox One X’s 4K Resolution Has No Impact on CPU, GPU Allowed Increased LOD And More Objects

Though Microsoft’s Xbox One has been touted as the “most powerful console ever” – and make no mistake, it certainly is – there are some noticeable imbalances in its hardware. While the 12 GB GDDR5 RAM and GPU are certainly stellar, the processor seems to only be marginally better than the Xbox One. Though you could attribute this to Microsoft wanting to keep costs down, it certainly seems more like a half-step of sorts rather than a big leap forward. Or is it?

GamingBolt posed this question to Wargaming technical director Chris McCue, who’s worked on the free to play title World of Tanks. World of Tanks will certainly run in 4K on the Xbox One X but what are McCue’s thoughts on the Xbox One X’s CPU? Will it really hold back the console?

He replied that, “We’ve actually found the CPU and GPU improvements to complement each other quite well. Increasing the resolution from 1080p to 4K uses much of the additional power of the GPU but has basically no effect on the CPU. With those extra pixels available to display fine detail, though, we’ve chosen to extend our LOD ranges so that more objects render in the distance. That kind of change has CPU cost that is a good fit for the improved hardware there.”

Of course this is one example and we’ll have to see how other games, especially those like Forza Motorsport 7 which run in native 4K/60 FPS, will effectively exploit the Xbox One X’s hardware. The console is out on November 7th worldwide for $499.