Much has been made of the power of Xbox Scarlett, Microsoft’s next-generation gaming console. While we know it utilizes an AMD Zen 2 CPU, GDDR6 RAM and a solid state drive, the actual performance numbers have been somewhat fleeting. However, it seems that the target specs are clearer now thanks to multiple sources that spoke to Windows Central.
These sources also confirmed the existence of two SKUS – the lighter Lockhart and the more powerful Anaconda. The Anaconda is apparently targeting 12 teraflops of power while Lockhart will be around four teraflops. Both consoles will have eight CPU cores targeting 3.5 GHz though Anaconda will have a higher per core clock speed than Anaconda.
While this may not seem like a huge leap, Anaconda’s performance bump will be significant thanks to caching improvements, new silicon architecture and other proprietary optimizations. The Anaconda will also have 16 GB of RAM with 13 GB for games and 3 GB for the operating system.
The other details – like both consoles using NVMe SSD tech to decrease loading times significantly or playing via streaming with Project xCloud as games download in the background – are also incredibly intriguing. In terms of backwards compatibility, Xbox Scarlett should run all current Xbox One titles. They’ll even have enhancements like unlocked frame rate and dynamic resolution games performing better due to the improved hardware (Monster Hunter World on Xbox One X was provided as an example). However, features like ray tracing for dynamic reflections will “most probably” be on Lockhart and Anaconda only.
While these rumors should be taken with a grain of salt and plans could change, the existence of two SKUs for Xbox Scarlett is looking more and more likely. We’ll have to wait till next year to learn more so stay tuned.
