Xbox Series X’s Zen 2 CPU Will Double Its Performance Output

The Xbox Series X is looking like an absolute powerhouse based on all that we’ve seen of it so far, and developers and publishers around the industry have spoken up quite regularly about how excited they are about its potential.

We recently interviewed 3D Realms’ co-founders Frederik Schreiber and Scott Miller about the upcoming Kingpin: Reloaded, an enhanced re-release of the classic shooter being published by them. When our conversation turned to next-gen consoles (as it often does) and what the specs that have been revealed for the consoles will enable, Schreiber and Miller spoke quite highly of the upcomind hardware.

Something that came up in particular was the Xbox Series X’s custom Zen 2 CPU, which, according to Schreiber and Miller, will “almost double the performance output” of the console.

“We see that the [Xbox] Series X will have almost double the performance output, which will be a huge benefit for larger scale AAA games,” they said. “And for smaller games, it will allow faster loading times, faster streaming, better AI, and, of course, 60 FPS and 4K much more often.”

Speaking of the two consoles’ SSDs, while they noted that a game like Kingpin: Reloaded – which isn’t a very demanding title – won’t have much to do with an SSD, they did say that large-scale AAA titles will see “drastic” improvements.

“For a game like Kingpin: Reloaded, which is not too demanding on your hardware, the SSD won’t have much of an impact, except for the loading times,” they said. “However, for larger scale, AAA titles, we’re definitely expecting it to improve things drastically.”

Kingpin: Reloaded is coming to PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch later this year. Our full interview with Schreiber and Miller will be live soon, so stay tuned.