The PS5 GPU has a bunch of unique built in instruments that may vastly improve performance, which XSX doesn't have (nor anyone for that matter) . For example an entire chip dedicated to on-the-fly optimisations (e.g. culling all pollies on reverse surfaces, all pollies that are side-on, combining pollies that are similar, etc). There was a whole other chip dedicated to similar optimisations but I forget what this was. The Xbox Series X has no such in-built GPU systems, IIRC. It has impressive instruments but they were more about providing options for users and developers rather than optimising the actual workload (e.g. working HDR on BC games (definitely cool) and also offering a raytracing tool).
DirectML – Xbox Series X supports Machine Learning for games with DirectML, a component of DirectX. DirectML leverages unprecedented hardware performance in a console, benefiting from over 24 TFLOPS of 16-bit float performance and over 97 TOPS (trillion operations per second) of 4-bit integer performance on Xbox Series X. Machine Learning can improve a wide range of areas, such as making NPCs much smarter, providing vastly more lifelike animation, and greatly improving visual quality.
Mesh Shading – Mesh shading will enable developers to dramatically improve the performance and image quality when rendering a substantial number of complex objects in a scene. As an example, mesh shaders could enable the player to experience asteroid belts and fields of flowers in more pristine detail without seeing a loss in performance.
^^^ That's the culling you mentioned.
Sampler Feedback Streaming (SFS) – A component of the Xbox Velocity Architecture, SFS is a feature of the Xbox Series X hardware that allows games to load into memory, with fine granularity, only the portions of textures that the GPU needs for a scene, as it needs it. This enables far better memory utilization for textures, which is important given that every 4K texture consumes 8MB of memory. Because it avoids the wastage of loading into memory the portions of textures that are never needed, it is an effective 2x or 3x (or higher) multiplier on both amount of physical memory and SSD performance.
^^^ Another "culling" related efficiency.
Variable Rate Shading (VRS) – Variable Rate Shading increases GPU efficiency by concentrating shader work where it's most needed and reducing shader work in areas where it won't be noticeable. With minimal developer effort, VRS significantly improves GPU performance resulting in more stable and higher resolutions and frame rates with no perceptible loss in visual quality.
^^^ Wasn't mentioned by Cerny. It's essentially a 10-20% perf lift.
[Editor’s Note: Updated on 10/21 at 11AM to ensure it is now reflective of the capabilities across both of our next-gen Xbox consoles following the unveil of Xbox Series S.] As we enter a new generation of console gaming with Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, we’ve made a number of technology...
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