Now that pre-orders have gone live, many of the mysteries surrounding Microsoft’s upcoming Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles have seemingly been put to rest. As the next-generation of Xbox consoles quickly approaches and many games media outlets have received the console for review purposes, it seems like Microsoft has almost revealed all that there is to know regarding both consoles. Fans have also discovered the price for the Xbox Series X/S 1 terabyte memory expansion card, as the storage expansion card is available to pre-order for $219.99 on Best Buy.
The storage expansion card, which is set to launch on the same day as the consoles, November 10th, is developed by Seagate. It is a proprietary card that is the only means of upgrading either the Xbox Series X’s 1TB internal SSD storage or the Xbox Series S’ 512GB SSD. As the Xbox consoles utilize custom NVME solid-state drives, it is not possible to replace them as it will be with Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5.
The price will likely come as a shock to fans, as it is just under the actual retail listing of the Xbox Series S console at $299. Some fans planning on purchasing an Xbox Series S are frustrated as the expansion card’s price pushes the price up to roughly $520, which then exceeds the cost of a Xbox Series X. Thankfully, Microsoft has confirmed that game downloads on the Xbox Series S will be up to 30% smaller than on Xbox Series X, as the console will not need to download 4K assets as it outputs a maximum resolution of 1440p. This explains the Series S’s built in 512GB SSD, despite the fans that fans will still likely want to upgrade to 1TB at some point.
Microsoft’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb confirmed via Twitter back in March that the Xbox Series X/S will be compatible with USB 3.1 external hard drives, however the consoles will only run Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox compatible games via these devices, as Series X titles are designed to take advantage of the console’s internal SSD.
The SSD is used to both increase loading and texture streaming times within games but also to take advantage of what Microsoft dubs as “Velocity Architecture,” which allows for features such as compressing assets during game downloads to allow players developers to minimize game file sizes while retaining detailed texture quality in 4K games. Microsoft also confirmed earlier this month that the SSD expansion cards will be hot-swappable, incentivizing fans to purchase multiple of the cards.
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will release on November 10th 2020, with the Seagate 1TB storage expansion card planned to release the same day.
Source: Best Buy
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply