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How the Xbox One X stacks up against the PlayStation 4 Pro

How the Xbox One X stacks up against the PlayStation 4 Pro

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4K console spec shootout

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Microsoft has finally taken the lid off the Xbox One X — formerly known as Project Scorpio — and the company isn't shy about calling its new game machine “the world’s most powerful console.”

The One X is packing some serious firepower, with a custom eight-core AMD processor clocked at 2.3GHz, 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, and a 6-teraflop GPU with 40 compute units. Microsoft is proudly pointing out how the One X can support 4K HDR gameplay. (While Microsoft is tossing around the phrase “true 4K” a lot, apparently only some games will actually run in true native 4K, as opposed to checkerboard rendering.)

So how does Xbox One X compare to its biggest competitor: Sony’s PlayStation 4 Pro, which will be a year old by the time One X hits shelves?

When it comes to hard specifications, Microsoft has Sony soundly beaten here. The Xbox One X has a faster processor, a more powerful GPU, and more memory than even the PlayStation 4 Pro. Specifically, the Xbox One X has 6 teraflops (which, in very basic terms, is how many calculations it can perform per second), compared to 4.2 teraflops on the PlayStation 4 Pro. And the extra boost in RAM — 12GB vs. 8GB — is also pretty significant, at least on paper.

When it comes to hard specifications, Microsoft has Sony soundly beaten

But without some direct comparison of games on the two consoles, it’s hard to say how much the extra speed and power will really translate to meaningful improvement in performance. At the end of the day, both consoles claim to be able to offer 4K HDR gaming. Based on that criterion, Sony has a $100 price advantage over the One X with the $399 Pro, which isn’t exactly chump change.

Additionally, it’s worth considering a final piece of the equation: games. Microsoft showed off variety of new Xbox One exclusives at E3 this year, including Crackdown 3, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Forza Motorsport 7, and a passel of smaller indie titles. But compared to Sony’s upcoming slate of God of War 4, The Last of Us II, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Death Stranding, Detroit: Become Human, Days Gone, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man game, there’s still a long way to go before there’s a compelling lineup of games that you’ll need an Xbox to play.

To help you make your decision, here’s how Microsoft and Sony’s latest hardware fare when put head-to-head, along with the how powerful they are relative to the original hardware. (Just for fun, the Nintendo Switch is also thrown into the mix, and it’s unsurprisingly almost comically underpowered in comparison.)

Xbox One X spec comparison

CategoriesXbox One XXbox One SPlayStation 4 ProPlayStation 4 SlimNintendo Switch
Price$499.00$249.00$399.00$249.99$299.99
ProcessorAMD Jaguar (2.3GHz, 8-core)AMD Jaguar (1.75GHz, 8-core)AMD Jaguar (2.1GHz, 8-core)AMD Jaguar (1.6GHz, 8-core)ARM Cortex A57 (1.02GHz, quad-core)
GPUIntegrated AMD (6 teraflops, 40CU)Integrated AMD Radeon (1.4 teraflops, 12CU)Integrated AMD Radeon Polaris (4.2 teraflops, 36CU)Integrated AMD Radeon (1.84 teraflops, 18CU) Nvidia Maxwell (0.5 teraflops, unofficially)
Memory12GB GDDR58GB DDR38GB GDDR5, 1GB DDR38GB GDDR54GB LPDDR4
Storage1TB500GB, 1TB, 2TB 1TB500GB, 1TB32GB
Optical drive4K Ultra HD Blu-ray4K Ultra HD Blu-rayBlu-rayBlu-rayN/A
4K supportYesYes (video only)YesNoNo
HDR supportHDR10HDR10HDR10HDR10No
PortsThree USB 3.0, HDMI (in), HDMI (out), IR, optical audioThree USB 3.0, HDMI (in), HDMI (out), IR, optical audioThree USB 3.1, one Aux, HDMI (out), optical audioTwo USB 3.1, one Aux, HDMI (out)USB-C, microSD, 3.5mm headphone
Weight8.4 pounds6.4 pounds7.2 pounds4.6 pounds0.88 pounds
Dimensions (in.)11.8 x 9.4 x 2.411.6 x 9.1 x 2.512.8 x 11.6 x 2.111.3 x 10.4 x 1.549.4 x 4 x 0.55