Xbox Series X 1TB Digital Edition Still Packs Full Power for Digital Players

Photo credit: Ben Rowlands
Microsoft’s all-digital Xbox Series X in Robot White, priced at $599.99 today (was $749), removes the disc drive while keeping every bit of the original hardware performance intact. An eight-core custom Zen 2 processor runs at 3.8 GHz, paired with a custom RDNA 2 graphics processor delivering 12 teraflops across 52 compute units. Sixteen gigabytes of GDDR6 memory split into high-speed and standard pools handle the load, letting games target true 4K resolution with frame rates reaching 120 on compatible displays.

Quick Resume allows you to suspend numerous games and switch between them quickly owing to a special 1TB NVMe SSD that can move data at a mind-boggling 2.4GB per second, and that’s not even taking into account the near-doubling of performance achieved with hardware decompression. Game load times have decreased dramatically when compared to older Xbox consoles, and while this list is not exhaustive, it does mean you won’t be playing ancient classics on this thing, as you can still play titles from the last four generations thanks to backward compatibility, often with some nice graphical tweaks and improved performance.

DirectX ray tracing is a game changer, making lighting and reflections look ridiculously realistic in games that support it, and if you’re watching on one of those fancy new TVs, you’ll appreciate the HDMI 2.1 output, which has a variable refresh rate and auto low latency mode built in, making for a much better viewing experience. The audio quality is likewise excellent, with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X compatibility for all your surround sound needs. After all of the system files are installed, you’ll have roughly 800GB of storage accessible, which should provide you with enough space to build a decent library before you need to increase your storage with proprietary cards. But hey, you’re not going to run out of space very soon.

Robot White finish gives the tall, quiet chassis a clean look that blends into living rooms. Fan noise stays low even during demanding sessions, and power draw improves slightly over the 2020 original. Game Pass Ultimate pairs especially well here, feeding a rotating catalog of new and classic titles straight to the console without physical media.

When your internal drive begins to fill up, expansion cards come in handy since they provide a massive amount of extra storage at full speed, which is no minor feat. For older games or media, simply use a USB stick. As for setup, it’s about as simple as it gets: just plug in the wireless controller, HDMI cable, and power source and you’re good to go.