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[Vasto]

We chat with Jason Ronald, one of the lead engineers on the Xbox Series X, about Xbox Velocity Architecture, the mixture of hardware and software that aims to eliminate load times on Microsoft's next-gen console.

 

[Eliciel]

so hardware based decompression.

 

[Orta]

I can't look at that video for more than a few seconds without my attention being completely drawn to that blokes beard.

What a terrifying specimen.

 

[LeftThumbstick]

Basically, they have built-in decompression blocks that do all the "decompressing" instead of taking away multiple cores of the Zen2 processor, thus leaving the CPU to fully concentrate on the game itself and not worrying about unload and unpacking all the data on the fly.

Seems pretty straight forward. Extra hardware thats specific for its use leaving the CPU & GPU to do the stuff it needs to do. Correct me if i'm wrong on simplifying it.

 

[ElCasual]

I dont believe you.gif

 

[Bernkastel]

Xbox Velocity Architecture: A Closer Look at the Next-Gen Tech Driving Gaming Innovation Forward on Xbox Series X - Xbox Wire

When we set out to design the Xbox Series X, we aspired to build our most powerful console ever powered by next generation innovation and delivering consistent, sustained performance never before seen in a console with no compromises. To achieve this goal, we knew we needed to analyze each...

news.xbox.com

@X-Fighter Here is the thread you wanted.

 

[Hosam6xavi]

Microsoft engineers made a great piece of hardware

Can't wait for 23 July

 

[jakinov]

Basically, they have built-in decompression blocks that do all the "decompressing" instead of taking away multiple cores of the Zen2 processor, thus leaving the CPU to fully concentrate on the game itself and not worrying about unload and unpacking all the data on the fly.

Seems pretty straight forward. Extra hardware thats specific for its use leaving the CPU & GPU to do the stuff it needs to do. Correct me if i'm wrong on simplifying it.

I didn't watch this video. But I read the articles. But it also includes a bunch of software solutions as well that's supposed to further help get better results. I don't believe it removes as much work from the CPU/GPU as the PS5 SSD, at least with what is currently disclosed. But it's better than nothing. Another benefit besides loads times, is that compression of data on disk is less expensive and will likely happen more (or be forced) if it isn't happening already with most games.

 

[Entroyp]

This is MS’ 36 CUs equivalent. Good effort but not quite as great as the competition.

To be fair I rather have a bigger GPU than extra I/O.

 

[CurtBizzy]

Gameplay ?

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Added to my Watch Later; they're still gonna hold back a lot on the architecture (system-wide) until the Hot Chips presentation I feel, but it's nice to be getting some of this info when we're starving for it xD.

 

[Doncabesa]

Gameplay ?

Next Thursday.

 

[DynamiteCop!]

This is MS’ 36 CUs equivalent. Good effort but not quite as great as the competition.

To be fair I rather have a bigger GPU than extra I/O.

The physical hardware may not be as good but their control of it and capability of usefulness via software may be better.

 

[Gavin Stevens]

In short, both systems are bloody great stuff, and both have different strengths and weaknesses. No one console is utterly perfect, though both have bought brilliant stuff to the table.

And if the post above offends or upsets you in any way, then... I’m sorry I guess?

We are in for a treat with these new machines boys, no matter what side you fall on.

 

[LeftThumbstick]

I didn't watch this video. But I read the articles. But it also includes a bunch of software solutions as well that's supposed to further help get better results. I don't believe it removes as much work from the CPU/GPU as the PS5 SSD, at least with what is currently disclosed. But it's better than nothing. Another benefit besides loads times, is that compression of data on disk is less expensive and will likely happen more (or be forced) if it isn't happening already with most games.

Yeah i didn't dig to deep into the explenation. To be honest though, even if its not as good as the raw speeds of the PS5 i/o, i think it will be more than enough for what is needed. I mean, going from the XB1 where even though Xbox didn't directly admit it, they knew it was a weak machine being outclassed in nearly every way so i actually do believe that they went all out analyzing the XB1 from top to bottom eliminating everything they could that could be seen as a bottleneck.

I think people believe this is still the Xbox of pre-2013.

 

[Thugnificient]

I didn't watch this video. But I read the articles. But it also includes a bunch of software solutions as well that's supposed to further help get better results. I don't believe it removes as much work from the CPU/GPU as the PS5 SSD, at least with what is currently disclosed. But it's better than nothing. Another benefit besides loads times, is that compression of data on disk is less expensive and will likely happen more (or be forced) if it isn't happening already with most games.

Relatively speaking it does. Mark Cerny said the decompressor does the equivalent job of 9 Zen2 cores and the XSX does the equivalent of ~4 but the XSX’s SSD is also less than half the speed of the PS5’s so it’s pretty similar.

2.4GB/s raw and 4.8GB/s compressed vs 5.4GB/s raw and 8-9GB/s compressed.

 

[Jigsaah]

We chat with Jason Ronald, one of the lead engineers on the Xbox Series X, about Xbox Velocity Architecture, the mixture of hardware and software that aims to eliminate load times on Microsoft's next-gen console.

LMFAO they picked the wrong guy to interview Jason Holland. He was just as lost after he answered each question.

 

[cireza]

There is dedicated hardware for decompression which is a great idea, but we already knew it.

Console seems very well thought out.

 

[skneogaf]

More interested in this as it affects my pc.

 

[Genx3]

so hardware based decompression.

There is dedicated hardware for decompression which is a great idea, but we already knew it.

Console seems very well thought out.

The dedicated Hardware Decompression block has been known since the original Xbox Series X reveal.
Its MS Custom silicon.

 

[Eliciel]

The dedicated Hardware Decompression block has been known since the original Xbox Series X reveal.
Its MS Custom silicon.

Good to know, I didn't know that

 

[Dr Bass]

The physical hardware may not be as good but their control of it and capability of usefulness via software may be better.

What gives you that idea?

 

[Nikana]

Yikes at the guy asking the questions. Feels like he googled some stuff and made questions from the top site he saw.

 

[Birdo]

Is it "Secret Sauce" if they tell us what it is?

 

[onQ123]

We are getting a lot of gaming news today

 

[Mobilemofo]

I hope Ms do really well. It will push Sony to not rest on their assss. Let's not have a repeat of the ps3 debacle.

 

[TheContact]

It's interesting how the PS5 and XBox went in different directions in terms of eliminating load times.
PS5 developed a way for the SSD to interact with the RAM in a very direct way, and MS is doing hardware decompression. I'd be really interested to see the stats comparing these two in terms of raw output capabilities.

 

[Bladed Thesis]

Another logo for the front of the game case?

 

[Thirty7ven]

It's interesting how the PS5 and XBox went in different directions in terms of eliminating load times.
PS5 developed a way for the SSD to interact with the RAM in a very direct way, and MS is doing hardware decompression. I'd be really interested to see the stats comparing these two in terms of raw output capabilities.

The information is all out there already, this is just retreading, again.

Regarding your observation, PS5 has even more hardware decompression capabilities.

 

[Dodkrake]

MS's speed secret sauce: the same as the PS5, but at less than half speed.

 

[TheContact]

The information is all out there already, this is just retreading, again.

Regarding your observation, PS5 has even more hardware decompression capabilities.

Ah thanks. This article cleared some things up for me:

PS5 vs Xbox Series X ‘Secret Sauce’ – SSD Speed And Velocity Architecture

gamingbolt.com

 

[Faithless83]

"Hey look! Very secret sauce, very amazing blasting fast high speed! Did I said fast? It's faster than fast!"

"Is it still 2.5 times slower than PS5?"

"Yes but...it's still fast, you know?"

 

[Romulus]

Sounds good, unfortunately great specs haven't really amounted to much. Everything looks like a high resolution/shiny version of shit we were playing 10 years ago.

 

[Ascend]

MS's speed secret sauce: the same as the PS5, but at less than half speed.

The raw speed doesn't really matter if the actual bandwidth/IO usage for the same data throughput is less than half.

 

[M1chl]

Secret Sauce

This is forum level bait, good job IGN.

 

[Zato]

This is reactionary to the press Sony got for the PS5 SSD, both have hardware decompression and we have known this since the beginning.

This in no way helps alleviate the discrepancies in SSD between them.

 

[Thirty7ven]

removed

 

[Dodkrake]

The raw speed doesn't really matter if the actual bandwidth/IO usage for the same data throughput is less than half.

2.4 raw and up to 6 compressed is somehow less than half of 5.5 and up to 22 compressed?

Looks like your fud game needs primary education.

 

[eastwood333]

MS's speed secret sauce: the same as the PS5, but at less than half speed.

yeah, that 1 second loading difference is going to be unbearable i tell you.

 

[Starcheif]

I wonder if MS will start doing more deep dives after Thursday? We all know Sony will do another event after MS so the flood of information should be almost here.

 

[squarealex]

High-Speed Secret Sauce

robing marketing of PS.

Looser one day, looser forever....

 

[eastwood333]

This is reactionary to the press Sony got for the PS5 SSD, both have hardware decompression and we have known this since the beginning.

This in no way helps alleviate the discrepancies in SSD between them.

Nor does variable clocks alleviate the discrepancies of a nearly a 2tf power advantage with sustained peformance at all times and a 40% advantage in Ray Tracing capabilities due to the significant CU advantage.

Enjoy the mere 1-2 second faster loading times. At least the PS5 has a hardware win in something.

 

[Dodkrake]

yeah, that 1 second loading difference is going to be unbearable i tell you.

No, but that 1 extra second in loading the less available ram will, especially for texture heavy scenes... Not very difficult to understand.

The PS5 can literally load, on average, 90GB of data into RAM (it needs to offload of course) in 10 seconds.

The Xbox can, tops, 60GB.

But sure, no difference, sir!

 

[Dodkrake]

Nor does variable clocks alleviate the discrepancies of a nearly a 2tf power advantage with sustained peformance at all times and a 40% advantage in Ray Tracing capabilities.

Enjoy the mere 1-2 second faster loading times.

What 40%? You guys and gals are delusional. Ray tracing scales with CUs and clock speed. It's an at most 15% difference.

 

[eastwood333]

No, but that 1 extra second in loading the less available ram will, especially for texture heavy scenes... Not very difficult to understand.

The PS5 can literally load, on average, 90GB of data into RAM (it needs to offload of course) in 10 seconds.

The Xbox can, tops, 60GB.

But sure, no difference, sir!

Dude, i saw the PS5 1st party games at the Sony event, to say i was underwhelmed with the graphics is an understatement. It was so disappointing that the unicorn, pixy dust overhyping of the SSD died immediately afterwards.

 

[Great Hair]

MS's speed secret sauce: the same as the PS5, but at less than half speed.

Half the speed = 50%
Reality though: 5.5/2.4 = 2.29x slower than the PS5

 

[Sony]

Traditially, drive speeds (HDD/SDD) are stated as peak performance. Microsoft has made it clear that the 2.4GB/s is sustained.
Has Cerny or have Sony clarified if PS5's SSD speed is sustained or peak?

 

[eastwood333]

What 40%? You guys and gals are delusional. Ray tracing scales with CUs and clock speed. It's an at most 15% difference.

Armchair tales from my ass if i ever heard it. There are devs stating the XSX is 40% more capable of doing Ray Tracing due to the much higher CU count.

 

[eastwood333]

Traditially, drive speeds (HDD/SDD) are stated as peak performance. Microsoft has made it clear that the 2.4GB/s is sustained.
Has Cerny or have Sony clarified if PS5's SSD speed is sustained or peak?

That is a good point. Probably peak or Cerny would have mentioned sustained, because we sure know nothing else on the system is at sustained performance.

 

[Dodkrake]

Armchair tales from my ass if i ever heard it. There are devs stating the XSX is 40% more capable of doing Ray Tracing due to the much higher CU count.

You got me. It's a 500% difference.

And is love to see sources for that, buddy.