Xbox Project Scorpio Key Features

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer talks at the Microsoft Xbox E3 2016 media briefing in Los Angeles, June 13, 2016.

The gaming industry holds its breath every year for the battle of the two console companies — Microsoft and Sony. 2017 might be a special year in this regard, with the Xbox One: Project Scorpio gearing for launch and a rumored PlayStation 5 on the horizon.

Sony has been way ahead of Microsoft in terms of sales, but this might soon change as Microsoft is coming out with a console much more powerful than the PlayStation 4, which is expected to debut at a competitive price point.

According to Xbox head, Phil Spencer, Project Scorpio might have some great specs for its price. He compares the upcoming console to a customized PC costing $2,000.

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“If you said to me, ‘could you or another console manufacturer design a $2,000 console that ran, like, two Titan Xs SLI-d together?’ Then yeah, we could do it. But the console price points aren’t there. If you’re willing to spend a couple of grand building up an i7-based machine with umpteen terabytes of RAM, you can go do that on a PC," he told the Guardian Thursday.

He added that while Project Scorpio will have premium pricing, it might not be overpriced.

“But I actually feel with Scorpio we’ve been able to hit a really nice price/performance ratio. When we talk about the price, I think people will see that. It is a premium product, there’s no doubt, but I think relative to the PC that you could go buy at this spec, you’re gonna feel really good.”

Would the Xbox Project Scorpio be a powerful device? It no doubt would be if the specs are an indication — it will have eight custom 64-bit cores clocked at 2.3 gigahertz, a 1,172 megahertz processor and 12GB of RAM, a configuration which could help users play games in 4K resolution seamlessly. But these kind of specs do raise a concern about pricing.

According to Valuewalk, the console might be priced around $499, which is the same as Xbox One’s debut pricing and $100 pricier than PS4.

But the Project Scorpio could mark a huge change in the Xbox lineup, rather than just being an incremental device. It is more comparable to the Xbox 360 released a decade ago than the Xbox One S released last year.

According to Spencer, Xbox Scorpio’s USP will be its ability to support 4K resolution.

Read: Project Scorpio Release Date: Microsoft To Reveal New Xbox Console At E3 2017

He told Guardian: “I think Scorpio is for the console customer who wants the best version of the console games on their television, whether they have a 1080p or a 4K television.

"We’ve got a higher frequency CPU than any other console, we’ve got a better GPU, we’ve got more RAM. I have a Scorpio at home, so I’ve moved it back and forth from a 1080p TV to a 4K TV – and if you’re running on a 1080p TV and you plug Scorpio in you’re gonna be able to tell. I can tell.”

In Conclusion, the Xbox Project is designed for hardcore gamers, who already have a setup that supports high-end gaming. If you already own a Xbox One, check if your setup will let you take the full advantage of it before upgrading.

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