Xbox One X Visuals Compared to PS4 Pro, Comes Out on Top as Expected

Last week, Microsoft finally made the Xbox One X available for pre-order and the new console quickly sold out. While I did pre-order the hardware, I am still on the fence about if I will keep the device or cancel the pre-order before the console shipped.

One thing I have been waiting for is the proof that the new console is actually going to be as good as Microsoft has promised. The company loves to talk specs and how it is the most powerful console of all time but at the end of the day the only thing that matters if the user can tell the difference.

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Digital Foundry, the same people who got an early look at the specs of the console, has managed to put together a side-by-side comparison of the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X to show the difference in the hardware. Simply put, the Xbox One X performs significantly better than Sony’s console but at this point, this should not be a surprise.

You can see from a few images in this post that the Xbox has significantly more detail than the Pro; the images come from the upcoming Tomb Raider release that will deliver the higher resolution for the Xbox One X.

If you have the time, I highly recommend watching the video below as it does an excellent job of breaking down the visual differences between the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X.

The fact that the Xbox One X is better than the PS4 Pro is not a surprise. Microsoft’s console costs $100 more and it was released a year later than Sony’s so of course, it has to be better in every way if they want to gamers to pay an additional $100.

As I consider if I am going to keep my pre-order, this is very good news. The fact that you can change between 4k output and higher-framerates (as shown in the video) is the ideal result of having a more powerful Xbox as depending on the title, I can see some users choosing a higher framerate (shooters/fighters) or 4k (RPG) depending on the game.

I’m hoping that we will see more examples in the near future that show additional the difference between the Pro and the X. The early impressions of the new console are looking great and this genuinely has me excited but I’d also love to learn more about the ‘high framerate’ settings as one that keeps me wanting to go back to my PC is 60FPS at 1080P; here’s to hoping the X can achieve this too.

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Conversation 18 comments

  • burog25c

    28 August, 2017 - 9:31 am

    <p>I wonder if any tech writers or console e-peeners ever grasp the concept of good enough gaming? I know what the spec people say, but…</p><p><br></p><p>I love my PC. The graphics card I have isn't top of the line, but it's not bottom of the barrel either. Every game I try to play has some "recommended" settings based on my card. But I find I always have to change something. If it is a fast paced game, I lower a few things here and there, like dynamic lighting, because who has time for that shit when the other guy is busting your chops. On the other hand, if it's single player adventure type stuff? Jack up stuff like dynamic lighting. You're taking your time and should enjoy the view. AA the hell out of it. </p><p><br></p><p>I'll bet there are other gamers out there who feel the same. For A) game you sacrifice such and such while you do something different for B) and C) games. Just because the hardware CAN doesn't always mean the player SHOULD. </p><p><br></p><p>I hope someone else understands where I'm coming from.</p>

  • Skolvikings

    28 August, 2017 - 9:35 am

    <p>Those samples are way zoomed in. Great news for the Xbox One X but I'm not sure average gamers will notice. Then again, the Xbox One X isn't for average gamers…</p>

    • ProgrammerAl

      Premium Member
      28 August, 2017 - 2:08 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#169117"><em>In reply to Skolvikings:</em></a></blockquote><p>I'm sure no one will notice without looking for it directly. But every time a new console comes out this is exactly what's looked at. This happened when the Xbox One and PS4 first came out and the PS4 always came out on top. </p>

  • Bdsrev

    28 August, 2017 - 9:52 am

    <p>Honestly, there's no point in getting an Xbox One X or PS4 Pro unless you have an OLED television. If you plug either of these consoles into some typical LCD tv, you're pretty much wasting the potential of the graphics. LCD is a terrible display technology for video games. If you care about image quality and fidelity, an OLED tv is far more important than the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. </p>

    • Stooks

      28 August, 2017 - 11:15 am

      <blockquote><a href="#169121"><em>In reply to Bdsrev:</em></a></blockquote><p>Sorry but you are wrong. </p><p><br></p><p>This post is showing off Digital Foundry work. Ever since the Xbox One/PS4 DF has been doing comparisons and 80% of the time the Xbox One got trounced in terms of IQ, FPS, and resolution. The Xbox One had to use dynamic resolution more often. The PS4 used it less and the PS4 Pro hardly uses it all, especially at 1080p. There are times when things are busy in a game on the Xbox One where the graphics get ugly (dynamic res) and the FSP dips, and at rate times dips bad. The X probably wont use it all 1080p and we shall see how it handles above 1080p. </p><p><br></p><p>You are not wasting any graphics potential of the X at 1080p on a LCD, in fact you are getting the best console gaming experience possible on that 1080p LCD TV. You will get better FPS, high resolution (full 1080p all the time) and if the game is patched supersampled graphics at 1080p.</p><p><br></p><p>Yes to unlock all of the potential on the X you should get a 4K-HDR monitor/TV.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

    • scoob101

      29 August, 2017 - 8:25 am

      <blockquote><a href="#169121"><em>In reply to Bdsrev:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Its not as cut and dried as that. </p><p><br></p><p>Improvements in texture filtering are visible on any display. Dynamic scaling system wide means improvements on 1080p displays are evident also. Frame rate improvements are not dependent on the display.</p><p><br></p><p>Yes you need a large 4k display to get the best results. But there are gains to be had on standard displays, and some will be willing to pay the entry price to get those gains. </p>

      • Waethorn

        29 August, 2017 - 1:01 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#169294"><em>In reply to scoob101:</em></a></blockquote><p>If you used 10-bit colour for rendering instead of some cheap lighting effects like HDR, and combine it with high-level antialiasing, you wouldn't see any jagged lines anywhere.</p>

    • Waethorn

      29 August, 2017 - 12:59 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#169121"><em>In reply to Bdsrev:</em></a></blockquote><p>I've said that I would rather have the graphics potential put towards more complex scenes. Resolution and a few fancy-pants lighting effects don't make 3D graphics look all that more realistic to me. Most games don't create realistic worlds with the 3D graphics potential of today's GPU's. Put the GPU to better use by drawing more triangles and using higher-quality textures on objects. Physics modelling hasn't changed much in recent years since they introduced PhysX API's and had specialized hardware for it years ago either.</p>

  • Darmok N Jalad

    28 August, 2017 - 10:31 am

    <p>I think the Xbox One X is a much more justifiable upgrade for an Xbox One owner than the PS4 Pro is for PS4 owners, as the performance gain for the Xbox user is far more significant. The One was underpowered compared to the PS4, and the PS4 Pro just isn't powerful enough for 4K to make it an easy buy if you're a PS4 owner. </p><p>I honestly don't understand why Sony launched the Pro when they did. They already had a performance advantage, and they just ended up tipping their hand by making the Pro before MS could respond. So long as XboxOne is the base mark for game performance, these half-generation upgrades aren't going to be fully realized in the game design. </p><p>The other half of this is that One X and PS4 Pro are both still running on AMD Jaguar CPUs. I don't care how "enhanced" they are, they are no where close to the design, performance, or clock speed of Core or Ryzen CPUs. I would just be surprised to see One X hit the "true" 4K mark, as it takes a lot of money and electricity to do so on a gaming rig. I owned a 2.4ghz Jaguar system in the past, and I would at best call its power "sufficient."</p><p>All that said, One X will still be a big step up if you're committed to Xbox. PS4 owner? I think either some big price cuts are needed to jump to Pro, or just wait for PS5, which will hopefully be a Ryzen+Vega affair. Might be too much to hope for HBM, too, but it would be cool if they could do that for next generation. </p>

  • Polycrastinator

    28 August, 2017 - 11:18 am

    <p>[gives sideeye] But you could just play Rise of the Tomb Raider on your gaming PC. And, I'd wager, buy it for a lot less, too.</p>

  • matsan

    28 August, 2017 - 1:33 pm

    <p>You should rename the site xboxfanboyz.com </p><p>For your sake I really hope your pre-ordered Xboxes will meet your expectations and that you haven't bought the Red-Ring Edition. </p><p>As a reader this focus on Xbox pre-order, all the hype about how good it will be when it is delivered IN TWO MONTHS, listening to anecdotal data from Amazon US how the PRE-ORDER XBOX is crushing PS4 Pro (that by the way is shipping) and all the other rambling – it is getting pretty tedious. </p><p>You ramble about Apple fanboys but the difference between daringfireball and thurrott.com is currently very very small.</p>

  • kzrystof

    28 August, 2017 - 7:12 pm

    <p>I remember a time when the Xbox One was released and could not do 1080p ("only 900") compared to the PS4 and it was like a huuuuge turn off. Today, the xbox one x can do real 4k compared to the PS4 Pro and now, it's not a big deal? <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I love the internetz :)</span></p>

  • Quixote

    29 August, 2017 - 9:06 am

    <p>When all is said and done the XOX is another white elephant. All. One can point to are big numbers, which epitomises the state of the "console race"; A "my numbers are bigger than hours" drudge. No wonder gaming is in such a sad and purile state! Such small gains for so much, the investment. Of course the narks who live to saturate their dulled minds in low alpha waves will pay anything for even the most infinitesimal gain. I'm personally disgusted that both Sony and Microsoft even attempted these half-baked pieces of low grade mediocrity. At least Sony is pushing it as a non-essential option to a "better experience", I suppose. Microsoft has predictably gone Pepsi max with its overbloated estimation of the final product. If you want a better experience, go PC. Either that or go PS4, as a more cost friendly alternative. But neither Sony or Microsoft are marketing fun and entertainment, merely the tight grip of what feels every but like a constricted experience of a business model. </p>

  • Waethorn

    29 August, 2017 - 12:55 pm

    <p>Nice boob shot, Brad.</p>

  • Waethorn

    29 August, 2017 - 1:03 pm

    <p>Graphics patches don't fix a bad game.</p><p><br></p><p>Destiny 2 comes out next Wednesday BTW.</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    29 August, 2017 - 6:48 pm

    <p>Aside from thermal design, is there anything keeping these things on AMD Jaguar? Couldn’t MS drop a Ryzen Threadripper into a future model with a new cooling system and seriously melt some faces?</p>

  • MrRedSun

    Premium Member
    31 August, 2017 - 1:36 am

    <p>I'm excited for an Xbox One that runs faster than my PS4. While the delta between the original incarnations of this generation's consoles was maybe about 15%, it was enough for me to switch from entirely Xbox 360 gaming last generation to mainly PS4 gaming this generation. I bought an Xbox One close to launch but have only played one game on it. I <em>want</em> to like it, but knowing (at the time) that the PS4 would run games better meant that I bought multi-platform games for it instead of my Xbox. At the game studio where I work, many of my fellow developers also made the same platform switch to Sony. My presumption is that the performance delta bothered enough people to switch that the balance of the 360-to-PS4 migration were people that bought in because "all their friends were on PS4."</p>

  • kuramin

    09 September, 2017 - 3:46 am

    <p><a href="http://gamatkapsul.co.id&quot; target="_blank">Walatra Gamat Emas Kapsul</a></p><p><a href="http://www.obattinnitus.com/&quot; target="_blank">Obat Tinnitus</a></p><p>That's why i love xbox one</p>

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