Xbox ‘Lockhart’ console to have same CPU speed as Series X but cuts back on GPU

Earlier this week, we began hearing that Microsoft's second next-gen console, codenamed ‘Lockhart', would be getting an official announcement in August. Since then, we've learned a few more details about this console, including details on specs, performance and when this hardware was originally planned to release.

As reported by The Verge, which has seen internal documentation on Lockhart, this console will have the same speed Zen 2 CPU as the Xbox Series X, but will make cutbacks on GPU and RAM. While the Xbox Series X is rated for 12 TFLOPS of graphics performance and has 13.5GB of usable RAM, Lockhart will instead have a 4 TFLOP GPU and just under 8GB of usable RAM.

Apparently Xbox Series X development kits do have a ‘Lockhart Profiling' mode, which down-scales performance for developer testing. The idea here is that by maintaining CPU speed and dropping down TFLOPS in other areas, developers should be able to scale games more efficiently by simply dropping the resolution for Lockhart, while keeping a similar level of detail in place.

In a separate report from Thurrot, we also learn that Microsoft originally wanted to ship the Xbox Series X in August 2020 and then release the Xbox Series S in October for a big holiday season push. However, due to the pandemic and other factors, plans had to be adjusted. Now, we expect to see the Xbox Series X in November and Lockhart may also launch at the same time.

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KitGuru Says: We'll have to wait and see how developers take to this two-console approach but it doesn't seem to be different from what we currently get with Xbox One and Xbox One X. Although this time around, both consoles will be using much more capable hardware. 

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