Microsoft Project Scorpio Dev Kit detailed

Impressive looking system for developers

We have already seen most of the specifications for the Microsoft Project Scorpio console but today, we get to check out the Project Scorpio Dev Kit that should be shipping to developers soon.

According to an exclusive article published by Gamasutra, the Project Scorpio for developers is practically the Project Scorpio on steroids, as although it packs the same custom CPU and targets the same 4K gaming performance, it has a Polaris GPU with 44 CUs (2816 Stream Processors) capable of pumping 6.6 TFLOPs of compute performance, double the amount of GDDR5 system memory at 24GB, 8GB of flash, same 1TB HDD and bonus 1TB SSD.

According to developers that Gamasutra talked to, these hardware improvements are there for a reason as it is easier to develop a game at higher settings and tune it down, rather than the other way around. Same developers are targeting 4K gaming with 4K textures, high framerates, HDR, wide color gamut and spatial audio. Another thing that was revealed earlier is the support for variable refresh rate, which comes with HDMI 2.1 specification.

Since Project Scorpio uses DirectX 12 on a whole new level, where some of the runtime components are directly incorporated into the hardware, making the system much more efficient.

While Project Scorpio sounds impressive, console developers are now facing the same issue that PC developers had as they have to design the game to be run well across all Xbox One consoles.

According to details, Project Scorpio Dev Kits should be shipping to some developers in the next few weeks and can be actually toggled to replicate any Xbox One console.

Current and future consoles are getting more and more powerful, focusing on a single goal, to make consoles competitive with the PC.