In recent weeks, there have been rumors that Microsoft could be exiting the console market and leaving the Xbox ecosystem, something that Phil Spencer himself has denied, which has taken on a new dimension with new rumors claiming that the Redmond giant could stop using AMD APUs , and that his next Xbox will be powered by Intel processor and NVIDIA GPU.

Some may tell me that these rumors are crazy and that it is impossible for this to come true, but the truth is that deep down it is not as crazy as it may seem. Consider that the first Xbox specifically used an Intel processor modified Pentium III with 128 KB L2 cache and custom NVIDIA GeForce 3 GPUand that Microsoft was able to offer backwards compatibility on the Xbox 360 even though it used IBM PowerPC CPUs and ATi Radeon GPUs with unified shaders.

I wanted to use this example to illustrate that nothing is really impossible in the console world and that Microsoft ultimately has enough resources to do whatever it wants with its next console. On the other hand, it has to be taken into account there are two big reasons that could motivate the Redmond giant to turn the next-gen Xbox into an Intel- and NVIDIA-powered console.

An Xbox with an NVIDIA GPU would better differentiate it from the PlayStation

Xbox inside. Image courtesy of Copetti.org.

Right now, NVIDIA has the most advanced technology in the graphics sector, there’s no arguing that. Its GPUs also offer superior power efficiency, and its RT cores clearly outperform ray tracing. Graphics card like GeForce RTX 4060 It has a TGP of only 115 wattswhich means it can be easily integrated into the console.

The GeForce RTX 4060 Ti goes up to 160 watts TGP, but It would also be possible to port this graphical solution to a console adopting semi-custom design. For example, the Xbox Core Ultra 7-155H series has 16 cores and 24 threads and can run smoothly with a TDP of just 28 watts.

I have given you these examples to illustrate that NVIDIA GPU based Xbox It would be perfectly viable in terms of consumption and temperatures and also on a space level., because NVIDIA’s mid-range GPUs made with TSMC’s 5nm node are very small. The problem would of course be in the price of these components and of course the assembly of a dedicated GPU would design a will increase production costs from the console.

However, it would bring important benefits to Microsoft, as a new generation of Xbox with NVIDIA GPUs from the GeForce RTX 50 or 60 series, which will be the most advanced generations available depending on when the Redmond giant wants to launch its new console, would have more power in ray tracing and would bring DLSS super-resolution, image generation and beam reconstruction technology to Microsoft’s console.

Intel is making its way into consoles with its Meteor Lake CPUs

On the other hand, we have a problem with the processor. If Microsoft decided to go back to a discrete GPU design, it would need a CPU vendor, and in this case Intel would hold all the cards because the company did a good job with Meteor Lake, and because is the driving force behind the use of this generation of processors in portable consoles.

If Meteor Lake can be integrated into a portable console weighing less than a kilogram, it is clear that it can also be mounted on the next generation Xbox. As I said before, The TDP of these processors is customizableand could be perfectly matched to the thermal capabilities of the console and automatically balanced using dynamic turbo mode depending on the needs of the system in each situation.

There’s also no need to mount a Core Ultra CPU with a high core count, and Microsoft could strike a deal with the chip giant to create your own model equipped with, for example, four P cores and 8 threads and four E cores. These four P cores and their eight threads would be used for games, and of the block of E cores, two could be reserved for the operating system and applications, and the other two could be used to support P cores in games.

Final notes: would it really be viable?

I would difficult but not impossible. Microsoft would have to significantly improve its component selection and reach agreements with Intel and NVIDIA to develop semi-custom solutions that will allow it to better pinpoint costs. That would be the trickiest point of all, to strike that balance at a cost level that would allow you to build a new Xbox with an Intel processor and an NVIDIA GPU without skyrocketing the selling price and without having to assume serious losses from selling each one. dashboard.

The issue of backward compatibility is another important topic that was discussed, but we must not forget that in the end it is the same base at the CPU level (x86), and that the games API is also the same (DirectX 12). Even if Microsoft were to replace AMD with Intel and NVIDIA, it wouldn’t be as difficult to maintain backwards compatibility as some would think. Still, right now nothing is confirmed so keep that in mind.