Xbox Series S for $249 +S&H w/ code XBOXS2250 at Adorama

Besides 512gb storage and no disc drive. Spec wise are these the same as the series X?
 
Besides 512gb storage and no disc drive. Spec wise are these the same as the series X?
Less CUs as well as less vram and bandwidth. Less than even the One X which hurts it more than the lack of CUs I think is why it so often falls short of the One X level of visuals when running the same frame rate.

Still, at $250 it is still a great deal for a casual gaming setup.
 
Besides 512gb storage and no disc drive. Spec wise are these the same as the series X?
Not sure why you just didn't do a two second Google search and directly compare the specifications.

In my opinion at the normal MSRP of $299 it's really not as good as a deal as some people claim. I mean just think for only $100 more you can get the PS5 digital edition which completely craps all over the Xbox series s. For $249 though it is much much more appealing. I really wish it had the disc drive though because I have Red Dead redemption game of the year disc that I've never got around to playing and the digital version of that game is insanely priced and I've never seen it go on sale.

EDIT: So the deal is dead?
 
Last edited:
This will likely be the new price point as there have been rumors of a Series S update.

I wish it never existed, because games have to cater to the Series S. Even if they discontinue it, I'm assuming all games for the next 6 years that are multi platform will be held back by the Series S. Kind of like how in BF4 the 360/PS3 were hitting memory limits for animations which apparently made them limit content on PC.
 
I wish it never existed, because games have to cater to the Series S. Even if they discontinue it, I'm assuming all games for the next 6 years that are multi platform will be held back by the Series S. Kind of like how in BF4 the 360/PS3 were hitting memory limits for animations which apparently made them limit content on PC.
I agree and I don't think a lot of developers are happy having to work with the Xbox series s limitations. I think the way that Sony approached this generation was perfect by having a disc version for 499 and a digital version for 399 and I wish that Microsoft had done the same thing.
 
I mean just think for only $100 more you can get the PS5 digital edition which completely craps all over the Xbox series s.

Maybe it is different in the US, but can is a big word here, I never had that option. In a world where you could buy a PS5 digital edition $400, not many Xbox Series S would be sold and at $300 would not be that good of a deal, in a world where it is the only console you can buy online it is different.

I agree and I don't think a lot of developers are happy having to work with the Xbox series s limitations. I think the way that Sony approached this generation was perfect by having a disc version for 499 and a digital version for 399 and I wish that Microsoft had done the same thing.

From the naming convention, from the customer to the dev, everything feel much more solid on Sony side in the last 10 year's, COVID and supply issues making that people still release their game for PS4 in 2022, diminish a lot the single device aspect of the PS5 I would imagine too.
 
Less CUs as well as less vram and bandwidth. Less than even the One X which hurts it more than the lack of CUs I think is why it so often falls short of the One X level of visuals when running the same frame rate.

Still, at $250 it is still a great deal for a casual gaming setup.
If it had an optical drive and could play (physical) XBONE games it would be a good deal for a casual. However, since it can only play digital games it's still not what I'd consider a good deal. It's going to need to be REALLY cheap for me to lash myself to MS's store for all of my software.
 
  • Like
Reactions: T4rd
like this
Maybe it is different in the US, but can is a big word here, I never had that option. In a world where you could buy a PS5 digital edition $400, not many Xbox Series S would be sold and at $300 would not be that good of a deal, in a world where it is the only console you can buy online it is different.
Yes very true when it comes to real world availability. I was just speaking in general terms though when looking at what you get for the money.
 
If it had an optical drive and could play (physical) XBONE games it would be a good deal for a casual. However, since it can only play digital games it's still not what I'd consider a good deal. It's going to need to be REALLY cheap for me to lash myself to MS's store for all of my software.
$180 for 3 years of XBL ultimate is an awesome deal.
 
I wish it never existed, because games have to cater to the Series S. Even if they discontinue it, I'm assuming all games for the next 6 years that are multi platform will be held back by the Series S. Kind of like how in BF4 the 360/PS3 were hitting memory limits for animations which apparently made them limit content on PC.

That trope is old hat and completely baseless. I suppose all PC games will be "held back" as they need to run on a 6500.

The effort to make it work on the Series S is very minimal for the developer and mostly done organically by the hardware.

1.) Develop a game to run at 60 fps at 4k for the PS5/SX.
2.) Slash resolution to 1080p or 1440p and reduce settings to make it run on the Series S.

Or, even easier method: give the game a 1080p 120 fos performance mode with reduced settings.
Then use that performance mode at 60 fps for the SS.

For casual gamers THAT PREFER CONSOLES, the Series S is a great option for those on a budget. $250 vs $400 or even $500 is massive for those struggling just to keep gas in their car while still being able to enjoy a game after a hard day's work that doesn't take 10 minutes to load as was the case for older consoles.
 
Last edited:
That trope is old hat and completely baseless. I suppose all PC games will be "held back" as they need to run on a 6500.

The effort to make it work on the Series S is very minimal for the developer and mostly done organically by the hardware.

1.) Develop a game to run at 60 fps at 4k for the PS5/SX.
2.) Slash resolution to 1080p or 1440p and reduce settings to make it run on the Series S.

Or, even easier method: give the game a 1080p 120 fos performance mode with reduced settings.
Then use that performance mode at 60 fps for the SS.

For casual gamers THAT PREFER CONSOLES, the Series S is a great option for those on a budget. $250 vs $400 or even $500 is massive for those struggling just to keep gas in their car while still being able to enjoy a game after a hard day's work that doesn't take 10 minutes to load as was the case for older consoles.

There is more to making a game run on lower end hardware than lowering the resolution. A number of game developers were disappointed with the Series S when it was announced.

Example for BF1 regarding older consoles:
Not enough memory for shield animations.

Series X has 16GB of RAM, Series S only 10. This might not be an issue today, but over the next 5-6 years it might be. Luckily the CPU isn't that much slower. But still, games will have to be designed to run on the lowest possible set up. So that might mean less weapons or features as seen in BF4 and BF1. Considering cross play is fast becoming the industry standard, PC and PS5 versions of games will also likely have to deal with the same limitations that might have to be imposed.
 
Example for BF1 regarding older consoles:
Not enough memory for shield animations.
In 2014 trying to make game run on a PS3 that had only 256 mb of system ram and 256 mb of video memory instead of a PS4 with 8gig of unified memory could be quite the different ballpark, the PS3 had 16 time less ram than the PS4.

The Series S has 37.5% less ram and lowering the resolution/texture to 1080p instead of a 1600 to 4K target will "automatically" save you half of that to start with, I would imagine.

A game like BF5 use 2 full less gigs at 1080p than 4k.

You could be right but everything that you tend to need to remove game asset wise to have a 120fps mode + plus lowering the resolution, should very often make a game fit almost right away, no ? Specially with the engine really good at scaling, has of now it seems like it did work really well.

Regardless it is a full magnitude of difference gap wise than the super low ram of the PS3 generation to the PS4 one, ram stabilized a lot in the last 15 year's.

I do not know enough about this to say either way, for example I can see the much lower ram speed being a bigger issue than volume (removing stuff/lowering res and texture should make the vram not much of a problem to make the game fit), or maybe that in some year's game will start aiming 30fps/1080p again on the Series X and there will not have any room to easily go down.
 
Last edited:

In 2014 trying to make game run on a PS3 that had only 256 mb of system ram and 256 mb of video memory instead of a PS4 with 8gig of unified memory could be quite the different ballpark, the PS3 had 16 time less ram than the PS4.

Exactly. This is a bunch of nonsense and not even close to the jump from the PS3 to PS4 generation.

No shield in 2014 BF4? Wow great example. I heard GTA 6 was going to have rocket packs for the players but the pathetic Series S is holding it back. It would have been epic bro and likely a crap game now!

None of you actually believe this crap but simply want to give consoles and their peasant players a hard time since pc gaming has been getting it's shit packed in.
 
That trope is old hat and completely baseless. I suppose all PC games will be "held back" as they need to run on a 6500.

The effort to make it work on the Series S is very minimal for the developer and mostly done organically by the hardware.
It's not a trope, and that's absolutely incorrect. Before you call me some Sony fanboy, i have a Series S, the difference is very apparent. This will cause problems for MSFT games, and any big publishers that aren't exclusive. Sony first party titles will be a much better experience in 3 years from now. Bad idea from MSFT.

But for 249, good deal.
 
The Series S has 37.5% less ram and lowering the resolution/texture to 1080p instead of a 1600 to 4K target will "automatically" save you half of that to start with, I would imagine.
80% of the ram has 1/2 the bandwidth.
20% of the ram has 1/10th the bandwidth(yes you read that right)

It's not necessarily a matter of size, but even then, for all intents and purposes it has 1/2 the ram as the other next gen consoles.
 
80% of the ram has 1/2 the bandwidth.
20% of the ram has 1/10th the bandwidth(yes you read that right)

It's not necessarily a matter of size, but even then, for all intents and purposes it has 1/2 the ram as the other next gen consoles.

Yeah the dismal bandwidth is the likely biggest performance killer of the Series S - even more than the reduced CUs and reduced ram size. Had it not been for the pathetic 128 but bus, games may have been able to run with a simple resolution reduction instead of resolution AND settings.

We see even the One X outperform the Series S on visuals and resolution even those running the same frame rate like Halo Infinite. By all accounts, 4 TF of RDNA 2 should at least match 6 TF of Polaris in the One X.

The new Series S is rumored to be 24 CUs. Hopefully they bump it up to a 192 bit bandwidth with at least 12 GB vram. Then it would just be a resolution reduction from the Series X.
 
The new Series S is rumored to be 24 CUs. Hopefully they bump it up to a 192 bit bandwidth with at least 12 GB vram. Then it would just be a resolution reduction from the Series X.
Why make this though? Just make more Series X. You still can't buy one. If i had fab space from AMD, i wouldn't worry about a new model until the market is saturated.
 
Why make this though? Just make more Series X. You still can't buy one. If i had fab space from AMD, i wouldn't worry about a new model until the market is saturated.

There are a some advantages to the Series S. First off, the price which keeps console gaming with reach for many. Next the size - it is great for traveling and RVs. Also, it is is low power - again great for RVs and those with high power costs.

Microsoft makes money on the games and many can't fork over $500 upfront but may still spend as much money on software so Microsoft could care less.

Stop asking and criticizing corporate decisions based on the mindset of a consumer.
 
No shield in 2014 BF4? Wow great example.

So you're saying you're okay with limited gameplay/content to meet minimum hardware requirements? Got it. Plenty of games like this over the years, some fairly recent. BF4, Mass Effect 3, etc.

The days of making two different games for different platforms is gone. Everyone will get a game designed around the limitations of the lowest platform. So if that means maps will be designed to cater to lower RAM or CPU limitations, then they will be.
 
So you're saying you're okay with limited gameplay/content to meet minimum hardware requirements?
Not sure if you've played HZD2, but at a certain point....


I'm drunk and have no idea how to make the spoiler show up.
 
Back
Top