Speaking of consoles that are also just PCs, the new " Xbox Mode " that debuted on Asus' Xbox Rog Ally devices will be heading to Windows 11 this April. To jog your memory: in this console-like mode, Windows limits background processes and telemetry to reduce overhead and squeeze as much out of the hardware as possible. Xbox Mode has already been available as part of the Insider program for months.
It was previously known as Xbox Full Screen Experience (FSE), but the name has been updated since. Xbox Mode will roll out to "select markets" first and likely represents the first step in the PC-console unification Microsoft hopes to achieve by the time Project Helix's launches. The Xbox Play Anywhere program, which allows for cross-progression between platforms, was mentioned at the show as another sign of this future.
Speaking of which, "alpha" kits for Project Helix will begin heading out to relevant parties in 2027, which implies a late 2027 launch at best, but component shortages could push that back. A 2027 release would be in line with the typical seven-year cycle that consoles follow, as the Xbox Series S|X debuted in Q4 2020. The only thing left now is to wait and see what kind of response Sony is preparing with its PS6.
Even though the base hardware and neural rendering-first approach would likely be similar between Sony and Microsoft, the former has no interest in appealing to PC anymore. In contrast, Microsoft is almost forcing PC and console together to eliminate the need for even picking a platform. It even told developers at GDC to "build for PC" going forward, further implying that Project Helix is just moonlighting as a console.
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Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he\u2019s not working, you\u2019ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-18/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Hassam Nasir Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.
bigdragon What's the word on Microsoft's subscription aspirations? Are they going to try and bring XBox Live to PC and start charging for multiplayer games? We all know Games for Windows crashed and burned, but there's a growing worry that Microslop is going to try again. I like hosting my own game servers. I like modding my games. I like not paying extra for multiplayer. I do not want Copilot in my games. The idea of Microslop bringing XBox and PC closer together is alarming. Reply
usertests Rumor has it that FSR "Diamond" will only be available on RDNA5. Reply
Alpha_Lyrae usertests said: Rumor has it that FSR "Diamond" will only be available on RDNA5. Multi-frame gen may be limited to RDNA5 because it needs hardware support (flip metering). If they move the model algorithm to FP4/FP6, along with optical flow, RDNA4 may be able to run some of it (upscaler + Redstone feature levels) at reduced output within FP8 + async compute. Any other new features that require more matrix core performance will probably also be exclusive to RDNA5. AMD learned from Nvidia: generate FOMO to improve hardware sales. 10x increase in RT performance is ambitious. I just hope that's not including MFG in the data and is actually a full 10x increase in RT throughput to prepare for path tracing. Reply
usertests Alpha_Lyrae said: 10x increase in RT performance is ambitious. I just hope that's not including MFG in the data and is actually a full 10x increase in RT throughput to prepare for path tracing. I think RDNA4 is about 2.5x per CU over RDNA2, and RDNA5 is expected to double it again. So 5x. We're looking at 68 CUs vs. 52 CUs. Another ~30% makes ~6.54x. XSX is 1.825 GHz fixed. Running at ~2.8 GHz instead gets you to 10x. That's plausible but a very high clock for a large GPU. This is rough maths but whatever the real numbers are, I think they can get most of the way to 10x before considering what FSR Diamond can contribute. Reply
thestryker While I'm always in wait and see mode these days when it comes to Microsoft I'm hoping this hybrid approach works. I am curious if they're going to converge software or if they're going to keep Xbox OS and Windows separate. I've thought for a while if they could run Xbox games in a container on Windows this could be big for multiplayer gaming. It would likely make for the best anti-cheat for PC gaming. Reply
Notton Alpha kits in 2027? That sounds ambitious, though, if true, that lines up with RDNA5 being late 2026 to early 2027. Reply
TerryLaze thestryker said: I've thought for a while if they could run Xbox games in a container on Windows this could be big for multiplayer gaming. It would likely make for the best anti-cheat for PC gaming. A container would have to be a windows exe that would be accessible by anybody…would that really be good for anti -cheat? My guess would be that they will do the same they are doing now with developer mode on consoles, dual boot you into a closed environment protected by tpm and secureboot and whatever else where you have zero control over anything and can only play the games and browse the store. That is if they keep up the console ruse at all and don't just make it all into an xbox store front for the PC. Reply
thestryker Notton said: That sounds ambitious, though, if true, that lines up with RDNA5 being late 2026 to early 2027. PS5/XSX both came out around the same time as RDNA 2 and devboxes definitely came much earlier than launch dates. That would point more towards a 2H 2027 launch window for RDNA 5. Reply
thestryker TerryLaze said: A container would have to be a windows exe that would be accessible by anybody…would that really be good for anti -cheat? I take it you're not aware of how they were packaging games on the Xbox/Windows store then. Unless developers unlocked everything you couldn't do anything to it at all. Back when it launched this would have been under UWP, but I know that was depreciated and am not familiar with what replaced it. If what's running is sandboxed it's a lot harder to inject code. TerryLaze said: My guess would be that they will do the same they are doing now with developer mode on consoles, dual boot you into a closed environment protected by tpm and secureboot and whatever else where you have zero control over anything and can only play the games and browse the store. This is actually what I'm afraid of them doing because it would definitely be the simplest, aka laziest, route. Reply
TheyStoppedit It will be a Zen 6 12 core, 32GB Unified, and a GPU equivalent to a 4080S, priced at $699 Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/xbox/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/xbox/microsoft-confirms-next-gen-xbox-codenamed-project-helix-will-be-powered-by-custom-amd-soc-and-feature-fsr-diamond-next-gen-console-delivers-order-of-magnitude-leap-in-performance#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/subscription
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- Get an X870 Motherboard, 32GB of RAM, a 1050W Power supply, and a Montech King 95 Pro case for only $774 — save over $220 on this 4-item combo from Newegg
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