Xbox fans have discovered a potentially major issue with the Xbox Series S console that could plague the underpowered machine as the generation goes on and games get increasingly more and more technically demanding. There’s a reason the Xbox Series S is only $299.99 compared to the $499.99 of the Xbox Series X. Under the hood, the Xbox Series S just isn’t packing the same heat as the Xbox Series X or the PS5. For some, this has been a concern, as questions have been raised on whether or not the Xbox Series S’s limitations will hold back Xbox Series X and PS5 games. The answer to this is complicated, but it seems one thing is true: Xbox Series S owners are already experiencing these limitations.
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Over on the popular “r/gaming” Reddit page one Xbox Series S owner relayed an error screen they encountered while gaming. In the middle of a game, an error screen popped up noting that the console ran out of video memory. This type of error isn’t that uncommon with PC gaming but it’s not common at all on consoles.
“This happens on Borderlands 3 all the time. That or a straight-up freeze/crash,” adds one of the comments. “For some reason it runs well on the Series S until it doesn’t. Several crashes per (lengthy) game session; seems Gearbox did a s**t job of optimizing it. Runs fine on the Series X, though.”
It’s unclear if the combination of the Xbox Series S’s limitations and poor optimization of the game being played are to blame. There are other possible explanations, like the engine misinterpreting the error code back from the API. That said, this isn’t an isolated issue. Others have chimed in via the comments noting this sometimes happens when have multiple suspended states in Quick Resume. It’s easy to tell if this is the issue by simply ending some of these suspended states and noting if it makes a difference.
As always, we will keep you updated if any more details about this problem surface. In the meantime, if you’re thinking about buying an Xbox Series console, the extra $200 on the Xbox Series X may be worth dodging any potential headaches down the road caused by the Xbox Series S’ lack of power.
