Xbox Series X and Series S Console Pre-Orders Are Live: Everything You Need to Know

The battle for next-gen gaming will officially get underway when Microsoft opens up pre-orders for [...]

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The battle for next-gen gaming will officially get underway when Microsoft opens up pre-orders for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles starting today, September 22nd. Pre-orders are expected to go live at most - if not all - of the retailers listed below at 8am PST (11am EST) in the US. We don't expect these retailers to jump the gun like they did with the PS5 pre-order fiasco, but you never know. UPDATE: Pre-orders are live! Links follow - updating status:

The Xbox Series X is priced at $499, while the digital-only Xbox Series X is priced at only $299. Both consoles are slated to arrive on November 10th. Keep in mind that Microsoft acquired Bethesda yesterday, which will likely have a positive impact on Xbox Series X and Series S sales.

Naturally, quantities are expected to be extremely limited. That is to say, sell outs will likely be the norm running all the way through the holiday season, so reserve a console whenever the opportunity arises. Unfortunately, many of the confirmed Xbox pre-orders will end up here on eBay for the Xbox Series X and here for the Xbox Series S with exorbitant prices. Avoid encouraging hoarding unless you have deep pockets and you're dead serious about having the console on Day 1. On the plus side, the Xbox Series X launch can't be worse than the PS5 launch since it won't come as a complete surprise.

Xbox Series X Games: A running list of confirmed games can be found here.

Specs - Xbox Series X: :

  • CPU- 8-Core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.8GHz. 3.6GHz w/ SMT Enabled
  • GPU- AMD RDNA 2 GPU. 52 CUs @ 1.825GHz
  • GPU Power- 12.15 TFLOPS
  • System on a Chip (SoC)- Custom 7nm Enhanced SoC
  • RAM- 16 GB GDDR6 RAM. 10 GB @ 560GB/s. 6 GB @ 336GB/s.
  • Performance Target- 4K @ 60 FPS, Up to 120 FPS
  • Storage- 1 TB PCIe Gen 4 NVME SSD. 2.4GB/sec uncompressed. 4.8 GB/sec compressed
  • Expandable Storage- 1 TB Expansion Card (matches internal storage exactly)
  • Backward Compatibility- Thousands of Xbox One, and backward-compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox games available at launch. Xbox One gaming accessories are backward-compatible as well.
  • Disc Drive- 4K UHD Blu-ray
  • Display Out- HDMI 2.1
  • MSRP- $499

Specs - Xbox Series S:

  • CPU- 8-Core AMD Zen 2 CPU @ 3.6GHz. 3.4GHz w/SMT Enabled
  • GPU- AMD RDNA 2 GPU. 20 CUs @ 1.565GHz
  • GPU Power- 4 TFLOPS
  • System on a Chip (SoC)- Custom 7nm Enhanced SoC
  • RAM- 10 GB GDDR6 RAM. 8 GB @ 224GB/s. 2 GB @ 56GB/s.
  • Performance Target- 1440p @ 60 FPS, Up to 120 FPS
  • Storage- 512 GB PCIe Gen 4 NVME SSD. 2.4GB/sec uncompressed. 4.8 GB/sec compressed
  • Expandable Storage- 1 TB Expansion Card (matches internal storage exactly)
  • Backward Compatibility- Thousands of digital Xbox One, and backward-compatible Xbox 360 and original Xbox games available at launch. Xbox One gaming accessories are backward-compatible as well.
  • Disc Drive- Digital Only
  • Display Out- HDMI 2.1
  • MSRP- $299

"There will be thousands of games to play, spanning four generations, when Xbox Series X launches globally this November and over 100 optimized for Xbox Series X titles, built to take full advantage of our most powerful console, are planned for this year," stated Will Tuttle, Xbox Wire Editor in Chief, when the launch month was revealed. "And with brand new console features like hardware-accelerated Direct X raytracing, framerates up to 120 frames per second, faster loading times, and Quick Resume for multiple games, playing will look and feel better, no matter which games you choose to play on day one."

You can check out all of our previous coverage of Xbox right here.

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