The Xbox Series X is one of the most powerful video game consoles ever made, but the GPU inside isn’t that different from the type that goes in a PC. Its GPU instead is based on AMD’s Radeon RX 6800, and in real-world gaming, the Xbox performs most equivalent to an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti. Said another way, the short answer is that the GPU is similar to a mid-range PC card from around 2020 to 2021, landing right between an RTX 3060 and an RTX 3070 in most situations.
The console’s custom silicon is built on AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture with 52 compute units running at a locked 1.825 GHz, which works out at 12.15 teraflops of raw compute. It pairs that GPU with 16GB of GDDR6 memory shared between the graphics and CPU. On paper, that makes it more powerful than the PlayStation 5, which uses a smaller GPU and settles at 10.28 teraflops.
But raw specs don’t always translate to clearly comparable performance, even when matching the Xbox Series X GPU against its RX 6800 cousin. This is because a console’s hardware is optimized and standardized, making video game development different from creating for a PC, which can have thousands of combinations between GPU, CPU, memory, and much more.
If you already have an Xbox and are looking to get more out of it, you can change some settings on an Xbox to instantly boost performance. Those options include switching from Wi-Fi to Ethernet, adding extra storage, and turning on performance mode.
The RTX 3060 Ti and RX 6700 XT are the closest PC matches
When Microsoft announced its Xbox Series X, one key selling point was that the console’s GPU was twice as powerful as the previous-generation Xbox One, which competed with mid-range cards when it released in 2013. The company also marketed the Xbox Series X with other features some people still may not know it can do, from Quick Resume to deep home screen customization.
When the Xbox Series X is compared to Nvidia’s RTX 3060 Ti, the GPUs perform similar to one another at 1440p in most multiplatform titles. When the console is matched against AMD’s lineup, some gamers and developers say the company’s RX 6700 XT is a closer equivalent, though it launched four months after the RX 6800 and Xbox Series X in 2020.
Game developers have identified a third card that compares against the Xbox Series X as well. Microsoft’s own “Forza Horizon 6” racing game specs on Steam, for example, recommends an Nvidia RTX 3060 Ti, an AMD RX 6700 XT, or a competing GPU from Intel, called the Arc A580. That’s a handy real-world check because the recommended spec for a game originally built for the Series X tends to mirror the machine’s own graphics power.
