Posted 12 hours ago

Upgrading to Xbox Series X from a Series S (& PS5)

Now that console prices are steadily becoming more affordable, I've been thinking about buying a Series X.
I already have a Series S, which I use a lot thanks to Game Pass, but I can't help but wonder if I'm missing out on a better image quality.

I bought the Series S when I only had a 32" 1080p TV, so it was a no brainer, but now I've got a 50" 4K telly I wonder if I should upgrade.

The HDR on the TV I have doesn't seem to do much to improve the image quality and I'm a not so proud owner of a pair of tired 42 year old eyes. I'm worried that if I do upgrade, I won't even notice the increased graphical fidelity.

I put the same question to a few other HUKD members yesterday and they said that 60fps is noticeable and hard to go back to 30fps, but I've also got a PS5 which sometimes has the option of two different graphic modes. I don't notice any real difference between them.

Given what I've just told you, do you think I will notice an improvement on my Xbox games if I upgrade, or should I just stick with my Series S. Or maybe take up knitting?
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  1. adam.mt's avatar
    On the same TV, do you notice the image quality and speed difference between the XBox Series S and PS5? If you do, then upgrading the S to an X makes sense; if it's marginal, then don't bother (edited)
    RicDoyle's avatar
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    A little bit. When I played the PS5 version of The Witcher 3 with ray tracing, it does look different. Warmer tones, things like that. It also doesn't blur when spinning the camera around as much.

    I'm currently playing TW3 on the Switch. That by comparison looks pretty poor on my TV. Decent enough in handheld mode though. (edited)
  2. deleted2686495's avatar
    I went from a 1080p screen to a 1440p one, and then changed my Series S for an X - the difference in image quality was noticeable.
    RicDoyle's avatar
    Author
    My current 4K TV has a 120hz option at 1080p. I have it set to that. I wonder if that's why it maybe looks decent to me.
  3. SnoopZ's avatar
    It sounds like you may need a TV upgrade if you can't notice the difference between quality and performance mode with a PS5 as it is a night and day difference in picture quality and as for 30fps and 60fps difference that is also night and day and there is no way I could go back to 30fps as it would be not smooth and could trigger my motion sickness which was mostly cured with 60fps and a very good high end TV.

    So if you can't tell the difference on a PS5 you may struggle on a Series X so get a very good TV first if you can afford it.
    RicDoyle's avatar
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    I bought a Samsung TV. It's alright, but next time I'll probably go for a Sony.
    It's still got about 4 more years warranty through Richer Sounds. A part of me hopes it breaks so they replace it with something better.

    It's not a bad telly TV. It's just not as good as I hoped it would be. The reviews I read/watched before buying were all too complimentary of it I think. (edited)
  4. aLV426's avatar
    I had the same dilema - I went from an an Xbox One X (4K) to the Series X (4K) and really only the loading speed was different - which as I cried about on here earlier means nothing when you are playing multiplayer games as you still need to wait for others to load!
    My son went from an Xbox One to the Series X, however he is still using a 32" 1080p display. He wanted it as more games seemed to be Series only. He doesn't notice any resolution differences, however the annoying texture loading seems to not be a thing on the Series X.
    I reckon unless you have them side by side you probably won't notice - although I guess it does depend on the game...
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