GamersNexus has confirmed in a deardown video that the Xbox Series X Devkits have 40 GB of GDDR6 memory on board the motherboard.
Xbox Series X Devkits Confirmed to Have 40GB of GDDR6 Memory in 20 Samsung Dies, Teardown Reveals
Currently, the Microsoft Xbox Series X consoles shipped to gamers around the globe have 16 GB of complete system memory. While the memory consists exclusively of GDDR6, it is divided into two segments, a faster 10 GB segment running at 560 GB / s (14 Gbps @ 320-bit), and a slower 6 GB segment operating at 336 GB / s (14) Gbps @ 192-bit). It’s the configuration used across all XSX consoles, but the developer sets have more than twice as much memory as the top-tier console.
In the demolition, you can see Steve Burke being shocked by the fact that the Xbox Series X has 10 GDDR6 memory chips on the back and also 10 on the front. These specific nozzles are labeled as ‘K4ZAF325BM-HC14’ SKU, offering 16 Gb (2 GB) capacity per. nozzle and memory speeds of up to 14 Gbps. These memory chips run across a 320-bit bus interface and offer a bandwidth of up to 560 GB / s. It’s the same bandwidth as the Xbox Series X, but split across all memory dies instead of using a segmented approach as the retail device.
Xbox Series X Devkit PCB Shots (Image Credits: GamersNexus):
Now, the primary reason for having such large pools of memory aboard the Xbox Series X devkitten is a bit obvious. They are designed for developers, and a 40 GB GDDR6 buffer can help troubleshoot the game with uncompressed textures while still being unoptimized. It’s a comically large memory buffer for everything but developer use. The current flagship for gaming desktop graphics cards comes with a 24 GB GDDR6 memory capacity, so the XSX Devkit offers 66% memory of it. Only a workstation card like the RTX A6000 offers a similar amount of memory at 48 GB GDDR6, and that thing costs a fortune (around $ 5000 US).
Besides the huge memory pool, some other interesting parts of the Xbox Series X Devkit demolition are its cooling design. The case, similar to the Xbox One console, has a large fan style and a smaller fan-type cooler that directs air out of the chassis. The larger fan sits on top of a large heat sink that covers the Xbox Series X ‘Project Scarlett’ SOC. It includes a copper block composed of aluminum fins and copper heating tubes. The entire block is one large steam chamber and has padded surfaces that come in contact with the GDDR6 memory nozzles.
Series X Devkit Cooling Teardown (Image Credits: GamersNexus):
Unfortunately, these specifications and designs are limited to Microsoft’s Xbox Series X devkits only, and even if you are able to grab one of the online lists, you will not be able to play any games on it because the system will immediately lock you out.