The Xbox Series X is the top-of-the-line console from Microsoft. It targets up to 4K and up to 120 FPS. If you are interested in getting similar performance on PC then you are going to need a pretty high-end graphics card. In this article, we are going to go over the Xbox Series X comparable graphics card.
What Is The Xbox Series X Equivalent GPU?
The closest off-the-shelf graphics card to the Xbox Series X GPU is the Nvidia RTX 3080. The RTX 3070 comes close on paper but when it comes to real world performance the Xbox Series X has it beat.
Let’s jump in and take a look at why in more detail.
Teraflop to Teraflop Performance Comparison
Before we get into the numbers and specifications, it is worth mentioning that comparing a console GPU to a PC graphics card is not an apples-to-apples comparison. The GPU inside the Xbox Series X is highly customized and the console is made for gaming. A PC on the other hand has multiple functions. Furthermore, developers optimize their games for consoles so that they run better.
On paper, the Xbox Series X is capable of delivering 12.1 Teraflops of computing power. That puts it on par with the Nvidia RTX 3060 that outputs 13 Teraflops. AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT also has a similar throughout of 12.4 Teraflops.
While the performance of the Nvidia RTX 3060 seems to be on par with the Xbox Series X on paper. That is not the case in actual games and this is not a graphics card that we would recommend for 4K gaming. We would not recommend it for 1440p gaming either unless you are interested in tweaking a ton of different in-game settings.
The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT on the other hand is great for 1440p gaming but is still not a match for the Xbox Series X and will not do 4K at 60 FPS in most titles.
Real-World Performance Comparison
When it comes to real-world performance, both the Nvidia RTX 3060 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT are not an ideal alternative to the Xbox Series X. The RTX 3060 is unable to hit 60 FPS in modern titles at 1440p unless you tweak the settings significantly. The RTX 3060 Ti, on the other hand, hands 1440p gaming pretty well and can hit 60 FPS in most titles if not all without significant tweaks.
The AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT is also a great graphics card for 1440p gaming but it is still not a match for the Xbox Series X GPU. You could run some games at 4K but it would struggle to provide a stable 60 FPS framerate. A locked 30 FPS is doable with the graphics card in some games but if you are looking for a graphics card that is equivalent to the Xbox Series X then chances are that locked 30 FPS is not going to do the trick for you.
The performance difference despite the similar specs is mainly because individual games are optimized for consoles. That is not the case for PC. Optimizing games for consoles is easy because the hardware inside is the same. When it comes to PCs, there is an infinite number of combinations when it comes to components. This is one of the main reasons why you need a PC graphics card with more raw performance in order to get a console-like experience.
The following are the benchmarks of the Xbox Series X, Nvidia RTX 3060 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT running different games at 4K resolution. The ultra preset has been used for PC and the numbers are average FPS.
| Titles | Xbox Series X | Nvidia RTX 3060 | AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT |
| The Witcher 3 | 60 | 44 | 65 |
| Assassin’s Creed Valhalla | 60 | 37 | 30 |
| Metro Exodus | 60 | 34 | 43 |
| Battlefield V | 60 | 71 | 82 |
| Far Cry 5 | 60 | 50 | 44 |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 60 | 42 | 33 |
Not to say that all is lost. Technologies such as DLSS 2.0 and Fidelity FX do upscale the image quality allowing you to hit higher FPS while getting close to your desired resolution. DLSS is one of the game-changers in gaming and can help you hit 60 FPS at 4K and beyond. While support for this feature was fairly limited when the first RTX cards came out, developers have started integrating this feature into their games.
Xbox Series S Equivalent GPU?
In terms of real-world performance, the Radeon RX 5500 XT comes close to the Xbox Series S.
Recommend Graphics Cards
If you are looking for a budget option then we can recommend the Nvidia RTX 3070. This is an ideal graphics card for 4K gaming especially if you consider the price to performance. If money is no object and you are looking for the best experience possible then we can recommend the RTX 3080 or RTX 3080 Ti graphics cards.
Nvidia RTX 3080
The RTX 3080 is the card that Nvidia recommends for 4K gaming. The graphics card is based on the Ampere architecture and 8nm process. The reference design model has a base clock speed of 1440 MHz and a boost clock speed of 1710 MHz. There are plenty of custom variants on the markets, so the boost clock can be higher. Not to mention that there is some potential for overclocking out of the box.
The Nvidia RTX 3080 comes with 10 GB of GDDR6X memory and a 320-bit memory bus. With 8704 Shading Units, 272 Tensor Cores, and 68 RT Cores the card is able to throughput 29.77 Teraflops.
Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti
The RTX 3080 Ti is very similar to the RTX 3090 with similar performance but the only drawback is that it has half the VRAM at 12GB rather than 24. That should not hinder your gaming experience even at 4K resolution. Interestingly the RTX 3080 Ti performs better than the 3090 in games such as F1 2020 and Forza Horizon 4 at 4K.
The RTX 3080 Ti comes with 12GB of GDDR6X memory and a 384-bit memory bus, which means that you get 912 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The GPU has 10,240 CUDA cores and you can expect a 17% increase in performance as compared to the RTX 3080. The throughput of the card is 34.1 Teraflops. The reference design model has a base clock of 1365 MHz and can boost to 1665 MHz.
AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT
On the AMD side of things, we can recommend the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT. The card trades blows with the RTX 3080 and 3080 Ti but which card is faster is going to depend on the game that you are playing. While the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT is faster in games such as Forza Horizon 4 and F1 2020, the competition is faster in games such as Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition and CS: GO.
The graphics card comes with 4608 Stream Processors and has a throughput of 41.47 Teraflops. The game frequency of the reference design card is 2015 MHz and it can boost to 2250 MHz. The graphics card comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is higher than the RTX 3080 and 3080 Ti. There are different variants of the graphics card that you can buy so the boost clock can vary a little bit. You can also overclock it to get better performance out of the box.
You may also be interested in the Playstation 5 Equivalent Graphics Cards
Conclusion
While the Nvidia RTX 3060 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT are on par with the Xbox Series X GPU on paper, real-world performance shows that is not the case. If you are interested in gaming at 4K 60 FPS then you are going to need something like the RTX 3070 as the bare minimum. For an ideal experience, we recommend the Nvidia RTX 3080 or the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT.
