Project Scorpio To Support Freesync And Next-Gen HDMI

As if the downpour of Xbox Scorpio technical information weren't enough, EuroGamer has procured yet another small but important detail regarding Microsoft's upcoming Xbox Scorpio, the 4K-focused, substantial upgrade to its Xbox One and Xbox One S. Citing a desire for the information not to be lost in the shuffle, EuroGamer witheld the information until now, but has today confirmed that the Xbox Scorpio will support both Freesync 2 adaptive synchronization technology, as well as the upcoming HDMI 2.1 specification.

What does this mean in layman's terms? Well, it's a technical discussion no matter which way you slice it, but AMD lists the advantages of Freesync as follows:

  • Helps improve battery life by reducing the refresh rate of the panel when the screen is static (meaning, the previous frame was the same as the current one).
  • Ensures that the transition between refresh rate is seamless and undetectable to the user.
  • Can be enabled by plug and play, making it transparent to the operating system and end user.
  • Reduces implementation complexity of the Timing Controller (TCON) and panel by keeping the GPU's pixel clock rate constant and varying blank parameters.
  • Dynamically adapts the display refresh rate to fixed video content frame rate for a power efficient and stutter-free video playback with anything over 30FPS.
  • Dynamically adapts the display refresh rate to variable gaming content render for low latency and a smooth, virtually stutter-free gaming experience.

​​These are all benefits of Freesync, but what does "Freesync 2 " bring to the table? Well, it essentially supports high dynamic range (HDR) automatically, while also setting a minimum frame rate and maximum screen latency. Per EuroGamer's report, the technology makes frame rate dips from say, 60 fps to 50 fps, far less noticeable and much more smooth or negligible. Given modern consoles' slow climb toward a consistent 60 across all games, this can only be seen as a positive.

Do you have thoughts on Project Scorpio and its spec-sheet? Tell us here. For more, be sure to check out our everything you need to know video on released Scorpio information so far.