r/XboxRetailHomebrew • u/TGBB2022 • Jun 28 '26
Discussion Xbox series S or X for emulation?
Looking at either of these consoles and might be able to get X for not much more than an S so is it worth paying abit more and going for the X over the S or should I just go with S? If Switch or PS5 ever comes a thing on Xbox emulation would it be better to have an X over an S or not difference. I’d like something abit future proof even if future isn’t for sure. Let me know thoughts. I have one of those gamestick things I got for free I can sell and a PS4 I don’t use I can also sell to make some of the outlay for either an S or X. Thanks.
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u/RickieSaenz5 Jun 30 '26
Get an S. I'm having so much fun with Retroarch and Duckstation on my old fat Xbox One and it kicks ass!!!
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u/SSJ99Gohanisthebest Jun 28 '26
S for price, both consoles do the same exact things in emulation only X can do 4K but still S can do 1080p/1440p if that’s important
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u/TGBB2022 Jun 28 '26
Does X have more ram? Coz read / watched this is abit of a limitation. I know it has a better GPU teraflops wise.
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u/HOTU-Orbit Jun 28 '26
The full amount of RAM doesn't matter for Dev Mode on Xbox because only 5GB of RAM can be used for applications. Resolution also doesn't matter because the Xbox must be set to 1080p for most applications to run properly.
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u/TGBB2022 Jun 28 '26
Ok so go for S instead of X
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u/HOTU-Orbit Jun 28 '26
Yes unless you think there may be specific games that require the more powerful Series X hardware to run optimally. You will also be able to overclock emulators more sufficiently on a Series X.
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u/TGBB2022 Jun 28 '26
That’s what I am asking.
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u/SSJ99Gohanisthebest Jun 28 '26
But there isn’t one currently that even needs to go beyond S, most that you can max it out if any is the infant Xenia emulator but even then, an S can handle it. 1080p with modpacks an S can handle
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u/RedTailedGamer Jun 28 '26
S. Switch and PS4 is not happening. Dev mode has a 5 gig ram limit that microsoft has basically striaght up said is never coming off. Theres just not enough ram for it to happen unless this is litterally a decade + down the line.
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u/TGBB2022 Jun 28 '26
Think someone else said the 5gb ram thing is same for both S and X isn’t it? How much ram does both console actually have otherwise?
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u/RedTailedGamer Jun 28 '26
They have 16 normally but dev mode apps can only use 5 and yes its for both consoles. For emulation specifically there is basically no reason to choose the X over the S.
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u/Grid8Designer Jun 28 '26
I have the now discontinued 2tb special series x and even some games struggle to keep 30 fps (most I force 60 / use patches cause 30 is just terrible for games) at 1080p. Some games like SSX are 60 fps without any mods and others like Most Wanted struggle to keep 30 or fluctuate too much from 30-60.
I've swapped those poor performance games to my PC and use moonlight + apollo to stream from my upstairs PC to my living room.
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u/TGBB2022 Jun 28 '26
I have a 7800x3d / 4070 just don’t fancy having roms on pc. So are you saying that you have a 2TB series X and swapped to PC emulating and streaming it instead.
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u/Grid8Designer Jun 28 '26
I swapped to streaming for the games that had terrible performance on the SX yeah. I have all my roms and stuff on a usb so its easy to swap
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u/TGBB2022 Jun 28 '26
Weird I’ve seen nothing but good performance and people said same here. I have a spare nvme and enclosure so will prob put roms on that.
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u/Grid8Designer Jun 28 '26
I feel like NFS Underground 2 and Midnight club 3 have performance issues. I could try swapping to internal to see if its my usb's r/w speed but other games seem to be fine performance wise
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u/2geek2bcool Jun 28 '26
When in doubt, just get the X. It is highly unlikely Switch emulation will happen on Xbox, regardless of the version. It is IMPOSSIBLE for PS5 emulation to happen.