The Original Xbox One Re-Tested: Can Microsoft's Weakest Console Keep Up With The Latest Games?

The Xbox One S replaced the original hulking Xbox One set-top box design back in 2016 with improved silicon, a slightly overclocked GPU and a far superior design - but where does that leave the original 'Durango' model console when playing the latest cross-gen games? Oliver Mackenzie finds out.

00:00:00 Revisiting the original Xbox One
00:03:31 Cyberpunk 2077, COD Vanguard, Battlefield 2042
00:07:58 Elden Ring, Tales of Arise
00:11:25 Grid Legends, Forza Horizon 5
00:15:06 One vs One S: loading times and Performance
00:18:11 Final verdict: is the original Xbox One holding up?

[williamcrms]

I never upgraded to the One S before getting my current-gen console, so it's nice to see the OG get some attention at the end of its lifespan. A proper burial, if you will. Thanks Oliver.

[-BarathKumarS]

I kinda wanna see a revisit to one of your older videos of PS4 vs GTX 750 ti(or any theoretical equivalent GPU as a matter of fact) to see how much optimized titles at the end of PS4's generation compare against the equivalent PC hardware after nearly 10 years since it's launch.

Will really highlight how much developers have utilised the hardware to it's full potential.

Edit:Hopefully DF notices this comment! I really want a comparison video of the PS4 vs equivalent GPU in multiple titles(especially sony exclusives), love you guys!

[PTGN]

The fact that the OG Xbox one is still pulling 40 to 50 fps on some of these current games is still pretty impressive since back when the console first launched the standards was 1080 30 fps

[sumitupadhayay]

The 2005 kid in me would have gone nuts playing even with these resolutions and frame rates and dare I say this is still miles better than what the 360 and PS3 users had to endure with at the tail end of their lifecycles

[briengakaplan-b]

This console is 9 yrs old and wasn’t that powerful even in 2013. That said I think given it’s age what it can still output still impressed me. From what I can see if a game has been optimized well to the hardware the average gamer on a budget can still get by with an Xbox One quite happily.

[TeinMustang]

I was running an Original Xbox One (bought one after they dropped the mandatory Kinect) as my primary console until I finally managed to nab a Series X late last year. That thing was a trooper that gave me basically no issues. Only "issue" was when new games were coming out, we'd only get performance evaluations for the One S and One X, so I'd just kind of have to guess how well it would run on my OG Xbox One.

[prayforwolves]

The 2013 "VCR" model was the first console i ever bought with my own money. I remember buying it and playing on a rainy Saturday after saving up and playing Titanfall, AC4 Black Flag, Forza, COD Ghosts, Dead Rising 3. Kinect was so cool and futuristic.

[PressStartOnce]

I think its still fairly impressive what it is able to do 9 years into its life. Certainly need games to move on to next gen though at this point.

[EduardoVasquezMedina]

i was always curious about this. Since the One S launched, everyone forgot about the good ol VCR. I really liked the design, but it was a real fingerprint magnet. Not so far from the OG Ps4 as well.

[herohunter]

I’m pretty sure it was weaker so they could fit the Kinect into their price point. Big mistake. You can take away the Kinect but it’s not so easy to change everything else.

[KofieBluejay]

Honestly I’m amazed how an underpowered 10 year old console is still supporting 2022 games. It’s insane.

[Parker--]

To be fair here, MS didn't bet on DDR3 + ESRAM on being a better solution than GDDR5 RAM. They had a budget of which the Kinect was a huge part of and had to go with a cheaper, safer option so they decided on DDR3 + ESRAM. Sony actually completely lucked out by their own admission as they didn't know they were going to be able to secure 8GB of GDDR5 RAM at a viable price until pretty much the final hour. The PS4 was almost a 4GB machine, which would have changed things quite a bit. It was a gamble that paid off.

[drPeidos]

I have an original Xbox One and an old LCD TV, and I've never tried a newer Xbox in a newer TV, so I really don't feel the need to update to better performance (probably because I'm not used to having a better performance). That's because I still find the original Xbox One perfectly playable today.

[JusticeSoulTuna]

I remember how happy I was when I first got my Xbox One, but compared to the PS4 Pro and eventually the Xbox One X I got, it's such an unfortunate console. I feel really bad for anyone who still has base PS4 and Xbox One at the moment, it's brutal.

[formdissolve]

Honestly, the performance really isn't THAT bad for it being 9 years old. Yes 20 FPS dips suck, but if someone was poor and got one of them for $50 or so (I've seen old VCR models for that cheap), it would be still playable and enjoyable

[RiposteBK]

I'm still using my OG Xbox One, and I've generally had a decent time... until maybe last years releases, where everything from loading screens and framerates were truly slowing down (Insurgency Sandstorm, new Lego Star Wars, Elden Ring and a few others)

Really interesting to see this being looked at by you guys 👌

[bstram]

OG Xbox One does support VRR.

When I connect mine to a Freesync display, VRR becomes a selectable option in the video settings.

I am unsure of the implementation and limits of VRR on the OG Xbox One, maybe DF should look into it, because there is zero information online about VRR on this machine.

[kqelinn]

Really enjoyed this one, I'm very interested to see how the Series consoles stand up in ~10 years, especially the Series S

[Chillwavesonly]

I really enjoyed this video, it’s amazing to look back how Microsoft started really bad in 2013 and they managed to change that and improve.
I personally own a Xbox one s, the first thing I did was a ssd upgrade, that’s such a big upgrade, the menus are smooth now, less loading times and really helps on games like cyberpunk, like huge difference, the game streams almost at solid 30 fps all the time, also solves the pop up issue where textures don’t show up.
That’s a tip for everyone who has a old console, ssd upgrade and perhaps new thermal paste.

[MoonSarito]

Honestly it's surprising that they can run current games on a console with DDR3 RAM, Jaguar CPU and a really slow HDD, I feel like the Xbox One is feeling its age a lot more than the PS4 (some games like Guardian of The Galaxy and Elden Ring still runs ''ok'' on PS4, but suffers a lot of downgrades on Xbox One and still can't maintain resolution or frame-rate), but still... it's surprising what they can run on it.

It's still a great option today as it's literally the cheapest console alternative anywhere in the world, it's not the best, but it manages to be even cheaper than the base PS4 today.