Microsoft increase power of Xbox One and bridge the gap between Sony Playstation 4 (PS4)
MICROSOFT have boosted the power of the Xbox One and bridged the gap to the Sony Playstation 4 (PS4), its rival in the next generation of console wars.
The firm founded by Bill Gates will increase the clock speed of their successor to the Xbox 360 by 53mhz in a slight tweak that will improve its processing power.
The increased graphical power amounts to a 6.62 per cent boost to the previous specs and will not result in an price increase for the console.
In a podcast, Microsoft corporate VP Marc Whitten and Larry Hryb said the news was showed the developers were 'tweaking…the knobs' of the Xbox One.
They said: "This is the time where we've gone from the theory of how the hardware works - what do we think the yield is going to look like, what is the thermal envelope, how do things come together - to really having them in our hands.
"That's the time where you start tweaking the knobs.
That's the time where you start tweaking the knobs
"Either your theory was right dead on, or you were a little too conservative, or you were a little too aggressive. It's actually been really good news for us, and an example of that is we've tweaked up the clock speed on our GPU from 800MHz to 853MHz."
Despite the power boost, the Xbox One still remains behind the Sony PS4 in terms of raw power.
According to respected technology column Digital Foundry, the PS4 has 50 per cent more raw power than the Xbox One.
However, one benefit from the increased processing power is that the 'red ring of death' problem that plagued early Xbox 360 models is unlikely to reappear.
Linley Group analyst Kevin Krewell said the boost to processing power means the same issues of overheating are 'considerably less likely.'
He said: "The red rings of death are considerably less likely.
"The last chip was hot. It had power cycling problems and a specific issue with packaging. You can expect that in this case, that is not going to happen."