Xbox One To Get GPU Boost

In an effort to increase the processing power of the Graphical Processing Unit, Microsoft will soon release a patch to remove some of Kinect's use of it.

Currently, all developers are required to leave 10% of the GPU's power to go on the Kinect.  8% for the camera, 2% for the microphone.  Even if the game doesn't use Kinect.  This patch will see that drop by 8% - removing the requirement for the camera and hopefully giving a much-needed boost.

Most see this as Microsoft responding to complains of frame-rates.  The most egregious example of this is Tomb Raider, which gets down to 30 frames per second on the Xbox One - but 60 frames per second on the PlayStation 4.  An 8% boost isn't enough to jump up 30 frames, but it is enough for developers to play with.

Whether or not this has come because of frame-rates or whether the Kinect simply isn't used as much as Microsoft thought it would be, is a matter of debate.  But there were fans who thought requiring a Kinect was a silly idea, when the Xbox One was announced...