How Fast Are The Xbox Series X Install Times?
This summer when Microsoft announced the Xbox Series X console everyone’s imaginations ran wild with the possibilities. How would Microsoft leverage the power of a 12TF GPU? Yet what about more inconspicuous changes. Things like solid-state storage or it’s eight-core CPU. Also the new 802.11ax Wi-Fi controller. How would this hardware improve the minor inconveniences we all face? Things like load times and waiting for those updates. How will this hardware improve Xbox Series X install times?
Being able to quantify exactly how long it will take you or anyone else to install a game is nearly impossible. There are too many external factors to get an exact count on how long one particular game can take. With that everyone is going to have slightly different results. You have to account for network congestion at every stop between the Xbox store and your home. Also, factors like your available bandwidth or, wireless signal. While something like network congestion is completely out of my control, I have attempted to create a consistent scenario. Well, as best as I can.
Trying To Create A Consistent Scenario
I did a number of things to ensure the most consistent data I could possibly get. Here were my rules; the Xbox must be hard-wired to my router, removing any sort of wireless stagnation. All downloads and installations were to occur between 5:00 AM EST and 8:30 AM EST to minimize network congestion. All games would be installed on the local internal storage. Each game gets three installations, then take the average. To ensure that games are not writing faster to the drive after being deleted, I installed other games in between attempts. Just in case there is something that allows recently deleted games to install faster. Also, I disconnected all other devices from my network.
What we want to look at is the difference between the Xbox One X and the Xbox Series X install times. The end result is not to say, X game is going to take Y long to install. How long it takes me on either console is completely irrelevant. What we want to look at is, in the controlled environment that I try to create how much faster is the Xbox Series X? The percentage difference will give you an idea of what to expect. For testing, I selected a mix of games that vary in size and are both Smart Delivery and not. With that here is what I found. All times are formatted by hours, minutes, then seconds.
Xbox One X
| Game | Game Size | Avg Ready To Start | Avg Install Time |
| Deliver Us The Moon | 8.88 GB | N/A | 11:48 |
| Dirt 5 | 38.90 GB | 33:38 | 58:47 |
| Gears Tactics | 28.55 GB | 28:37 | 36:12 |
| Resident Evil 7 | 21.34 GB | 08:47 | 29:51 |
| Sniper Elite 4 | 48.20 GB | 16:36 | 1:13:29 |
| Yakuza Kiwami | 22.33 GB | N/A | 31:48 |
Xbox Series X
| Game | Game Size | Avg Ready To Start | Avg Install Time |
| Deliver Us The Moon | 8.88 GB | N/A | 0:08:19 |
| Dirt 5 | 72.48 GB | N/A | 1:14:370 |
| Gears Tactics | 28.11 GB | 0:24:29 | 0:30:29 |
| Resident Evil 7 | 21.34 GB | 0:07:11 | 0:25:41 |
| Sniper Elite 4 | 4820 GB | 0:12:08 | 0:48:13 |
| Yakuza Kiwami | 22.33 GB | N/A | 0:21:41 |
The Difference Between Series X and One X
| Game | Game Size | Ready To Start | Total Install Time |
| Deliver Us The Moon | Same | N/A | -29.52% |
| Dirt 5 | 33.58 GB larger on the Series X | Ready To Start removed From Series X version | +26.94% |
| Gears Tactics | 440 MB smaller on Series X | -14.44% | -15.79% |
| Resident Evil 7 | Same | -18.22% | -13.96% |
| Sniper Elite 4 | Same | -26.91% | -34.38% |
| Yakuza Kiwami | Same | N/A | -31.81% |
What We Discovered During Testing
The first thing that stands out to me is Dirt 5. You will notice that the Xbox Series X version of Dirt 5 is almost twice the size of it’s Xbox One X counterpart. If this is going to be consistent going forward with Smart Delivery games, how long it takes to start a game is only going to increase. Yet the Gears Tactics, also a smart delivery game but somehow manages to decrease in size by 440 MB. It almost makes you wonder if Xbox has something worked out with compression that thrid-parties haven’t had time for yet. Or Gears Tactics, a strategy game just scales better than Dirt 5 a racing game. This will be fun to watch going forward as more Xbox Series X optimized games hit the storefront
Additionally, you will note that under my controlled scenario, games are ready to start nearly 20 percent faster. Plus the total time it takes to install a game is nearly 30 percent faster. While this is under my controlled scenario, everyone should expect to launch new games faster than before. The Xbox Series X does leverage the new CPU and SSD when installing games. That is going to be something that will be consistent under every scenario.
