Microsoft unlocks an extra 1GB of RAM for games running on Project Scorpio

Microsoft's full Project Scorpio reveal is only days away, and it's already getting a bit of a spec bump — sort of. Microsoft corporate VP of Xbox & Windows gaming Mike Ybarra has announced that Microsoft is giving developers access to an extra 1GB of RAM for games running on Scorpio, bumping up to 9GB total.

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To recap, Project Scorpio comes with a full 12GB of GDDR5 RAM on board. Prior to this announcement, Microsoft had revealed that games would have access to 8GB of that RAM, while the other 4GB would be dedicated other system tasks and the Dashboard. Now, games will be able to use up to 9GB of RAM, leaving 3GB left over for other tasks.

For games that actually make use of this extra RAM, it should give them just a bit more headroom to squeeze out some extra performance. And for games that don't use the full 9GB, Ybarra clarified that the rest of the RAM will be used as cache to make things load much faster.

We've already gotten a look at Project Scorpio's full specs, including what's behind its six teraflops of GPU power. We'll get our full look at Scorpio, including its name and design, at the Xbox E3 briefing on Sunday, June 11. Keep it locked to Windows Central, where we'll have all of the news as it breaks.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl