The name might not be all that different from the last gen, but everything else is. Let's look at the spec sheet:

AMD custom 8-core 3.8 GHz (3.66 GHz with SMT) Zen 2 CPU

AMD custom RDNA 2 GPU (1825 MHz with 52 compute units)

16 GB GDDR6 RAM

1 TB of SSD storage (with an optional 1 TB expansion card)

HDMI 2.1 connectivity with support for 8K video at 60 Hz, or 4K at 120 Hz

4K UHD Blu-ray drive

Next-gen Velocity Architecture

Slim is no longer in—this year's flagship Xbox is rocking a fuller figure and, judging by that huge grille, packing some serious cooling.

The Series X has a smaller footprint than the One X, even if you lay it on its side. But it's 60% larger by volume—let's hope your entertainment cabinet can adapt.

More grilles grace the back of the console, along with the usual ports and a new storage expansion slot.

In an excellent accessibility move, the ports come with some tactile identification in the form of tiny raised dots, making the finding-and-plugging process easier not just for the sight impaired, but anyone trying to reach into their TV cabinet without turning the whole console around.

The new Xbox controller looks much like the last one, save for a new share button, an upgraded D-pad, and a USB-C charging port.

We're not dismantling this thing just yet, what with a whole console to tear apart—but our pals at Creative Electron provide a different kind of inside look.

With X-ray vision, you can see the four vibration motors (two in the handles, and two near the triggers), the metal joystick hardware, and all the beautiful cables and circuits doing the connecting.

Compare this sameness to Sony's new DualSense controller, which is different from its predecessor in almost every way.

And despite its flashy new design, the DualSense now shares a number of similarities with Xbox controllers. Maybe Microsoft and Sony are finally converging on the perfect controller shape?

Two bright green T8 screws suggest an official Xbox welcome into the machine, and yet those screws are hidden under stickers and a trap door. Microsoft, do you want us to get in or not?

Regardless, it won't stop anyone armed with our Mako driver kit. Spin the driver, pop a few clips, and you're in. So it's user accessible, but not User Accessible.

We've got our crosshairs dialed in. Primary removal target? The beefy 130 mm fan. It's pretty get-at-able for cleaning—a big plus. If your X stands up tall, this is upward exhaust—so hopefully not many dust bunnies will nest there.

Speaking of big fans, Microsoft went out of their way to hide Master Chief in here. A welcome Easter egg!

You could remove this friendly Seattle Frisbee from the bottom just for a quick toss, but we're not here to play around. There are, in fact, more screws hidden underneath.

The optical drive comes out next. And much to our amazement, it's the familiar old drive returning from the Xbox One S and Xbox One X—same model number and all!

That said—just like the One S and One X—if you can de-solder the board from your original optical drive and transplant it into a new drive, you're back in business.

In any case, one of these chips might be responsible for the intimate motherboard/optical-board bond:

Microsoft MS0DDDSP03 ARM—probably the optical drive controller

Texas Instruments TPIC2050 9 channel motor/laser driver

With the disc drive out, the remaining innards are contained within this massive assembly, which is mostly just heat management strapped to some boards. Teardown complete? No. I think we're just getting started.

If you're wondering about the black rubber strap, its primary purpose seems to be isolation—from vibration, and noise. This extra bit of cushioning helps prevent any harshness from disturbing your gaming.

Microsoft didn't waste any space inside this thing—check out how much volume is dedicated to the heatsink. Thermal design is a big part of any console creation, and it's clear the Series X is built to run cool and quiet.

Mounted up front is one of two antenna boards inside the tower. The redundancy might serve to ensure a solid connection in either of the console's two orientations: tower mode, and awkward mode.

Moving along to a box within the box, we lift the power supply away from the main assembly.

This PSU's primary rail outputs up to 21.25 amps at 12 volts, which equates to 255 juicy watts.

How well does this power brick stack with its contemporaries? We asked power adapter expert Ken Shiriff of Righto.com:

Overall, it looks like a compact, high-quality power supply. They're not cutting corners to save costs. That said, the power supply doesn't reach Apple's level of density and complexity.

The power supply uses pricier but longer-lasting polymer capacitors instead of electrolytic ones to filter the 12V output.

The Series X packs in a board sandwich, but unlike the iPhone X, this isn't to save space, but to make it. The aluminum block in the middle helps direct air between the boards and cool these hot boys. Here's what's on the first board:

Microsoft M1139994-001 T6WD5XBG-0004 Southbridge I/O controller

Texas Instruments LM339A quad differential comparator

Realtek RTL8111HM gigabit ethernet controller

CT08E 2020F1—possibly a Challenge Electronics sound transducer

ON Semiconductor NCP186AMN080TBG 1 A / adj. low dropout linear regulator

Nuvoton ISD8104SYI 2W Class AB audio amplifier

Richtek RT6256BHGQUF and RT6256CHGQUF synchronous step-down converter w/ LDO

Next, the meat of this board sandwich—the aluminum center chassis.

Its main purpose is to soak up High-Performance Gaming Heat™ (hence the bright minty thermal compound for the SSD and storage expansion slot).

Speaking of storage: the Series X uses an m.2 2230 NVMe SSD, namely a custom 1 TB SN530 by Western Digital. We heard it's super-fast PCIe Gen 4.0, too—this is high-end stuff!

Let's take a closer look at the bits that give this SSD its oomph (ignoring a pretty boring back side):

SanDisk 60662 1T00 1TB NAND Flash Memory

SanDisk 20-82-10048-A1 NVMe SSD Controller

Qorvo (formerly Active-Semi) 90430VM330 Power Management IC

Since this SSD comes in a standard m.2 form factor, we popped in into our desktop workstation for a peep at its contents.

If you were expecting it to be partitioned a lot like the hard drives found in prior Xboxes, you're way ahead of us.

Peeling the final layers off this tasty thermal parfait we free the final board from the heat sink assembly, finding more tooth thermal compound and yet more chips:

"Project Scarlett" 100-000000388 SoC (includes 8-core AMD Zen 2 CPU + AMD RDNA 2 GPU)

Micron D9WCW 1GB and Micron D9WZX 2GB, for a total of 16 GB of GDDR6 SGRAM (Super-Great Synchronous Graphics RAM)

Monolithic Power Systems MP86965Power Phase Modules w/ MOSFET

Monolithic Power Systems MP2926 Multi-Phase Controller w/ PMBus Interface

ON Semiconductor NB7NQ621M 12 Gbps HDMI/DisplayPort Level Shifter/Linear Redriver

Texas Instruments TPS568230 Synchronous Step-Down Regulator

With the motherboards gone, we take a moment to admire the full cooling system. What a cool cookie sandwich.

On the left: Fins pull heat from the copper vapor chamber to be wicked away by cool air, pulled in through the bottom of the console by the fan.

Next up—along with the copper plate, this metal frame acts as an EM shield. It also transfers heat away from the hot-tempered voltage regulator modules via thermal pad.

The "CCS" (that's "Center Chassis") provides rigidity, aids in shielding, sinks heat, and maximizes board cooling.

Finally on the far right, a Faraday-cage-like EM shield protects the other motherboard while allowing air to cycle through.

This may be Microsoft's ultimate gaming machine, but by volume it almost feels like an air conditioner with a graphics card. Cool stuff.

A relatively modular and repair-friendly design is partly overshadowed by some software barriers. Our tests indicate that both optical drive and SSD repairs will be problematic at best—which could be an issue if you want this thing to play games, or boot up.

We're delighted to have two Master Chiefs living inside our Halo machine, but how will this tower of terror fare in the repair arena? Scroll down to read the verdict.