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NVIDIA Gaming Technology Powers Nintendo Switch

Nintendo Switch is powered by a custom NVIDIA Tegra processor, with a GPU based on the same architecture as the world’s top-performing GeForce cards.

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blogs.nvidia.com
crazychris41242601d ago

Wish they would tell us if it's the X1 or X2

Neonridr2601d ago

well if it's custom it leads me to believe that it's probably at least better than the X1, but based on some of the games it is showing I am thinking this GPU is a lot more powerful than we thought.

I mean Skyrim HD Remaster on that thing? Can't be some crappy mobile GPU that powers that thing.

crazychris41242601d ago (Edited 2601d ago )

Guess it is a custom X2 after all. Think they said it was in the ballpark on current consoles. We will find out later how powerful it is once people get their hands on it.

mikeslemonade2601d ago

Doesn't take much to be ballpark to these consoles since PS4 only has 10 times the hardware of the WiiU. Still dissapointing. And the fact that we still have to wait 5 months for this crap. This should have been out a year ago when the WiiU was floundering.

Erik73572601d ago

Well skyrim HD, which looks worse than the orginal pc release even without the superior graphic mods in a lot of aspects, is not that hard of a game to run...

Neonridr2601d ago

@Fries1223 - yet it takes the PS4 or XB1 to run it..

ABizzel12601d ago

It could be either to be honest. At worst it's a custom Tegra X1 which as @Neonridr said it's going to be better than the standard version. But looking at NBA 2k if that is real gameplay then it proves NX is somewhere between Wii U and XBO / PS4. Graphically the game is a step ahead of the PS360 version, the Lighting alone proves that. That being said everything else doesn't look quite as good as the PS4/XBO such as the crowd, the character models, etc...

We can't really use the other games or Skyrim because it doesn't take much to run even them, and the rest were Wii U games. The only new software was the new Mario which looked great but in a side by side comparison not quite as good as Ratchet and Clank on PS4, but noticeably better than Ratchet and Clank on PS3. So again GPU wise, we should expect that at worst we're getting better than Wii U performance, but not quite XBO performance, graphically speaking.

That being said resolution and framerate are also the last bit of info we need from those games. I'm sure FPS is going to be in line with the PS4/XBO for Skyrim and NBA2k and the Wii U ports. But resolution is the big question. Honestly the games looked better on the HDTV than the screen, so I'm assuming the games run at 720p on the handheld, but upscale to full 1080p on the TV, and hopefully the dock allows the hardware to overclock for better settings, since Skyrim did look better on the TV.

So IMO we're looking at 800 GFLOPs in portable mode, and 1 TFLOP when docked. So 2x - 3x the power of Wii U, in a handheld-hybrid console which is completely fine with me considering the type of device this is. The bigger concern is the CPU (is it Denver or Kryo), and the battery life.

2601d ago
Kokyu2601d ago (Edited 2601d ago )

You guys are guessing its skyrim remastered they never said it was. I beat its just plain skyrim.

TheFirstClassic2601d ago

@Fries1223 skyrim on pc looks dated as hell without mods, don't kid yourself.

mikeslemonade2601d ago

NBA 2k is not an intense game

rainslacker2600d ago

You don't have to wait mike. You don't like anything involving consoles or less than 3X SLI TItanX's because apparently it's not up to your standards of graphics quality.

Why you even bother coming to console articles to bitch about consoles power all the time is beyond me. YOu have made it abundantly clear that your standards require a super charged, very expensive PC to satiate.

The rest of us appreciate games for the actual games.

That being said and to respond to people who care, Custom Tegra X2 is likely. There wouldn't be much price saving by sticking with the X1 modified, since it's a custom chip anyhow, and will have it's own pricing structure.

babadivad2600d ago

Rumors I've heard has it at .75TF. That's pretty close to current consoles.

+ Show (8) more repliesLast reply 2600d ago
2601d ago Replies(4)
never4get2601d ago

Lol! Nintendo Switch could have 8.9 TFLOPS GTX1080 EXTERNAL GPU "Supplemental Computing Device"!!!

Nintendo Switch with GTX1080 8.9 TFLOPS > Scorpio 6TFLOPs > PS4PRO 4.2TFLOPS

peewee110162601d ago

LoL its running a Terga buddy

Erik73572601d ago

Or ya know you could just put that gpu in a pc and get more use out of it but whatever you can choose to waste a gtx1080

babadivad2600d ago (Edited 2600d ago )

Well, if it's Tegra X2. It will have 2 Denver Cores. 4 A57 cores. Memory bandwith could become a problem though. It's only rated at 50GBs

2601d ago Replies(2)
Dasteru2601d ago

Either the X2 or a custom of some sort. The intial switch reveal already confirmed it was Pascal based so it can't be the X1.

conanlifts2600d ago

According to nintendo life nintendo will not be announcing specs or games until next year. Very strange as unless i know what games they have i won't preorder the thing.

ginsunuva2600d ago

The blog clearly says it's neither. It's a custom one.

+ Show (5) more repliesLast reply 2600d ago
KaladinStormblessed2601d ago

The console looks small, even smaller than the WiIU, how much power can they realistically pack in there?

Valkron12601d ago (Edited 2601d ago )

The Nvidia Tegra X2 is a Pascal based chip. That is a big boost over Maxwell based X1 chip. That might explain why Nintendo waited so long so they could incorporate it in Switch

ABizzel12601d ago

1. Since it's a Tegra
2. Has to be able to run in portable mode, meaning lower clock speeds
3. Runs on a battery in portable mode

It's more than likely it's running around 700 GFLOP (handheld) - 1+ TFLOP (console-dock) which isn't the best way to explain it since all flops are different, especially between NVIDIA and AMD. But in comparison the XBO is 1.31 TFLOP and PS4 is 1.84.

RGB2601d ago

750 GFLOP/s top end for Tegra X2 @ 1465MHz. <--- We don't know what the clock speed Switch will be yet.
We don't know either what the dock is packing hardware wise so let's not guess.

Price has to be very competitive, if it's $399 for Switch + Dock, I think this system is going to have a bad run like WiiU. PS4 Pro being 4.2 TFLOP/s starting at $399 and Scorpio (6 TFLOP/s) rumoured to be the same is going to hurt sales & development soon after launch imo.

ABizzel12601d ago

@RGB

I based it off the Tegra X1 FLOPS, and clock speeds, so all of this is completely hypothesized until concrete details come out.

The NX is rumored to be 2x - 3x more powerful than Wii U, and if the Tegra X2/P1 scales up with the same performance difference between Maxwell -> Pascal then the X2/P1 should be in the 700 - 800 GFLOP range at similar clock speeds to the current NVIDIA Shield console, which uses a Tegra X1 at 550 / 600 MHz, thus around 500+ GFLOPS.

That being said the X2/P1 architecture should provide lower TDP which allows it to fit into a tablet like device and run on a battery without instantly draining it. And there should be some room to play around with higher clock speeds so that's why I'm saying about 700 GFLOPS for the handheld (safe), and 1+ TFLOP when it's docked (if it can boost those clock speeds).

The NX is basically a combination of the Wii U + NVIDIA's shield tablet and console.

I completely agree on price being the big concern, which is why I'm hoping they go for $249 for the standalone handheld, and $349 for the handheld, the dock, pro controller, and a game. Because it's inevitably going to be compared to the PS4 and PS4 Pro, XBOs and XBO Scropio and pricing wise the lower-end PS4 and XBOs could easily drop to $250 this holiday or sometime next year.

That being said I think it'll be $299 for the handheld and $349 with the dock included. For the a tablet and the hardware it's a good price, the problem is it has to have the OS and features to back that price up, and unfortunately Nintendo has not been king of features or OS.

KaladinStormblessed2601d ago

There's also the fact that it doesn't have a disc drive, so that allows it to be much smaller then your average console.

RGB2600d ago

@ABizzel1
It's a custom Tegra SoC and that's about all we know at the moment. We don't know the RAM amount either, It's speculation at this point.

What isn't speculation is the numbers regarding X1 and X2 Tegra chipsets.
X1; 256 cores x 2 cycles x 1000MHz = 512 GFLOP/s with 64-bit bus @ 25.6GB/s speed
X2; 256 cores x 2 cycles x 1465MHz = 750 GFLOP/s with 128-bit bus @ 50GB/s speed

WiiU was 352 GFLOP/s so on paper it's not 3x more powerful, architecture wise it could very well be though, especially with Nvidia > AMD.

Glad to see others have concerns regarding price like me. $250 seems low but possible for just the portable component. $350 max with dock (no pro controller, maybe a pack-in game) in my opinion otherwise hardcore gamers will be put off because it's vastly underpowered compared to immediate new rivals and I for one play my portables at home more than on the go. Can't see the portable being only $50 cheaper than a dock bundle, seems like more is going on with that than it just being a home hub.

Happen to agree regarding feature set and OS with Nintendo too, WiiU was so far off 2012 standards. They really need to get the online aspects of Switch to PSN/Live levels. Not to mention they need to sustain 3rd party support (having a good network would help), not let it drop off soon after launch if they want to maintain and grow their user base too.

JOHN_DOH2600d ago

FLOPS is a measurement of computer power. It was standardized by the IEEE, it's the same for all computers.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2600d ago
TheUndertaker852601d ago

If there's no disc drive that pretty well eliminates backwards compatibility short of digital

_-EDMIX-_2600d ago

Well it's a handheld why would it have a disk drive? Did you miss the whole point of it being portable?