Switch 2: The tech specs that Nintendo and Nvidia are not sharing

How powerful is the custom T239 processor in the new console and how does it compare to PS4 and Steam Deck? Digital Foundry reports.

[CrimsonWing69]

With their pricing of things now they might as well try to catch up to current-gen. It made sense for them to be cheaper with them being a couple generations behind. We’ll be going into the PS6 gen soon and you know all third party stuff will either need to be streamed or severely downgraded like the Switch 1. Nintendo’s pricing for this tech really f*cked things up and not only that but possibly this will… actually it will ripple out into the rest of the industry.

[lucasnooker]

Nintendo have always been a generation behind in terms of hardware. They are milking for all the cash they can get.

Higher profit on cheaper hardware. Higher profit on games (80$ for Mario kart which I guarantee doesn’t cost as much to develop as most PS4 titles lol), getting rid of games on carts, instead digital downloads (higher profit margin).

All truly anti-consumer. But people are going to buy it anyway because Nintendo has them right where they want them.

[TheGrimReaper]

"Nintendo have always been a generation behind in terms of hardware."
-> after two consecutive "failures", N64 & GC.
They had "luck" the Wii was such a success that the Wii U is kinda forgotten. Switch 2 has to prove that Nintendo can produce a "good" consecutive console.
I've loved my N64. Very fond memories of that system but it was the beginning of Nintendos decline in marketshare. GC failure and Wii success started and solidified Nintendos decision that they don't need the best hardware to cater to their audience.

[abstractel]

Looking at the upvotes/downvotes ratio on these articles is really interesting. If this was any other company than Nintendo, the ratio would be 9:1 instead of 5:5. Defending $80 prices on 10 year old specs for a $450 console (even if it is handheld+comes with a screen) and overpriced accessories is kind of insane. If you say that it won't drag down next-gen (PS6) multi-platform titles you don't understand game development. You have to develop for the lowest hardware that sells well in the eco system and those that think it only affects graphics also don't understand game development. I will admit that some games don't need the latest hardware to deliver effective gameplay, but it lacks imagination to see what some devs could do if they didn't have to worry about lower hardware.

[darthv72]

being slightly better than PS4 is actually a good thing for the SW2. The majority of the developers are well aware of the pros/cons of that generation of hardware and have done some pretty impressive results exceeding those limitations. And with more advanced AI techniques and DLSS I can see SW2 competing pretty well with the likes of the PS5/SX and possibly even the PS6 since we can pretty much assume the use of 'tricks' will be in play to a much higher degree than previously. Cost and power budgets need to be in check so you know they will want to try and get the most bang for the buck. you can't do that on pure brute force alone.

Between the enthusiast market and the general consumer market, enthusiast is always going to be the lesser. Not in the sense of performance but in sense of overall users. people are going to want something that is cheap yet performant. the PC side will still get the latest and greatest while the console (handheld) side will get the cost effective and likely more developer friendly because they will need to leverage various techniques to try and equate. This has been how it is since... the beginning. PS6 will likely be a modest step up from the 5Pro, which is to say another evolutionary upgrade instead of revolutionary. How much more revolutions can there be before they hit the point of diminishing returns.

[RaidenBlack]

You know what else effed up?
This gen is famous for dragging cross gen.
Now that we're slowly moving towards current-gen only approach leaving behind PS4/XBone .... this Switch 2, being as powerful as PS4, will again continue that cross gen development well into the soon arriving PS6/XBnext gen. Coz devs are/will be rushing to support their multi plat games for the new Switch 2's fanbase and that ut releasedso close to next gen. So the range would be ~1.2TF(DLSS will have a limit) to ~22+TF for next gen. And Xbox is also going to push its 2027 handheld into next gen, albeit it'd likely be more powerful than Switch 2, but still ... at best Series S level in portable form?

[CrimsonWing69]

I hear you, im curious to see what third-party support will be. They could just opt to stream the games to Switch 2, otherwise they’ll have to downgrade the game heavily or bypass launching on Switch 2.

It’s why I’m saying with their pricing they might as well start trying to be near or at current-gen. I’m really thinking to sit this one out and wait on a Black Friday bundle deal.

[UltimateOwnage]

It’s running Elden Ring and FFVII:R at 30FPS with HDR in quality mode at 1080p when portable and supposedly hit 4k120 in performance mode when docked.

Based on what’s been shown it runs ports less fluently than PS5 depending on whether you’re mobile or not, but it’s the newest generation nvidia GPU hardware model under the hood and optimized chips lead to distinctly visible quality gains in the games and there is likely some leg room here.

It’s also important to note these are launch games and quick and dirty ports, and I do expect optimization of SDK’s and development efforts for the new hardware will get it even further from “10 year old hardware” its being compared to and closer to launch PS5 territory, especially with DLSS closing the gap.

Performance wise this looks to be the highest spec handheld gaming platform for the money as of its imminent launch. Hard to say how long that will last with PC handhelds iterating every 6 months.

[Babadook7]

“It’s running Elden Ring and FFVII:R at 30FPS with HDR in quality mode at 1080p when portable and supposedly hit 4k120 in performance mode when docked.”

Uh. I don’t know of any switch game hitting 120 fps and 4K while docked. It’s a good system but not that good. It’s suggested the dock HDMI is 2.0, if so it’s not even possible to hit 4K 120 output.

[Stwert]

I hardly ever post, but I’m making an exception for a change. You’re right, there will be 0 games that hit 4K 120 even when docked, Nintendo’s own specs, when you read the small print state that 4K output is limited to 60fps maximum.
But still, not too bad, I can’t get that on my SD or Lgo with anything more demanding than really simple games.

[RaidenBlack]

4K 120? Are you being funny here?
I can believe it can go from 1080 30 to 1080 60 when docked, that's double the jump going docked (which might be unlikely).
But 4k is already 4 times and with 120, that's totalling to 16x the jump when connecting to dock. Don't think that's gonna happen.