Be prepared for lag when killing dragons on the go!
[dropcap size=small]I[/dropcap]t was recently confirmed that the new Nintendo Switch console has been based on the Nvidia Tegra X1 and will feature a GPU based on second generation Maxwell technology. If this does not make a lot of sense to you here is the short version, the Nintendo Switch will not have the power of an Xbox One or PS4. While the exact details about how the X1 processor was changed for the Switch has not been released yet, Eurogamer was able to estimate what the CPU and GPU clock speeds will be using consoles that have similar specs.
Before moving into the analysis, it is important to know what the specs are for the Switch. Important note: these specs were first brought up in a twitter leak and were later confirmed by Nintendo. The CPU will be four ARM cortex A57 cores (max 2GHz), the GPU will be 256 CUDA cores (max 1GHz), Texture will be 16 pixels/cycle, Fill will be 14.4 pixels/cycle, the memory will be 4 GB, the memory bandwith will be 25.6 GB/s, the VRAM will be shared, the system memory will be 32 GB with max transfer rates of 400 MB/s, it will have both USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, the video output will be 1080p60/4k30, and the display will be a 6.2 inch-IPS LCD, 1280×720 pixels, 10 point multi-touch system.
Eurogamer found a few a irregularities in these specs that they believed should raise some concerns. The Tegra X1 is a fully-functioning HDMI 2.0 processor and it also has 16 ROPS. The fact that the specs have it running at HDMI 1.4 specs and only using 14.4 ROPS is an issue. If the Tegra X1 is more powerful than the specs suggest then why wouldn’t Nintendo run it at full capacity? So far there is no answer but it is something to keep an eye on moving forward.
One of the biggest issues is that the specs for the CPU and GPU speeds are referring to the maximum speeds found in the Nvidia Shield Android TV micro-console. When the Switch is in mobile mode it would be almost impossible for it to have the same speeds because in mobile mode it is using battery power. So this begs the question what is the actual speed of the Switch when it is in mobile mode?
The Switch’s CPU power will able to remain at a constant 1020 MHz whether it is docked or undocked (in mobile mode). While this is good, the GPU speeds are where the issues arise. When docked the GPU is speed is only 768 MHz, much lower than the Android TV speeds. When undocked the speeds drop even lower to 307.2 MHz. This means that the undocked GPU can only run 40% of the speed of the docked GPU. That is a quite a large decrease. This would mean that developers would have to create two different games to run on the Switch; one for the docked console and one for the undocked mode. A comparison would be a developer creating a game for the PS4 and having a PS4 Pro variant.
While these are just estimates and not the final numbers, they are still not a good sign. Fans of Nintendo who were hoping for a console similar to the Xbox One and PS4 should lower their expectations a bit. The Switch will still be an improvement compared to the Wii-U and has an interesting concept so it brings more upside than down. Looking at how games transfer from docked to mobile mode will be crucial in the months to come to see if the estimates are correct or not.
The Nintendo Switch is currently scheduled to be released in March 2017.
