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[DragonSworne]

The reason the clock speeds are so low is that when Switch 2 comes out in 4-5 years all Nintendo needs to do is up the speeds and they got a new console. Think GameCube vs Wii vs Wii U.

Don't want to use all your power allocation in one go, milk this architecture for generations.

 

[Ryoku]

Okay, uh... How many cores? Or are we still having knee-jerk reactions?

 

[phanphare]

The dock doesn't help with cooling.

there's apparently an extra fan in the dock

 

[Sulik2]

This is exactly what people feared about a hybrid. Crippling your home console for portability. As Microsoft releases a 6TF box this year I'm sure down porting games to last gen console power in the switch is going to be easy Lol. Standard one to two years of third party support on a Nintendo console then a wasteland incoming.

 

[Relaxed Muscle]

You know unless it's a custom chip not featuring the same CUDA core count as a standard X1 or with other optimizations.

Yeah, for all we know it could have even less CUDA cores lol

 

[Jessie.Bristol]

Indeed, I'm only buying this thing if I can get it for less than $200 now

Exactly the same for me. At $199, it's a big if (may even wait for a substantial price drop) for me. At $149 it would be an insta-buy for me simply for Zelda and Mario.

 

[Frank the Great]

This is pretty much the successor to the 3DS. It'll be an absolutely brilliant one as well as its a huge update over that system.

I believe NoA called it a 'home console' just to disguise the fact they won't really be in that market anymore. Headlines of 'Nintendo pulls out of the home console market' aren't good for business or mindset.

It's a handheld which can be played on the TV via a dock. There isn't a market for them to be successful with a dedicated home console anymore.

I'm not too concerned about the size compared to the 3DS. Barely anyone walks around with a 3DS in their pocket. Mines always in my bag if I take it away and people are used to taking tablets around with them these days.

I think this post is spot on. I'd be surprised if Nintendo ever made a dedicated home console again. The Switch model is the future for the company.

Honestly, I am far more likely to buy a $200 portable system at Wii U power levels than a more pricey Nintendo home console that can run PS4 ports. I mean, I already have a PS4 for that. Price, battery life, and software are the most important things for Switch, and it will probably deliver on all three.

Speaking of software, Nintendo will now get to focus game development on one unified system, rather than splitting resources between a console and handheld. I'm curious to see how many first party Switch games they can churn out. First party support alone could be enough to sustain the system.

 

[jroc74]

There's been a sea of rumors regarding the NX, but the funniest one now in hindsight is that Sony and Microsoft were making the PS4 Pro and Scorpio mainly because they learned of the NX's specs and they were worried it would make the PS4 and XB1 look too weak, it was that powerful.

lol...I think that was more forum folks speculating. Many of us said they're not worried about the Switch. I think its safe to say they ....really....arent worried about the Switch. Price and performance points to it trying to go the low end, mid range route for home consoles. Like extending last gen so to speak. Or competing with last gen consoles.

I was thinking the Wii U could do that but maybe not. By the time the Switch comes out low end consoles competition will be orig PS4 and orig XBO.

Not a good look there...

So Switch will be the new Vita but with Nintendo support then.

I was gonna say something similar. Nintendo support and some hardware gimmicks/features.

3DS had way more support than Vita, so bad comparison.

I think thats kinda what they meant with that post...

So LCGeeks "leak" can't be true. And the "porting should be no big problem" quotes from some insiders seem a little bit unrealistic too at the moment.

Well to be fair I dont think any insider said how the performance would be or how the games would look. Just that it would be no problem. Dial things down enough and you could get GTA V on the Switch.

Remember the Switch does have more ram than last gen consoles too and the PS3 and 360 had GTA V. The PS3 had TLoU. The Switch is better spec wise than last gen consoles so maybe thats what insiders meant?

Granted....both of those games taxed the hell out of my PS3. My 2008 PS3 died while playing GTA V.

I mean last gen games shouldnt be a problem for the Switch. I think...

 

[Zombie James]

Could this mean a $199 launch price?

Maybe they are aiming at $99.

Pricing is definitely going to be key here. I think people can stomach these specs if it's priced accordingly. If they're going to charge a PS4 price, they're in for a hard time.

 

[The_Lump]

Okay, uh... How many cores? Or are we still having knee-jerk reactions?

Come back after Christmas dude.

 

[eaise]

Why are we believing this over all the other rumors that say the complete opposite?
No one actually knows anything concrete about the system. Except what Nintendo has shown. It's not like this website has the Switch. No one does yet.

 

[Fou-Lu]

That sure is some aggressive downclocking. I am impressed and not in a good way.

Oh well, I know I'll still buy it for the same reason I buy any Nintendo hardware, for the first party lineup.

 

[TwilightPrincess]

Makes you wonder why it needs active cooling when the Shield Android TV doesn't.

Shield TV with X1 needs cooling? 20 Watt while gaming.

 

[DangerMouse]

Yes they did, super high poly hotcakes. MMMMMM!!!!

Damn right
Now I need breakfast...

 

[Skittzo0413]

People talking about price are not getting it. Clock speed has almost nothing to do with price. The impact it makes on price is much more due to the size of the battery needed, so if anything this could mean we have a smaller battery and a slightly lower price, but just because it is far weaker than we thought doesn't mean it will be cheaper.

 

[cackhyena]

This console is dead in the water, weak CPU and GPU, low RAM, low memory bandwidth. Expect no third party support. Don't expect a sub 250 price either from Nintendo. To those touting it as a great handheld it really isn't when most phones/tablets coming out next year will be as powerful if not more.

None of those phones or tablets will have anything as good as new Zelda so imma get one.

 

[bomblord1]

Yeah, for all we know it could have even less CUDA cores lol

Technically a valid concern.

 

[Yado]

I think they could have softened the blow of this low spec narrative if they had let third party develpers show/confirm what they have planned for the Switch.

 

[Caelus]

Interesting, I wonder how low the price could go? I'm expect $200-$250 at this point, though I think the joy-cons and overall form factor are contributing to expenses.

 

[Enduin]

The dock doesn't help with cooling.

there's apparently an extra fan in the dock

Unless I missed something the recent patent info said otherwise and only the device has a fan. But even then the Dock technically does help with cooling as the fan runs at low RPMs when undocked but can run at much faster speeds, and thus cooler, when docked.

 

[rekameohs]

Huh. Guess there was bound to finally be some bad news after all that seemingly good stuff. At least the jump from 3DS is enormous.

 

[Durante]

May I see the math? I keep getting 196.6...

256 * 2 * 0.307 = 157
"cuda cores" * MAD * GHz = GFLOPs

 

[Omega Kirby]

Weaker than an Shield TV? God dayum lol

But the games though, as always will make or break this.

 

[Ricerocket]

there's apparently an extra fan in the dock

There is only one fan and it's in the main unit itself. The dock is literally a dock. The unit itself will know when it's docked and increase rpm of fan + clockspeed and that's it.

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

I had a feeling this was the case considering how basic BotW looks. Worse than I expected, though.

 

[Kissenkopf]

Where? Best recent game they made is actually not made by them: Bayonetta 2. Rest are useless spinoffs and more 2D platformers. With more cotton and Cranky Kong.

*giggles* Someone is really salty and on top of that not really paying attention to the Nintendo releases. ;3

 

[VibratingDonkey]

Not the biggest concern for me regarding this thing, power schmower, to some extent. But I would like an explanation for why they'd make the GPU slower than what seems to be necessary. Hopefully Nintendo will make things make sense come January.

My biggest concern is that, I kind of don't want a handheld, and that's half the system, and why the system is half. Soooo, hoping for a reasonable price.

 

[Holy Order Sol]

What on earth is this hostility towards a member of the GAF community?

lol you make it sound like such a big deal

"member of the GAF community" lmao

it's some guy who posts on a forum

 

[Skittzo0413]

Unless I missed something the recent patent info said otherwise and only the device has a fan. But even then the Dock technically does help with cooling as the fan runs at a low RPMs when undocked but can run a faster speeds, and thus cooler, when docked.

The patent does not specify a fan in the dock but that doesn't mean the final retail unit won't have one. The device has likely deviated greatly from the patented specifications.

 

[TwilightPrincess]

Granted....both of those games taxed the hell out of my PS3. My 2008 PS3 died while playing GTA V.

I mean last gen games shouldnt be a problem for the Switch. I think...

They talked about current gen games not some GTA V PS3 port, that shouldn't be any big problem.

 

[Zoon]

Don't worry guys, if there is any problem, source 2/the cloud will fix it.

 

[Fuchsdh]

Well, they sold a lot of DS-es with N64 era graphics, so I guess they don't really care about specs.

Yeah, their handhelds have always been very low-specced for their time, and so were the Wii and Wii U. At this point it's really not surprising to me.

Probably the only thing that really sucks about this is the rumors of how terrible the portable battery life are, even *with* this kind of constraint.

 

[NotLiquid]

With all the conflicting information between multiple sources I'm gonna take a wait and see approach in regards to the news. Didn't Eurogamer/Digital Foundry cause a similar hoopla here with that PS4 article about the console's RAM? Switch not being a powerhouse was to be expected but I'm going to assume it'll be somewhere below Xbox One territory when all is said and done. If it can run Breath of the Wild much better than the Wii U even when undocked then I have some decent hopes in regards to performance.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

No it's not

You're right, but the issue is that the baseline for Switch games is forced at the 1Ghz CPU clocks and 300Mhz GPU Clock, which those benchmarks you posted aren't representative of.

If Nintendo made two separate devices - and handheld with a custom Maxwell "X1"-like CPU downclocked to 300Mhz for GPU, no active cooling and thinner form factor - and a home console Shield TV2-like device, then you might see some console-only games which target the "home console "profile as a baseline. Likewise, in 4 years' time when there's a revised version of the hardware with, say, Volta onboard, the handheld might be able to run games that targeted the console's profile.

Also: The iPhone 7's CPU runs rings around the Switch.

 

[GHG]

How does this compare to the Vita power wise?

 

[SmokedMeat]

So this is going to be another first party machine? Doesn't sound like it's going to be handling modern third party games.

 

[RobotVM]

Ok, now we know the clock speed. What is the best case scenario in terms of power?

 

[gai_shain]

So LCGeeks "leak" can't be true. And the "porting should be no big problem" quotes from some insiders seem a little bit unrealistic too at the moment.

Why? Porting isnt only about similar power

 

[mario_O]

The Shield is $199. This should be $99. Well, add $50 for the screen and whatever, $149.

nintendo always sells their hardware expensive. expect 249 minimum.

 

[Serenitynow]

there's apparently an extra fan in the dock

There isn't. The dock just lets the fan in the handheld spin faster. The vent in the dock is there for air intake and the air is expelled from the Switch's top vents.

 

[Prevolition]

So.... 10 hours battery life?

 

[Leatherface]

Ugh. Not surprised here at all but I was really hoping Nintendo would pull out all the stops after the failure that was the WiiU. Super disappointed if this is true. 🙁

 

[Xater]

It's downright stupid we aren't even getting a full Tegra X1.

That is the real shocker. It came in even below my very low expectations.

 

[EVH]

Crap power and also this just makes me think this machine is going to get the WiiU treatment all over again. Which honestly Nintendo kinda deserves if all that is true.

So how will this differential affect the games we play? The Switch handheld screen has a 720p resolution - so the gulf in GPU clocks means that in theory at least, there's overhead there to run a 720p mobile title at 1080p when docked. One developer source likens this to creating two different versions of the same game - almost like producing a PS4 game and a PS4 Pro variant. At the very least, QA will require titles to be tested thoroughly in both configurations, plus a lot of thought will be going into exactly how to utilise GPU power in each mode.

 

[Shahadan]

This console is dead in the water, weak CPU and GPU, low RAM, low memory bandwidth. Expect no third party support. Don't expect a sub 250 price either from Nintendo. To those touting it as a great handheld it really isn't when most phones/tablets coming out next year will be as powerful if not more.

Tablets and phone specs don't mean much against a dedicated gaming device though. At comparable specs the gaming handheld will perform better, and probably won't kill your battery as fast

 

[EloquentM]

How does this compare to the Vita power wise?

Stronger than vita and Wii U.

 

[jett]

Those Dark Souls trilogy rumors look a little silly now.

I'm assuming DS3 wouldn't run on this at all?

Seems dubious at best.

 

[Jessie.Bristol]

With all the conflicting information between multiple sources I'm gonna take a wait and see approach in regards to the news. Didn't Eurogamer/Digital Foundry cause a similar hoopla here with that PS4 article about the console's RAM? Switch not being a powerhouse was to be expected but I'm going to assume it'll be somewhere below Xbox One territory when all is said and done.

Eurogamer has been rock solid with their information. And PS4's RAM was correct, but changed at the last minute. Even developers didn't know it had 8GB of RAM until Sony revealed it.

 

[Zedark]

How does this compare to the Vita power wise?

5.5 times as powerful undocked, 14 times docked.

Edit: assuming it has the exact same innards as a Tegra X1 chip.

 

[Waldo Lydecker]

I feel like something doesnt add up - especially if this is getting Skyrim Remastered...i dont see Bethesda being interested in this if it were as weak the article suggest.

Switch Skyrim running with PS3's 0fps frame-rate confirmed, lol.