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Digital Foundry: Nintendo Switch CPU and GPU clock speeds revealed
- Thread starter Vashetti
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curiouscharles
Member
wow, just wow.
don't care for portability as much as i care about decent horsepower.
in fact, don't like portable gaming at all, but thought if this could have enough horsepower to convince me to jump on board i might find fun in the whole portable thing.
after getting burned by the wii-u [bought it for new zelda, didn't get new zelda], i'm probably going to just skip nintendo entirely this time around.
still excited to see the presentation and everything, remaining optimistic that my mind could still be changed.
but yeah, super underwhelmed by this news, and ultimately quite disappointed.
don't care for portability as much as i care about decent horsepower.
in fact, don't like portable gaming at all, but thought if this could have enough horsepower to convince me to jump on board i might find fun in the whole portable thing.
after getting burned by the wii-u [bought it for new zelda, didn't get new zelda], i'm probably going to just skip nintendo entirely this time around.
still excited to see the presentation and everything, remaining optimistic that my mind could still be changed.
but yeah, super underwhelmed by this news, and ultimately quite disappointed.
WordsintheWater
Member
Pretty disappointing for me personally, not a big handheld player so I'd rather have more power then battery life, but I understand they have to have a balance. Still in for the exclusives though.
Deputy Moonman
Member
So will the Switch in fact be less powerful than the Wii U?
lyrick
Member
Agreed, i found it to be the worst console i ever owned. Whenever there is any negative talk surrounding the Wii U, there are always a few posters always who begin with the usual list wars. Problem with the Wii U is that you basically need to name every game for the console for it to even start resembling something respectable in comparison to the competition. I didnt really care Pikmin 3, Splatoon, etc, and so there are only a handful left for me to enjoy. On other platforms, i can dismiss entire genres and still have an enormous library to chose from, which is luxury you dont have with the Wii U; you better learn to like what little is availible, or have people say "well if you dont like the usual nintendo games, why did you even buy it?". Thats what the discussion has come to, in many cases.
Relaxed Muscle
Member
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
No shit, cause you would be playing cut the rope and resident evil 5. DUH
No, even in this current worst case scenario it will perform better than WiiU even on handheld mode.
The_Darkest_Red
Member
This is really an incredible post.
JB2448
Member
Thank you. Add the PS2 over the GameCube and Xbox, and you get the same conclusion.
There are so many intangibles in regards to the success of a console, and even then, when it comes to tangibles such as price, different companies can afford to take different amounts of risk. For a company that is just now starting to truly diversify like Nintendo (theme parks, television and movie contents (no, Pokémon isn't what I mean), smartphone releases, etc.), there's still not a lot of wiggle room there. For companies like Microsoft and Sony, there are many other avenues to mitigate the risk of competitively priced hardware that still might not meet their internal projections and expectations. $250 makes a lot of sense with the historical precedent of the Wii, but some people here are treating it as if it would be a cardinal sin to release the Switch at that price.
Also, for people that are legitimately having meltdowns over there expectations not being in line with the rumored reality of a system that won't be out for another three months, please take a walk and consider not investing so much personal stake into a corporate entity that doesn't know you exist. Please. Your value as a human being is inherently greater than that.
brochiller
Member
Reasons why Nintendo calling the Switch a portable home console is the right move:
It would be terrible marketing to market this thing as a handheld when it truly can do much more graphically than people are used to with handhelds.
You dont want the perception to be that this is just another 3DS powered type of system you can plug into your TV. Perception is important and despite what half of GAF thinks, its not a misnomer to call it a home console despite it not being as powerful as the offerings from Microsoft of Sony.
Plugging a handheld into your TV is not much of a selling point. You can already play your handheld systems in your living room and increasing the screen size wont appeal to many.
What you cant and have never been able to do is play games designed for home consoles any and everywhere outside of your living room. This is the selling point of the Switch, not playing handheld games on the TV.
The bottom line is that its not Nintendos goal to impress GAF with its specs by marketing this thing as the most powerful handheld ever instead of an underpowered home console. It needs to sell the thing and like it or not taking console games on the go (a portable home console) is the most compelling argument for it.
It would be terrible marketing to market this thing as a handheld when it truly can do much more graphically than people are used to with handhelds.
You dont want the perception to be that this is just another 3DS powered type of system you can plug into your TV. Perception is important and despite what half of GAF thinks, its not a misnomer to call it a home console despite it not being as powerful as the offerings from Microsoft of Sony.
Plugging a handheld into your TV is not much of a selling point. You can already play your handheld systems in your living room and increasing the screen size wont appeal to many.
What you cant and have never been able to do is play games designed for home consoles any and everywhere outside of your living room. This is the selling point of the Switch, not playing handheld games on the TV.
The bottom line is that its not Nintendos goal to impress GAF with its specs by marketing this thing as the most powerful handheld ever instead of an underpowered home console. It needs to sell the thing and like it or not taking console games on the go (a portable home console) is the most compelling argument for it.
This is personally OK for me. It's disappointing but I'm getting the Switch for Nintendo games, I don't really care about the graphics that much. A lot of my best experiences this year were on 3DS, and any multiplats that are able to come might necessitate double dipping for the portability.
But it's concerning for the market at large. A lot of people aren't as into handheld gaming, and they just want a decently powerful console. If they're leaving the Switch in docked mode all the time, the reason to get this console really drops. I'm just worried about sales with this latest revelation.
But it's concerning for the market at large. A lot of people aren't as into handheld gaming, and they just want a decently powerful console. If they're leaving the Switch in docked mode all the time, the reason to get this console really drops. I'm just worried about sales with this latest revelation.
grim-tales
Member
BIB: Really no idea TBH, but I guess I imagined a console that could 'also' be used as a handheld, not a handheld first that could be played on the TV, if that makes sense. That doesn't seem much of a selling point imo.
Movalpolos
Banned
From what we have seen, it doesnt look like there will be a noticeable difference. This is essentially Nintendo's desperate attempt at rebranding their hardware while doing as little as possible for a slight upgrade.
Or as someone else.put it, it's more of a side-grade.
MisterHero
Super Member
If things ho south we can always have a Switch 2 Pro DX iteration
If the thing is cheap Nintendo won't lose as much on it. Make way for more form factors!
If the thing is cheap Nintendo won't lose as much on it. Make way for more form factors!
Nydius
Member
Pretty much. I'm not so much disappointed in this information, I feel slightly vindicated by it. When the Switch reveal happened, I watched people go absolutely bonkers with expectations about current gen power AND 4K AND portable gaming AND third party AND a whole lot more. When people, including myself, pointed out that the form factor was unfeasible for such expectations, especially given the known limitations of battery life and the rumored bespoke Tegra X1, we got absolutely shit on.
The lunacy went on with people pulling out ridiculous ideas like claiming the base was going to house a whole other set of graphic enhancing hardware to support their expectations. Lo and behold, it's just a damn mobile charger with a video out pass through and extra active cooling, as many of us said it was going to be.
I'm still very much interested in the system as a handheld and especially if Nintendo decides to go all in on a one device future. My primary source of disappointment stems from the fact that it feels like Nintendo has resigned themselves to the fact that they're always going to be "the second choice" system. I would love to see what Nintendo could be capable of if they went all in on a full, beefy, next gen system but it doesn't appear that's of interest to Nintendo any longer.
JoshuaJSlone
Member
I don't think AA was too bad on Wii U. I remember it being a pretty huge difference in NSMBU screenshots before and after they applied it to the game.
Scully Scully Scoo
Member
lmao at the people who were expecting this to be as powerful as xbox hahaha this is the level of power i expected, its more than enough for ninty games. if this is a decent price point and ninty remaster some mario games (galaxy/3d world) i will be tempted to buy it.
That's not remotely true. It might be disappointingly low clocked but it's totally different hardware than the Wii U.
FalsettoVibe
Member
News like this just helps to solidify my decision to not buy the Switch. I do not want another graphically weak console that will not get decent 3rd party support. Fell for it with Gamecube, Wii and WiiU. Can't do that again. Sick of the lame as hell 2 year droughts towards the end of the systems life. How do Nintendo fans deal with that crap?
Relaxed Muscle
Member
I don't think AA was too bad on Wii U. I remember it being a pretty huge difference in NSMBU screenshots before and after they applied it to the game.
Maybe in less intensive games, but other games like Mario Kart 8, basically had no AA at all.
i always liked jaggies, i dont know why, they are like a reminder that you are playing a game, and i like that, the first thing i did when playing pc i will turn off the AA haha
but yeah, i know people that cant stand them and nintendo games are famous for their lack of aa
Deputy Moonman
Member
Thanks. For console gaming it is somewhat disappointing, but, the Switch as a handheld, I'm definitely interested in seeing what Nintendo puts out. I'm not as much of a graphics monger as some in that Nintendo has a way of putting out good games regardless of specs. Give me Breath of the Wild, a new Metroid, Mario Kart, a new Mario 64-esque game, and I'd probably be sold. Would love to see a massive Animal Crossing game as well. And while I'm wishcasting, Nintendo really needs to come out with a new RPG franchise and it needs to be a home run.
By playing something else while waiting for the games, PC+PS4+3DS helps a lot.
Hope the releases will be more consistent with the Switch though. If the Wii U was your only console during the entire last gen, I can understand your pain.
LordRaptor
Member
I make my purchasing decisions based on numbers I don't really understand and not what a product actually ends up doing too
MisterHero
Super Member
I don't run out of games because I buy both games for both their console and portable.
Hmmmmmmmm
Where did you frequent in that time? Speculation on the Switch's power here seemed to converge on the region of 512-768 GFLOPS docked.
To be fair, there were patents that explicitly showed those processing units, so that's why people considered them.
Proelite
Member
What could have been if Nintendo saved some money on the handheld screen and made it 540p. Use the screen cost for better battery and the battery life for more power to the CPU.
Like seriously, just take the Parker and tweak it until you get 4 hours of battery life.
I do want to see some company take the Parker SOC and max it out for the ultimate portable system.
Quard-core + 2x denver
1080p screen.
16GB LPDDR4 50gb/s
256 at 1.5 ghz, 1.5 teraflop fp16.
Maybe that's what the newest Shield TV will be.
Like seriously, just take the Parker and tweak it until you get 4 hours of battery life.
I do want to see some company take the Parker SOC and max it out for the ultimate portable system.
Quard-core + 2x denver
1080p screen.
16GB LPDDR4 50gb/s
256 at 1.5 ghz, 1.5 teraflop fp16.
Maybe that's what the newest Shield TV will be.
it also helps living on a third world country where 1 game is 1/4 of your salary
mexico sucks
I feel the quality of software and its release schedule will truly make or break the Switch. Moreso than the underclocked GPU imo
Arkam
Member
lol yep. I am still stoked as can be about the prospects of a Nintendo Portable on par (or better) with the WiiU. That is really all I wanted. If it can give me more when at home, cool!
I am loving how ~150gflops is now unable to run anything worth making/playing... crazy world we are making.
Movalpolos
Banned
Well at the very least im expecting native 1080p for all games while docked.
LordRaptor
Member
I sort of imagine that the cheapest screens on the market are probably 720p touchscreens given the economies of scale involved and that being a super common smartphone size / resolution
Schnozberry
Member
Droughts are not going to be as much of a problem on Switch. Regardless of the hardware power, it's going to have all of Nintendo's teams working on it, as well as their second parties, Indies that enjoy working with them, and whichever third party games are feasible based on the early success of the platform.
No matter what you're feelings are about the hardware now, I wouldn't keep an open mind until you see the games and we know the price. It may be a lot more attractive than it looks now, simply based on the value proposition.
Tom Nook Sawyer
Member
For first party games? Very possible.
Third parties? Not going to happen. Third parties don't even manage to squeeze 1080p out of the XB1 most of the time.
Schnozberry
Member
Add a decent screen, some internal storage and a battery that lasts longer than a half hour, and you're in iPad territory for pricing. Non-starter really.
WordsintheWater
Member
Absolutely valid reason for that poster not wanting to buy the system. How do you know what's important to that person? It plays video games, he/she wants to play video games with great graphics, seemingly this isn't it, there's no issue with it.
Days like these...
Have a Blessed Day
Slightly better than Wii u in portable mode is fine by me. Playing this on the couch while the wife watches television will be awesome even if it isn't as powerful as the xbone but then again I'm fine with ps2 and above visuals.
lyrick
Member
let's remember that that setup is powered by a Car battery, and is purposed to autonomously drive a car as part of it's $45K+ price tag.
brochiller
Member
See above.
People need to realize that Nintendo needs to do more than impress GAF 4 months prior to the console launch and prior to seeing any details about it. That's about all not calling it a home console would have accomplished.
LordRaptor
Member
Numbers aren't graphics, except in the purest mathematical sense.
It is ludicrous to declare "I'm out!" because you were told a number.
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