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A Nintendo Switch has been taken apart

Thraktor

Member
Seems 85% likely 20nm/A57/Maxwell, but in the interest of objectivity there's no size scale to go off comparing them in these two pictures (well, the HDMI ports for the Shield, but nothing on the Switch shot there). Someone less lazy than me could calculate the die size from the 3DS cart in the first page.

If the RAM modules are 10x15mm, then from the close-up photo it would seem that Switch's SoC is about 11x11mm, or 121mm². (Which is pretty much exactly the size of the original TX1, for reference).
 

Atheerios

Member
So if its confirmed ( Image seems pretty certain) then

For 100$ Switch users will get a screen, a splitter dock, HD Rumble, IR Sensor,(Battery)

Cool i guess but i dont know if they didnt bother Rumble and made for 250$ it would be better tbh.
qbLhqtV.jpg


Edit:Also 12gb more memory space

And 16gb* more memory space.
And all the necessary cables.
And speakers.
And a smaller form factor.
And two controllers in the from. of Joy-Con with their own batteries / sensors / wireless network components.
 

Schnozberry

Member
Pretty much confirms its Maxwell not Pascal

Not really. There likely would only be a 5% variance in physical die size if they transplanted a 20nm chip to 16nm. The density difference is pretty small.

Edit: It mostly likely is a modified Tegra X1, but the point still stands that the die size isn't really a giveaway.
 

Rodin

Member
This thread right now

blog-fish-jump.jpg


Btw, Blunty made a video about the teardown, he said it's unclear if it's a devkit or a retail unit.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
If the RAM modules are 10x15mm, then from the close-up photo it would seem that Switch's SoC is about 11x11mm, or 121mm². (Which is pretty much exactly the size of the original TX1, for reference).

So, A53's die area is 0.7mm2 at 20nm, if they took those out...They'd still save about nothing, lol.

Custom, yes, but it seems to be leaning towards being a lot like a TX1 overall.
 

Polygonal_Sprite

Gold Member
One of the leading speculations was that Nvidia pawned off all their unsold stock X1 chips to Nintendo for a song. Don't remember how that fit into the 28nm vs 20nm speculation, though.

Well we know it is a different chip at least. Still no idea how different.

Yeah, there were people online saying it was just a "down clocked" TX1 chip with no modifications by Nintendo.
 

Xdrive05

Member
So is the 2017 Shield Maxwell also an "A2" revision like we see printed on the Switch SoC? That compare pic has thermal paste covering the codea.
 

opricnik

Banned
well i assume they get a discount on their own gpu.

Not necessarily i mean Shield itself was a niche product , sold for profit not lost like Switch. Unlike PS4/Bone sold for less(lost in profit) for companies.


And 16gb* more memory space.
And all the necessary cables.
And speakers.
And a smaller form factor.
And two controllers in the from. of Joy-Con with their own batteries / sensors / wireless network components.

I think Shield running on Android lets use 15GB of memory while from what we know Switch has 28 gb free memory space. Cables must be identical though?
 

Thraktor

Member
Useless piece of info for you folks; the QR code on the eMMC breakout board gives the following code:

EMC209620048

No trace of it on the internet, so it's likely some kind of internal stock-keeping code used by Nintendo or Foxconn.
 

Xdrive05

Member
Wait, how on earth is it possible to get the ram speed from this?

Based on the ram module. We're not 100% confirmed on which one it is, because the low quality of the leaked pics, but Thraktor found one that could be it.

Not verified, again. Some clearer pics with no obstructing edits would be nice.
 
This thread right now

blog-fish-jump.jpg


Btw, Blunty made a video about the teardown, he said it's unclear if it's a devkit or a retail unit.
Can you link the video? Also.. this being a devkit would explain the "29th week 2016" thing. Hmm.

HW threads on this board bring out the most ridiculous posts. I don't know why I keep coming into these lol
Ignore those type of comments and pay attention to the productive ones. :)
 

Schnozberry

Member
I'm wondering if this teardown was from one of the July Devkits. It seems missing the heat spreader/chassis that Computerbild.de found when they took one apart. Unless the person taking the photos just didn't bother with photographing it.

hGeeq6a.jpg
 

audio_delay

Neo Member
I think Shield running on Android lets use 15GB of memory while from what we know Switch has 28 gb free memory space. Cables must be identical though?

You are confusing storage with memory.
IIRC shield tv has only 3gb, not sure if 1gb is locked out/not accessible by andriod or if it really has only 3gb.
 
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