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Digital Foundry: Nintendo Switch CPU and GPU clock speeds revealed

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V

Vashetti

Banned
Clock-speeds are a crucial piece of information required to get some idea of Switch's capabilities beyond the physical make-up of the Tegra processor. As many have speculated, the new Nintendo hardware does indeed feature two performance configurations - and the console is categorically not as capable in mobile form, compared to its prowess when docked and attached to an HDTV. And we can confirm that there is no second GPU or additional hardware in the dock itself regardless of the intriguing patents that Nintendo has filed suggesting that there might be. With battery life and power throughput no longer an issue, the docked Switch simply allows the GPU to run much faster. And to put it simply, there is a night and day difference here.

Where Switch remains consistent is in CPU power - the cores run at 1020MHz regardless of whether the machine is docked or undocked. This ensures that running game logic won't be compromised while gaming on the go: the game simulation itself will remain entirely consistent. The machine's embedded memory controller runs at 1600MHz while docked (on par with a standard Tegra X1), but the default power mode undocked sees this drop to 1331MHz. However, developers can opt to retain full memory bandwidth in their titles should they choose to do so.

As things stand, CPU clocks are halved compared to the standard Tegra X1, but it's the GPU aspect of the equation that will prove more controversial. Even while docked, Switch doesn't run at Tegra X1's full potential. Clock-speeds are locked here at 768MHz, considerably lower than the 1GHz found in Shield Android TV, but the big surprise from our perspective was the extent to which Nintendo has down-clocked the GPU to hit its thermal and battery life targets. That's not a typo: it really is 307.2MHz - meaning that in portable mode, Switch runs at exactly 40 per cent of the clock-speed of the fully docked device. And yes, the table below does indeed confirm that developers can choose to hobble Switch performance when plugged in to match the handheld profile should they so choose.
Click to expand...

More:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-nintendo-switch-spec-analysis
 
M

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Is it more or less powerful than people were expecting?
 
P

purseowner

Member
Once January hits, we'll all be too excited about the exclusive games to care about the tech argument.

In the meantime, this seems disappointing.
 
S

Scrawnton

Member
If its more powerful than Wii U, I am okay with that. I already have a PS4 Pro for my massive hi res games. I want my Nintendo style games and those do not require bleeding edge visuals for me.
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
That sounds quite low - but we will have the conference soon...so im just waiting to see how the games will look.
 
J

Jonneh3003

Banned
BY2K said:
"revealed"

It's not "revealed" until Nintendo gives us the specs sheet or somebody opens that thing up.

Get the hell out of here with that.
Click to expand...
Yeah we're so close to the Switch presentation, there's no point taking anything as fact for a few weeks, its all rumors.
 
C

CrossTrigger

Member
While I really like beefy systems with top tier specs and benchmarks - I have to say power really isn't everything, especially when it comes to Nintendo. They were able to make the Wii U (which was grossly less powerful then other current gen consoles) and produce really great looking games at 1080P. with stable frame rates.

Still really excited for the Switch even if it is under-powered.
 
O

OrbitalBeard

Member
This is definitely not going to be a western third party friendly device. Which is fine for me, so long as it gets an insane amount of first party content.

But the concern trolling will be rather strong in this thread.
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Sub 200 price incoming ? Otherwise those specs doesnt make sense lol.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
So how does it run skyrim? Or is it just that skyrim isn't very demanding? I guess that's how it is4k on PS4. Or I guess it ran on last gen machines...
 
H

Hanmik

Member
BY2K said:
"revealed"

It's not "revealed" until Nintendo gives us the specs sheet or somebody opens that thing up.

Get the hell out of here with that.
Click to expand...

this quote..

Documentation supplied to developers along with the table above ends with this stark message: "The information in this table is the final specification for the combinations of performance configurations and performance modes that applications will be able to use at launch."
Click to expand...

makes it sound that they are quite certain this is it..
 
K

KAL2006

Banned
I don't want to be the person to say I told you so but I told you so.

People were saying Switch will be more powerful than NVidia Shield TV. I always said it will just about matching NVidia Shield TV in docked mode and will be weaker in portable mode.
 
L

LordKano

Member
Reminder that, according to multiple reliable insiders, the Switch will manage to run ports of most third-party games without too many issues.

I'm not tech-savvy enough to understand everything in this article so I'll just wait for the usual crowd to translate it for me.
 
V

Vic

Please help me with my bad english
Kouriozan said:
I'm used to expect the worst when it comes to Nintendo's hardware power.
Click to expand...
Battery life and thermal management are probably the key reasons behind those specs. They are indeed lower than some of us excepted.
 
kraspkibble

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
i really don't care. i'm sure all their games will run just fine on it. just means we might not get a lot of 3rd party games. i won't be expecting many games come to Switch that are on PS4/XB1.

it does need to function as a portable handheld device so that would explain the low clock speeds in order to save battery.
 
1

18-Volt

Member
Lagspike_exe said:
Well, they sold a lot of DS-es with N64 era graphics, so I guess they don't really care about specs.
Click to expand...

They don't have DS era third party studios anymore. It's either have western third party or quit gaming business for Nintendo.

blly155 said:
i really don't care. i'm sure all their games will run just fine on it. just means we might not get a lot of 3rd party games. i won't be expecting many games come to Switch that are on PS4/XB1.
Click to expand...

Do you people really want another Wii U? I don't and neither do Nintendo. They can take another 10 million sold console.
 
K

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
That's really disappointing if true. Not even running at X1 level while docked? I guess this means it is on 20nm node and something went terrible wrong in the design.
 
S

SolidSnakex

Member
Jonneh3003 said:
Yeah we're so close to the Switch presentation, there's no point taking anything as fact for a few weeks, its all rumors.
Click to expand...

This is DF, they aren't one to bullshit around when it comes to specs. If you notice they've basically stayed out of the Switch discussion for the most part. That's because they generally make sure their info is rock solid before they go with anything.
 
J

Jonnax

Member
Well.
It'll be disappointing if a £130 smart phone is more powerful whilst having a 1080p display and mobile radio.

My anticipation has cooled quite a bit especially after hearing Zelda won't meet launch.

But it'll be good to not go in blind and get a ton of reviews of it a few months in.
 
C

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
LordKano said:
Reminder that, according to multiple reliable insiders, the Switch will manage to run ports of most third-party games without too many issues.

I'm not tech-savvy enough to understand everything in this article so I'll just wait for the usual crowd to translate it for me.
Click to expand...

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.
 
M

mieumieu

Member
BY2K said:
"revealed"

It's not "revealed" until Nintendo gives us the specs sheet or somebody opens that thing up.

Get the hell out of here with that.
Click to expand...

Big N never revealed their numbered hardware spec since the Wii. All availabls specs are leaked specs.
 
M

MuchoMalo

Banned
Welp. I was wrong. It really is just a portable Wii U and bumped-up one when docked. Can we officially call NateDrake a fake now? This really is just where the successor to the Vita would land. Skyrim will chug on this. It's weaker than the PS3 by a huge margin when portable. This is not a current-generation machine.

I'm sorry to all of the naysayers I argued with. You were right. I'll never be optimistic about Nintendo again.
 
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