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Digital Foundry: Nintendo Switch CPU and GPU clock speeds revealed
- Thread starter Vashetti
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FalsettoVibe
Member
But you shouldn't have to supplement by buying other consoles and handhelds.
Captain Europe
Member
Yes it does, if you can't see the difference between Mario Switch and 3D World, then you shouldn't even be worrying about numbers in a thread like this.
That bullet Bill looks perfectly round, not sure what else you could want from it.
I thought it looked amazing, Nintendo is getting closer and closer to tha Pixar/Disney look.
lyrick
Member
and now you see the concept of the switch: One device, All the company's output.
The number says something about the device's capabilities. If graphics matter to you, then this news disappoints no matter how you look at it. And yes, it can be a dealbreaker.
Especially after basically months of people speculating that this thing is going to be able to play stunning looking PS4/X1 multiplats while you're on the go. With a speculated GFLOP count of ~150 while undocked, that's beginning to look rather unlikely.
Meesh
Member
I don't know if my thinking here is logical or not... I'm also not tech savvy, but too underpowered and won't most developers just walk away? I mean, how many more times powerful than WiiU is Switch? Best guess? And is it gonna matter? Part of my confusion may just be imagining this thing docked and playing through Skyrim... may not be too graphically impressive... but on the go it could look solid gold. I think when we see the upcoming games line up, and the Jan 12 event my worries will be laid to rest. Or I hope lol.
JB2448
Member
I believe he's referring the third party output on Nintendo home consoles (or lack thereof). What remains to be seen is whether or not third party output on Nintendo's handheld consoles will migrate over to the Switch or abandon Nintendo entirely. The latter scenario seems incredibly unlikely.
Lol, Your summation is excellent
I can't stop laughing...the thread is regarding the reported clock speeds and people are debating how shiny bullet bill is as a yardstick for improved performance. I hope "reflective maps on Bullet Bill" is not forgotten.Wolfgunblood Garopa
Member
Not only all of it, but more of it.
WordsintheWater
Member
Numbers correlate to graphics, it's not ludicrous at all. It's not as powerful as the poster wanted, that's a very valid reason to not want to purchase said thing. May not be important to you, but that doesn't change anything.
Shogmaster
Member
6.2" is very uncommon phone screen size. And 720p is not the most common. It's 540p IIRC. 1280x720 IPS is considered mid range phone screen still. Mid range is 720p to 1080p now days.
Given that in portable mode it runs better than on wiiu, AND the eurogamer article said when its portable its 40% of total power... Doesnt that mean its at LEAST 2.5X the power of wiiu??
I know thats simplifying it a ton, but this doesnt seem anywhere near as dire as people in this thread seem to be making it.
I know thats simplifying it a ton, but this doesnt seem anywhere near as dire as people in this thread seem to be making it.
Days like these...
Have a Blessed Day
The sky is always falling when it comes to Nintendo according to GAF
this has been stated on pages from 40 to 50 or something, the thread is running in circles
What makes people freak out is because of the expectations they had.
When you've been dealing with Nintendo hardware since the last two generations, you (normally) don't expect them to go all-in, specs-wise.
Though I can understand how many wants to have a 'real', PS4-like, next gen experience with them, but this shall only come in 5 years I assume, considering the 'one generation behind' schtick they have.
SeeNoWeevil
Member
Reminds me of the MS Surface. Tried to be two very different things at once and ended up being crap at both.
I hope third-party publishers don't all go down this road at launch. This is exactly what happened with Wii U.
Third-party publisher: "Our launch games didn't sell. The platform must not be viable."
Voice of reason: "Um, those were ports of 2-year-old games that most people already boug--"
Third-party publisher: "THE PLATFORM MUST NOT BE VIABLE!"
I understand that portability is a thing now, but ports are still ports. I've already seen a few people say "portable Skyrim? I'll buy it" but, will millions of people actually buy it?
Software is very important, but it's not the only factor.
Wii Sports was successful *because of* the Wii Remote. The Wii Remote was a stroke of genius: an interface simple enough for anyone to understand and use, enabling gameplay that nobody had ever experienced before.
Conversely, the Wii U GamePad was a fusion of tablet and game controller. It was the opposite: a complex-looking device that did not actually enable anything new, beyond dual-screen gaming in the living room.
The Wii may have sold millions because of Wii Sports, but Wii Sports sold because of the Wii Remote. On the other hand, the GamePad was one of the biggest reasons that the Wii U didn't catch on. These cases prove--especially when you don't have the most powerful hardware--that the interface is more important than you might think.
This is what happens when a major console release is less than 6 months out and the manufacturer gives us little to no information about it.
Folks, when you see garbage posts like this, do not fan the flames. Just ignore them. Don't feed the trolls.
I hope you're referring to the RT-based 1 and 2. Because the Pro line and Surface 3 are actually pretty awesome machines that do a lot very well. IMO of course...
LordRaptor
Member
Okay then, rage quit over speculation. Totally not ludicrous.
You do you.
e:
For point of reference;
As of today we have seen 1 (one) title running on the Switch, offscreen on a talk show.
Completely reasonable to spit the dummy out over.
FalsettoVibe
Member
So this marks the end of the 3DS?
Skittzo0413
Member
It should be fine- it's likely close to 3x the Wii U in performance if you account for RAM and more modern architecture, but this news is lower than what pretty much all of us considered to be realistic expectations:
512GFLOPS when docked and 4x A57 cores somewhere near their max clock (1.5-2GHz).
This is telling us that it will be 390GFLOPS docked (which really isn't THAT bad) and with about half the CPU capability we were expecting (which actually MIGHT be that bad). Honestly the CPU clock is the worse news here in my mind, though that's more subject to change since we don't know the final core configuration.
I expect Nintendo to shell out a game or two (And shared ports with the Switch, à la Pokemon Sun/Moon) for it in the next two years.
After that, it's dead Jim, everything will be on the Switch. These are pure speculations though
But the switch isnt one generation behind? The wiiu was just barely more powerful than 360/ps3 (and therefore could be considered a generation behind). It seems to me that the Switch might just be a step lower than xbone, which is already what most people expected I think.
Shogmaster
Member
I have to admit, even for me the 300MHz GPU clock was a shocker, and I'm the guy who's been shouting at people to manage their expectations.
But even with 300MHz GPU clock on batteries, it's gonna be performing better than Wii U. That's pretty good for a portable IMO, especially if they keep the price in check. @$199, this is very good. @$250, it's still OK.
MysticLeviathan
Member
The moment we found out what the machine was, I was very worried. The issue with what Nintendo's doing is they're trying to please everyone, and by doing so they may end up pleasing no one. I don't have a problem with their wanting to make a hybrid system as a concept. The problem is they want to price it competitively. If they want to price it at $500, I'm sure they can make a system that can compete with the X1/PS4 both at home AND on the road, and possibly have decent battery life if they use the newest 16nm architectures. But give it enough power, and it may be too expensive. Try and make it affordable and you sacrifice power, to the point 3rd parties may shy away. And when 3rd parties shy away, you lose a ton of sales.
Unfortunately, they want a system that's affordable while having it as a concept that, by its nature, is less affordable to make than a traditional home console. I think this system is asking for problems. Sure, they'll have their 1st party games, but 1st party games didn't save the Wii U. I was lukewarm about the system when it was first revealed, and now I'm very concerned. I just don't understand why Nintendo refuses to compete with Microsoft and Sony. It's like after the SNES they've continued to make foolish decision after foolish decision, and they've totally lost their dominance in the home console space. That was 20 years ago now ,and I'm very worried this may be the last non-portable system they do.
Unfortunately, they want a system that's affordable while having it as a concept that, by its nature, is less affordable to make than a traditional home console. I think this system is asking for problems. Sure, they'll have their 1st party games, but 1st party games didn't save the Wii U. I was lukewarm about the system when it was first revealed, and now I'm very concerned. I just don't understand why Nintendo refuses to compete with Microsoft and Sony. It's like after the SNES they've continued to make foolish decision after foolish decision, and they've totally lost their dominance in the home console space. That was 20 years ago now ,and I'm very worried this may be the last non-portable system they do.
But we have the PS4Pro already and Scorpio coming, these aren't your typical generation footprints, but the difference between those and the Switch will be generational levels, sure.
I won't lie, I expected a bit more power than that, but when you take a minute to realize that 300Mhz will be dedicated to a little 720p screen, it kinda makes sense. For my part, I can't wait to see how it will perform when docked, mostly.
WordsintheWater
Member
Lol rage quit? What? I'm still buying the system personally, but I'm not gonna sit here and tell people that they shouldn't be disappointed by the numbers they're seeing. Plus, looking at the thread title it says nothing about rumors, and didn't digital foundry say they have papers that show this is what the devkits numbers are?
Nah the poster hadn't any intention of buying it in the first place or was expecting something impossible at an affordable price.
games will be designed for handeheld mode so all you get is close to Wii U performance + resolution upgrade when docked. Don't set people expectations regarding Switch power as 3xWii U - this topic has 100+ pages because of posts like this that set people expectations to unreasonable high levels in past few months. And you were the one (among others) who constantly argued with those with more conservative prediction.
Well that confirms the clocks are legit.
LordRaptor
Member
They have some numbers, so they know what an individual component does, nobody has any idea how many components are involved, and if they do they're not saying, hence their speculation.
You can be as disapointed as you like, I didn't set your expectations.
The poster I was mocking and you were defending was literally saying "NOW IVE SEEN NUMBERS NO MORE INTERST".
Which is ludicrous.
lyrick
Member
How long do you think Nintendo will want to divide their own resources to compete against themselves?
Rage quit? What are you even talking about. The only one here having a meltdown is you.
Calm the fuck down. It's really not that serious.
I think the 6.2 720p size seem more common in the Chinese market than the West. Phones are starting to stop at the 5.5 inch size w/ a few barely going to 6 inches in the West.
CarbonFire
Member
6" 720p cheap android tablets are pretty common (This is clsoe to the size of the Amazon Fire HD6 tablet for instance), so the economies of scale should still be there in some capacity. Whether or not they can get a quality screen though, that's another story.
LordRaptor
Member
lol, here comes the "U Mad" card. Really? Meltdown?
Dude. I've rationally tried to explain to you why someone might think that the disappointing specs are a dealbreaker.
If you really want to continue your asinine argument on how that's somehow not allowed, feel free. Just stick that drivel in a PM or something.
That's genuinely the strawman you're going with? Good grief.
Robert at Zeboyd Games
Banned
Having double the RAM (and probably more than double the usable RAM) at a noticeably faster speed is going to be a huge improvement over the Wii U.
Skittzo0413
Member
I'm talking specifically about the processing power in docked mode though... 390GFLOPS / 3 is 130GFLOPS, which, while obviously not the 176GFLOPS of the Wii U, is most definitely 3x more powerful in overall performance when you account for RAM, CPU and more modern architecture and APIs. I don't think that's a controversial statement.
And it's up to developers to choose how to use that 390GFLOPS in docked mode. I very much doubt every single game will get to 1080p in that mode.
As for me arguing with the more conservative predictions, it's quite clear I was wrong. But most reasonable expectations turned out to be wrong too. I don't think expecting 512GFLOPS docked was that outrageous when the devkits were literally confirmed to be at or above that level back in July.
Shogmaster
Member
Fire 6 is 1024x600. That's most definitely not 1280x720.
Movalpolos
Banned
Doh! Yeah that's what I meant.
Obviously as a dev you'd know better but will it really make much difference?
With the Wii U we already had Michel Ancel saying they could throw whatever texture they wanted at it.It doesn't seem like RAM was an issue at all.
Terrible logic, so so so wrong.
Let's face it here.
Nintendo home console market = roughly .. 15 million ?
Nintendo portable market = roughly.. 60 millions ?
No, you don't want to present the Switch as a full hd WiiU costing 250$ in 2016, no. This is close to suicidal.
CarbonFire
Member
Fire HD6, which I believe is their new version of the cheapest tablet, is 1280 x 800.
But regardless, sourcing inexpensive 6" low-res touchscreens should not be hard even in this day and age where quad HD is becoming the norm.
Rumors point to around triple the usable RAM. 1GB vs 3.2GB.
It's pretty much the apocalypse for some of us who were expecting so much more.
You can check my history, I've been nothing but excited and positive about Switch because all the rumors and hype led me to believe that we were getting more powerful, more architecturally advanced, faster clocked hardware.
NateDrake in particular bears responsibility for pushing the Pascal misinformation for so long.
Instead we get a cautious, conservative, unambitious system that will no doubt have a great library of Nintendo games but will fall well short of the visionary revelation we were told to expect.
That wold explain why, it seems the Mario we saw was somewhat a mix of WiiU type geometry with way better textures
Robert at Zeboyd Games
Banned
You use RAM for more than just textures. The Wii U had about 1GB usable RAM, whereas the XBO & PS4 are both around 5GB. Huge difference there. If the Switch is at around 3GB usable that would make it much easier to do a wider variety of XBO/PS4 ports.
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