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[AzaK]

Do you really believe they are gonna release a Mario game that's not 60fps?

The hyperbole is real in this thread.

Mario will only need 50GFlops anyway so it'll be all good

 

[UrbanRats]

I hope this will at least be cheap as dirt.
Especially since i only play at home, and i'd buy this just as a paywall to play their damn first party games.

 

[icecold1983]

How many GFLOPS does this image contain?

150ish probably

 

[Oregano]

People shouldn't compare Switch hardware to phones and even tablets.

None of the two types of devices are supposed to run max loads for hours.

Consumers will inevitably compare the two though, even if it's unfair.

The actual Digital Foundry video where this information first came from said it kind of compares to an iPhone 6S.

That's still last year's model(and the iPhone doesn't require a fan).

 

[ChrisMahoney]

See, arm chair analysts always come in and try to make this point, but no. There is no guarantee they would suddenly be able to destroy. They would still be competing with every other company in the market for people's time and money, while losing billions in the revenue and profit potential of selling hardware and software in their own eco system.

A third party Nintendo would be run completely differently and that's not a Nintendo I want to see.

You claim they can't compete in the AAA market or console market, and yet your solution is to jump in directly into that market.

You could say Nintendo could lose billions in profit potential not releasing Zelda on PS4 and Pokémon Sun on iOS/Android. It all depends on how well the Switch sells.

 

[AzaK]

I hope this will at least be cheap as dirt.
Especially since i only play at home, and i'd buy this just as a paywall to play their damn first party games.

Yeah if it was going to just be a Mario and Zelda machine then I'd hope it'd be cheap. $99US or something is what I'd pay.


Man this clock news is depressing....even with my fantasy of SCDs I'd need 10,000 of them to get to XBO levels.

 

[GhostTrick]

Honestly, at this stage, I just want Nintendo to go third-party. People tend to want Nintendo's games much more than thier consoles.

There's almost no way for them to compete in the console space anymore - certainly not in the mainstream, AAA market - but if they were focus thier time and energy releasing thier games on PS4, X1 and PC they'd clean up - they'd destroy.

And all those fence sitters like me, who spent the last four years almost buying a WiiU but never quite being able to justify it to themselves, would buy three or four Ninty titles a year.

Developpement budget would be an issue if they had to retire.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

The new Mario game is going to be pretty hard to discern, since games like 3D World targeted and maintained a rock-solid 60fps without dipping, so there was evidently visual splendour "spare" but the developers absolutely wanted to target 60fps.

Sunshine and 64 targeted 30fps and mostly stayed there, but they had much larger, more bustling worlds and focused more on scale and sandbox-like gameplay. I'd say Sunshine is still more technically advanced in some aspects than even Mario 3D World, like LOD, draw distance, having water as an actual polygonal mesh/moving surface instead of a flat one, stuff like that.

 

[Nikodemos]

It's not even good as a mid range tablet, let alone keeping up with the likes of iPhone 7.

Well, in undocked mode, it's inferior in max processing than the Adreno 530 in the SD820, but equal or slightly better at sustained (due to that ventilator inside the tablet). In docked mode it's basically on par with the iPad Pro (though evidently higher sustained throughput due to the active cooling dock, meaning no throttling whatsoever).

That is, if indeed the Switch chip is a bog-standard X1.

 

[Charamiwa]

A lot of people don't seem to understand the reason why a lot of us are disappointed. Not because it's not PS4 level, but because yesterday the worst case scenario based on what we knew was that it would be an unmodified X1. Info in devkits said that, Nvidia said it was based on their most powerful graphic cards... A lot of people were expected something reasonably powerful.

But if it's way below an X1, then the Switch isn't that special compared to a lot of devices in the market. Sure it's Nintendo, but with this thing being barely more powerful than the Wii U you can kiss goodbye the dream of ambitious games like Breath of the Wild running better, looking better, and being technically relevant. Say what you want about the way nintendo does things and their design philosophy, but it's sad to see a franchise like Zelda being left so far behind compared to games like Horizon. And now it'll stay that way for the 3 to 4 years while everyone keep progressing, including phones and tablets, let alone home consoles.

All I wanted was a bit more power to stay relevant in the mainstream video game conversation basically. I can't imagine how far behind the Switch will be by the time it dies.

 

[BossDarkseid]

Two questions:

- What are those 2/3/4 SM that everyone seems to be talking to?

- And, what about the RAM campared with PS4?, could it be a bottleneck too?

1. -shrug-

2. I think so, absolutely. Especially for devs who say have made a PS4 game and think about porting to Switch...working with 5.5gb etc vs 4gb (and i'm assuming it will be more like 3-3.5gb once you take out a portion for the OS) will require optimization, and even then it's a case of time + money vs profit at the end of the day.

 

[Memorabilia]

I'm still trying to figure out who is going to buy this apart from die hard Nintendo fans.

Personally, I'm nowhere close to a Nintendo die-hard (skipped the Wii U...may buy one on clearance someday)... But I've been pretty hyped about the Switch. Still, these specs are troubling and definitely kill my enthusiasm a bit. Ultimately, whether or not I jump in depends on two things: 1) Price and 2) An improved online/account system. If Switch is priced right - say, $149-$199 - and has a solid OS, UI, account system, online social experience, etc... Then I'm most likely in next Black Friday *regardless* of specs. As long as there's a good deal on a Zelda or Mario Kart bundle, it'll be hard to pass up. Things get dicey for me if the price comes in too high - $250 is pushing it, $300 is a deal breaker. We're going to have $199 Xbone bundles, $249 PS4 bundles, $349 PS4 Pro bundles next BF. If Nintendo comes in at this price range they're condemning the Switch to the same fate as Wii U.

If the Wii U taught us anything, it's that Nintendo needs strong 3rd party support to sell a healthy number of consoles. And to get those sales and support they'll need to sell as a price that undercuts MS/Sony. Outside of hardcore Nintendo supporters, the "portability" aspect will be viewed as just another gimmick that doesn't justify a higher price, no matter what Nintendo may hope and wish. And the fact that Switch appears to actually be a handheld that will be *marketed* as a console would seem to make things worse in that expectations will be skewed upwards beyond what the Switch can deliver in terms of Xbone/PS4 ports.

Nintendo 1st party output will, of course, be fantastic. And as long as the price is right and the account/online systems have joined the current century... Then I'll buy in just for first party games. But that wasn't enough to make the Wii U successful and it isn't going to be enough to make the Switch successful either. Only time will tell. But if these specs are accurate and they price this thing at $300 it's DOA.

 

[Easy_D]

Probably somewhere between 100-200 GFLOPS. At the reveal video the games were running at 20ish FPS which is terrible IMO

You can't be serious when you use what quite clearly was hastily thrown together footage for the trailer as a benchmark for how games perform. Do you honestly think a Mario title will run below 60, let alone 30?

The new Mario game is going to be pretty hard to discern, since games like 3D World targeted and maintained a rock-solid 60fps without dipping, so there was evidently visual splendour "spare" but the developers absolutely wanted to target 60fps.

Sunshine and 64 targeted 30fps and mostly stayed there, but they had much larger, more bustling worlds and focused more on scale and sandbox-like gameplay. I'd say Sunshine is still more technically advanced in some aspects than even Mario 3D World, like LOD, draw distance, having water as an actual polygonal mesh/moving surface instead of a flat one, stuff like that.

Sunshine targeted 60, couldn't hit it properly and settled for a locked 30. Old old footage had the game running in 60 FPS and it wouldn't surprise me that's the reason it's one of the few (the only?) Gamecube games to have a functional 60 FPS hack

 

[Matbtz]

A lot of people don't seem to understand the reason why a lot of us are disappointed. Not because it's not PS4 level, but because yesterday the worst case scenario based on what we knew was that it would be an unmodified X1. Info in devkits said that, Nvidia said it was based on their most powerful graphic cards... A lot of people were expected something reasonably powerful.

But if it's way below an X1, then the Switch isn't that special compared to a lot of devices in the market. Sure it's Nintendo, but with this thing being barely more powerful than the Wii U you can kiss goodbye the dream of ambitious games like Breath of the Wild running better, looking better, and being technically relevant. Say what you want about the way nintendo does things and their design philosophy, but it's sad to see a franchise like Zelda being left so far behind compared to games like Horizon. And now it'll stay that way for the 3 to 4 years while everyone keep progressing, including phones and tablets, let alone home consoles.

All I wanted was a bit more power to stay relevant in the mainstream video game conversation basically. I can't imagine how far behind the Switch will be by the time it dies.

Yes of course we want more power but I think it's wise to wait to have more clues at the big picture here, we don't have all the answers regarding the hardware. There there things that don't add up, like the fan in portable mode for low specs and all.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Will be amusing if the new Shield TV revealed in January is both cheaper and more powerful than the Switch.

The Switch will eclipse Sheild TV's lifetime numbers in its launch month. So, it doesn't really matter.

 

[AzaK]

A lot of people don't seem to understand the reason why a lot of us are disappointed. Not because it's not PS4 level, but because yesterday the worst case scenario based on what we knew was that it would be an unmodified X1. Info in devkits said that, Nvidia said it was based on their most powerful graphic cards... A lot of people were expected something reasonably powerful.

But if it's way below an X1, then the Switch isn't that special compared to a lot of devices in the market. Sure it's Nintendo, but with this thing being barely more powerful than the Wii U you can kiss goodbye the dream of ambitious games like Breath of the Wild running better, looking better, and being technically relevant. Say what you want about the way nintendo does things and their design philosophy, but it's sad to see a franchise like Zelda being left so far behind compared to games like Horizon. And now it'll stay that way for the 3 to 4 years while everyone keep progressing, including phones and tablets, let alone home consoles.

All I wanted was a bit more power to stay relevant in the mainstream video game conversation basically. I can't imagine how far behind the Switch will be by the time it dies.

If the flops are what people are predicting then there's certainly going to be some negative talk going around amongst enthusiast gamers and press. This may then have a Wii U effect in that it just turns people off and they don't even bother. Even though the machine might have some good games. Nintendo won't care of course if they can convince the mass market to get onboard which seems to be their approach so far.

Time will tell.

 

[Ninja Dom]

Consumers will inevitably compare the two though, even if it's unfair.



That's still last year's model(and the iPhone doesn't require a fan).

Well, that can't be a bad thing. Have you ever played games on an Apple TV before? Games like AG Drive running at 1080/60fps. Apple TV is an iPhone 6.

 

[Inuhanyou]

why do people keep saying we dont hve the specs?

DF are basing their whole video on their own sources that say some variant of TX1, which at that point you only need to really deduce clock speed to get a final result like they have. Even with certain customizations, it only goes so far.

With RAM for example, EDRAM runs very hot, i dont know if its possible for them to fit something like that in a handheld formfactor to speed up the LPDDR4 ram

 

[Hermii]

They might not care for the minutiae butter will care about what it means for software support.

The fact that Switch doesn't compare favourably to modern phones is going to damage its rep too. Nevermind phones coming in the next few years.

How it compared to phones is irrelevant imo. Real world graphics is going to blow phones away, power is not the limiting factor on phones.

 

[d00d3n]

How many GFLOPS does this image contain?

Why does no one seize the opportunity and deliver a proper joke analysis with red rectangles, zoomed in points of interests, captions and shit?

 

[PSFan]

Well, the specs of this thing don't bother me at all. The Switch, for me, was always going to be a secondary machine to play Nintendo games.

 

[Easy_D]

Well, that can't be a bad thing. Have you ever played games on an Apple TV before? Games like AG Drive running at 1080/60fps. Apple TV is an iPhone 6.

I can't believe it's not F-Zero GX:

Well, the specs of this thing don't bother me at all. The Switch, for me, was always going to be a secondary machine to play Nintendo games.

Me as well, my 3DS served the exact same purpose and it was wonderful. This is a huuuge step up form the 3DS so I'm happy.

I didn't even bother with the Wii U since Zelda was getting a port anyway and Wii U emulation seemingly going at lightning-speed development wise.

 

[Genio88]

Well, in undocked mode, it's inferior in max processing than the Adreno 530 in the SD820, but equal or slightly better at sustained (due to that ventilator inside the tablet). In docked mode it's basically on par with the iPad Pro (though evidently higher sustained throughput due to the active cooling dock, meaning no throttling whatsoever).

These comparisons make no sense...we are talking about a gaming system specifically designed for gaming, no point in comparing it with phones or tablet.
Also we still don't know the real GFlops it could push, even if those were the real frequencies, the chip won't be the X1 we have into the Shield TV or Google Pixel tablet, it is based on that chip but it's heavily customized for gaming purposes, like Nvidia said "The development encompassed 500 man-years of effort across every facet of creating a new gaming platform: algorithms, computer architecture, system design, system software, APIs..." That's not taking the X1 downclocking and putting it into Switch.
So all this estimation of 150 GFlops makes no sense.
That said i'm not saying it's gonna be a beast or almost powerful like Xbox One, but it certainly won't be as weak as most of you are saying

 

[Matbtz]

why do people keep saying we dont hve the specs?

DF are basing their whole video on their own sources that say some variant of TX1, which at that point you only need to really deduce clock speed to get a final result like they have. Even with certain customizations, it only goes so far.

With RAM for example, EDRAM runs very hot, i dont know if its possible for them to fit something like that in a handheld formfactor to speed up the LPDDR4 ram

See Thraktor post on the matter, we don't know all the hardware behind it.

I haven't had time to read through every response here, so I'm probably repeating what others have already said, but here are my thoughts on the matter, anyway:

...

TLR

Each of these numbers are only a single variable in the equation, and we need to know things like CPU configuration, memory bus width, embedded memory pools, number of GPU SMs, etc. to actually fill out the rest of those equations to get the relevant info. Even on the worst end of the spectrum, we're still getting by far the most ambitious portable that Nintendo's ever released, which also doubles as a home console that's noticeably higher performing than Wii U, which is fine by me.

 

[GhostTrick]

See Thraktor post on the matter, we don't know all the hardware behind it.

Yes we do. Everything so far point to 2SM. There's not a 3rd or 4th SM. This's just conservative Nintendo being conservative.

 

[Zedark]

why do people keep saying we dont hve the specs?

DF are basing their whole video on their own sources that say some variant of TX1, which at that point you only need to really deduce clock speed to get a final result like they have. Even with certain customizations, it only goes so far.

With RAM for example, EDRAM runs very hot, i dont know if its possible for them to fit something like that in a handheld formfactor to speed up the LPDDR4 ram

That's the clue here. Nvidia themselves have said that the Switch has a custom tegra chip. Even if it is a variant of the X1, you can't discount the possibility of extra CUDA cores, as Thraktor explained in his post. It simply does not exclude that possibility.

 

[Milly Osworth]

So with these rumours, what can we expect Zelda to run at when docked? 1080p, 30 fps with improved settings over the Wiiu version?

 

[PdotMichael]

why do people keep saying we dont hve the specs?

DF are basing their whole video on their own sources that say some variant of TX1, which at that point you only need to really deduce clock speed to get a final result like they have. Even with certain customizations, it only goes so far.

With RAM for example, EDRAM runs very hot, i dont know if its possible for them to fit something like that in a handheld formfactor to speed up the LPDDR4 ram

The customization card is quite silly anyway. Nintendo isn't going to go with some crazy customaization if a stock version would provide them with the same results for less investement.

 

[Xando]

Not sure what i expected considering it's Nintendo hardware and a handheld but it's rather disappointing for someone like me who wants to use it as a home console only

 

[AzaK]

Well, the specs of this thing don't bother me at all. The Switch, for me, was always going to be a secondary machine to play Nintendo games.

How many Nintendo franchises do you like? Are you willing to pay the price of entry for those? For me, it's 2-3. That's a lot to pay for a weak device that will probably gather dust due to not getting all the good third party titles on the other consoles.

 

[Koren]

You could say Nintendo could lose billions in profit potential not releasing Zelda on PS4 and Pokémon Sun on iOS/Android. It all depends on how well the Switch sells.

I don't think people would pay full price on mobile for a pokemon game, so I'd be curious if they could really earn more on mobile with microtransactions (it also would be awful to get microtransactions on Pokemon, I'd say... especially after the Pokemon Go example...)

 

[Toadthemushroom]

THE SMs are computational units on the chip of the Switch. The standard tegra x1 has 2 SMs, but Thraktor has theorised that, since the system wouldn't need an active fan in portable mode at this clock speed (which it seems to have), there must be more going on on the chip. His thought were that the system might have extra SMs, since they would give a more power efficient methode of increasing the graphical process (basically, more SMs at lower clock speed is mor efficient than few er SMs at higher clock speed). If the system has 3 SMs, the FLOP rate would increase by 50% (or be multiplied by 1.5), and if it has 4 SMs, the FLOP rate will double. This is speculation, though, so we will have to wait and see with regards to this.

Yeah, Nintendo has also traditionally favoured chips which have a higher emphasis on GPU over CPU, so it would make sense to include more SMs to boost the GPU's capabilities at both handheld and console modes. And as mentioned, the active cooling, even when GPU clocks are at 300Mhz, seems to suggest this is the case.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

Sunshine targeted 60, couldn't hit it properly and settled for a locked 30. Old old footage had the game running in 60 FPS and it wouldn't surprise me that's the reason it's one of the few (the only?) Gamecube games to have a functional 60 FPS hack

Yup, it's worth noting the original 60fps target footage was less ambitious and more sparse than the game that eventually released. That's great that it works in 60fps! Count on Nintendo to release it on Switch at 30 though .

I think Sunshine is more deserving of a proper in-house/Grezzo-led remake than emulation, personally. It's a shame only the N64 Zelda games received that treatment this gen, as deserving as they are of it. Would have loved to see 3D Classics Yoshi's Island as well.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Even with 2 SM's, it doesn't really matter, the jump in GPU power is still enough to treat the games to a huge fidelity increase when docked, to the point where adding more generally is a waste of their intent for the device..


My expectations for this hardware was never a real issue, as i had no expectations. My only concern has been if Nintendo actually brought back a normal control scheme.

If they didn't, they failed me. If they did, i would buy it day 1.

As far as i'm concerned, Nintendo did their job. Now all i ask is ports from Wii U so i can pretend i didn't buy two with my own money and flush that cash down the toilet when i realized they were just paper weights

 

[GhostTrick]

The customization card is quite silly anyway. Nintendo isn't going to go with some crazy customaization if a stock version would provide them with the same results for less investement.

It'd also be stupid to make a bigger chip just to reach the kind of performance you already hit with higher clocks.

 

[Nikodemos]

I'm somewhat suspicious about heavy customization claims. nVidia don't do cheap with custom designs, since they don't really do custom designs in the first place. And all signs point to Nintendo getting the SoC at basically fire sale prices, which would indicate a minimally tweaked X1 chip.

And, frankly, the kind of performance you can get from a regular X1, even at lower clocks, is more than sufficient for what Nintendo know to do with it.

 

[Zedark]

Yeah, Nintendo has also traditionally favoured chips which have a higher emphasis on GPU over CPU, so it would make sense to include more SMs.

The best evidence in my eyes would be that the Switch should have no problem running a standard Tegra X1 at significantly higher clock speeds than this, and Thraktor mentioned that the battery life would not be impacted a lot. So why downclock so aggressively (especially considering the docked mode is also throttled below standard Tegra X1).

 

[Joeshabadoo]

Yes we do. Everything so far point to 2SM. There's not a 3rd or 4th SM. This's just conservative Nintendo being conservative.

but we dont though.... and we wont until someone gets a retail unit and does a teardown

 

[MuchoMalo]

Why did people expect more though? This is nintendo, their priorities in design and development are always clear.

Because we were fucking lied to by all of you stupid insiders. Our expectations were in check. Nintendo didn't meet them. Stop making fucking copout excuses. WHY DOES THIS PIECE OF SHIT HARDWARE NEED A FAN!? Nintendo's engineers are hacks. Fire them all and go third-party.

Also, ignored for the stupid copout response.

Might end up like the 3DS. Very modest hardware that can do (some) modern effects to produce better graphics than you'd expect. The thing supports UE4 so it should be able to do modern shaders and such. Question is how well though, but we'll see.

all*

The only difference is how much at once. The hardware itself is more modern than Base PS4 or Xbone.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Who cares that the specs for this are low.

This is Digital Foundry again trying to score a point for 'high-end PCs' which seems to be the comparison point for every.single.article they write. They might as well have the opening paragraph to their articles read: 'the ultimate gaming experience can be enjoyed with a high-end PC'.

 

[Inuhanyou]

The best evidence in my eyes would be that the Switch should have no problem running a standard Tegra X1 at significantly higher clock speeds than this, and Thraktor mentioned that the battery life would not be impacted a lot. So why downclock so aggressively (especially considering the docked mode is also throttled below standard Tegra X1).

This is supposed to be a product that is tested and quality. Nintendo including a fan on the thing doesn't mean that its secretly hiding more power. It could just mean that its always running at a low circulation to keep the machine from getting hot in long stretches

 

[Ganondolf]

This is very disappointing, I was never expecting PS4 power but they could at least have the custom X1 chip running at full speed (1GHZ) when docked and there is no need to have the portable mode running at such a low clock speed.

Seeing its running below the clock speeds I wonder if Nintendo will slightly up the clocks over time by way of firmware updates.

 

[MuchoMalo]

I don't think people would pay full price on mobile for a pokemon game, so I'd be curious if they could really earn more on mobile with microtransactions (it also would be awful to get microtransactions on Pokemon, I'd say... especially after the Pokemon Go example...)

It would alienate the current fanbase and is too long and deep for mobile. Main Pokemon will never work with mobile unless they gut the entire thing.


Kinda like how Nintendo as a company needs to be gutted and sold to a competent company.



I hope Switch gets even weaker so emulation can come quickly, because I'm not buying this piece of shit. I'm happy with my PC.

 

[GhostTrick]

This is supposed to be a product that is tested and quality. Nintendo including a fan on the thing doesn't mean that its secretly hiding more power. It could just mean that its always running at a low circulation to keep the machine from getting hot in long stretches

Yup, that's what Ive been thinking too. Basically, making sure the device life isnt shortened by heat.

 

[Oregano]

Well, that can't be a bad thing. Have you ever played games on an Apple TV before? Games like AG Drive running at 1080/60fps. Apple TV is an iPhone 6.

It could be better though. A bigger, more power hungry, more modern machine should be better.

 

[Inuhanyou]

This is very disappointing, I was never expecting PS4 power but they could at least have the custom X1 chip running at full speed (1GHZ) when docked and there is no need to have the portable mode running at such a low clock speed.

Seeing its running below the clock speeds I wonder if Nintendo will slightly up the clocks over time by way of firmware updates.

That might be out of the cards considering devs are already working on games with that clock in mind.

Who cares that the specs for this are low.

This is Digital Foundry again trying to score a point for 'high-end PCs' which seems to be the comparison point for every.single.article they write. They might as well have the opening paragraph to their articles read: 'the ultimate gaming experience can be enjoyed with a high-end PC'.

What a ridiculous post. It seems like when people cant handle facts they go into defensive "you have an agenda!" mode. Accept the facts and don't shoot the messenger

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Who cares that the specs for this are low.

This is Digital Foundry again trying to score a point for 'high-end PCs' which seems to be the comparison point for every.single.article they write. They might as well have the opening paragraph to their articles read: 'the ultimate gaming experience can be enjoyed with a high-end PC'.

What are you talking about. The guys at DF seem to be pretty huge Nintendo fans.

 

[Prithee Be Careful]

See, arm chair analysts always come in and try to make this point, but no. There is no guarantee they would suddenly be able to destroy. They would still be competing with every other company in the market for people's time and money, while losing billions in the revenue and profit potential of selling hardware and software in their own eco system.

A third party Nintendo would be run completely differently and that's not a Nintendo I want to see.

You claim they can't compete in the AAA market or console market, and yet your solution is to jump in directly into that market.

Well, I'm not sure what the arm chair analysts say, but as someone who worked for Nintendo previously, I would say it makes perfect sense.

Software sales are where the bulk of profit is made in the gaming business - this why hardware units are sold at near break-even or a small loss. Nintendos IPs are among some of the most recognised in gaming.

What you're talking about doing is removing the risk factor involved in launching a new console, doing away with the astronomical R&D costs and opening up what Nintendo has always done best - the actual games - to a total market which dwarfs even thier most successful console.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

This is supposed to be a product that is tested and quality. Nintendo including a fan on the thing doesn't mean that its secretly hiding more power. It could just mean that its always running at a low circulation to keep the machine from getting hot in long stretches

Nope. The chassis and fan (at full pelt) are there to sustain the Switch's performance when docked, and the GPU clocks are at 800Mhz.

Yet the thinner, fanless Pixel-C tablet has those same GPU clocks and double the CPU clocks, and there's no evidence of the GPU exhibiting thermal throttling when under load, much like how an iPad Pro's PowerVR GPU doesn't throttle under load.

Now, that exact same Switch Chassis, which is much thicker (a hair thinner than Vita-2000 thickness) is still actively cooled when the GPU clocks are running at 40% of that clock.

That's like saying the original Vita, whose GPU is clocked at about 60% of an iPad 3, and CPU 30%, would have required active cooling. Even though it was basically a downclocked iPad 3 for GPU and CPU like the Switch is a downclocked Tegra.

It didn't need that active cooling, Switch does despite an even greater downclock from its tablet variant when in portable mode. So I think it's plausible that it has more SMs, especially when you consider that active cooling will impact battery life.

 

[Hermii]

That might be out of the cards considering devs are already working on games with that clock in mind.

Out of the Cards for launch games yes, but not out of the Cards Down the line. Vita did this.