Hardware Nintendo Switch Technical Specifications Discussion

What SoC do you think the Nintendo Switch will use? + Reasons in thread.


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TheDarkGreninja

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This is a discussion about Nintendo's upcoming console the Nintendo Switch's Technical specifications and what it might bring to the table in terms of power and innovation, after all, Nintendo are famous for that right?:switch:


The Nintendo Switch :switch: Will Be Releasing March 3rd globally!



RUMOURS!
1. Right now Dev kits are reported to be using X1's, however, this does not reflect the final device.
2. It's also rumoured to have additional power in the dock what this means has yet to be clarified.
3. The console has a multi-touch screen
4. The screen will display 720p
5. Switch will have motion controls
6. Switch will have IR functionality
7. Switch controllers might be modular so they may be changed in the future with different designs.
8. Switch might have a share/screenshot button
9. Will not be Region Locked :grog:
10. Might have force feedback
11. Battery life is between 3-4 hours
12. Uses micro sd cards
13. screen is 6.2"
14. Dock doesn't provide additional power
15. Custom joycons
16. Dock has fan
17. USB-C for charging and data transfer.
:arrow: Source: LPVG (or more specifically Laura Kate Dale)
Tell me if I missed anything!

What we definitely know

  • It has a Tegra chip
  • Uses Cartridges
  • Display is HD (whether it's 720p or 1080p we can't confirm just yet, might be 900p for all we know.)
  • Takes about a second or so for games to switch between docked and undocked.
  • Not much else.
Nintendo Earnings Report 2016: Key Points
  • Nintendo will not sell the switch at a loss
  • They are planning to sell 2 million units by the end of March
  • Nintendo are open to consumer ideal prices (possibly surveys?)
What this means:
  • While Nintendo is not selling this machine at a loss Nvidia could be providing chips at a loss so the console is cheap enough for a chance to get a large place in the market.
  • Since they're planning to sell 2 million units by the end of march expect the switch to come out mid march between the 19th and 25th of March, this is based on the fact that the Wii U sold 3million units in the first six weeks.
  • Nintendo is finally thinking about what the consumer wants here's hoping they're truly open and actually listen.
The Dock
  • You might find this funny, but there's a lot of arguments over what exactly the dock does.
  • One way it's believed to work is by just providing power and a throughput for HDMI output. (Confirmed)
  • Another is that it allows the CPU and GPU to max out and more or less overclock (confirmed by LPVG)
  • The third is that there is a hot swappable GPU inside to provide 500Gflops of additional power
What I think
I for one believe that this dock will both allow it (the NS) to overclock and make use of a hot swappable EGPU to provide additional power when needed. It could also have additional DRAM but let's not get crazy. I no longer think this.

Nintendo Switch Event 2017 Jan 12th.
The hardware parts shown:
  • Joyconn grips
  • HD Rumble (Some sort of haptic feedback with mutliple rumble motors)
  • IR sensor for hand gestures
  • Joyconn wheel
  • Different colour joyconns
Confirmed rumours:
  • Region free!
  • Console has a 6.2 inch screen
  • Micro-SD (Highest we've seen was a 256GB Samsung EVO on the treehouse stream)
  • USB-C
  • ... thats about it.


Rumoured specs: (Most likely)
4 Cortex A-72 Cores 1.7Ghz
(This has the same power draw as A57 at 16nm)
Pascal GPU (256 CUDA cores)
1Tflop fp16
https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSw...r_someone_who_producing_switch_at_foxconn_is/
 
Last edited by TheDarkGreninja,

Kliffcom

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You should add this to op:
Specs CPU:
Four ARM Cortex-A57 cores, maximum 2 GHz
L2 cache, 2 MB
64-bit ARMv8
Crypto extension enabled

GPU:
NVIDIA second-generation Maxwell architecture
256 CUDA cores, maximum 1 GHz
1024 FLOPS/cycle
Texture: 16 pixels/cycle
Fill: 14.4 pixels/cycle

Main memory:
Capacity of 4 GB
Bandwidth: 25.6 GB/s
VRAM: shared

System Memory:Capacity: 32 GB, Maximum transfer rate: 400 MB/s
USB
USB 2.0 and 3.0
Video Output
60 fps, at a maximum of 1920×1080 pixels
Or 30 fps at 3840×2160 pixels
The screen
6.2" IPS LCD, 1280×720 pixels
Capacitance method, 10-point multi-touch
 

Du'Islingr

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It cant be Maxwell. Current NVidia GPUs are Pascal.

https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2016/10/20/nintendo-switch/

Which were only released a couple of months ago. The Switch(NX) has been in development a lot longer. Makes no sense to use Pacal now. The specs listed above match up with Nvidia Tegra X1 processor. http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra-x1-processor.html Which is maxwell. There currently is not a Tegra Pascal chip either which also adds to the validation of it being Maxwell.
 

phalk

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Which were only released a couple of months ago. The Switch(NX) has been in development a lot longer. Makes no sense to use Pacal now. The specs listed above match up with Nvidia Tegra X1 processor. http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra-x1-processor.html Which is maxwell. There currently is not a Tegra Pascal chip either which also adds to the validation of it being Maxwell.

Read the blog. It says it right there.
 

Du'Islingr

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Read the blog. It says it right there.
Pascal is not specifically mentioned. They specifically state tegra. that is all. "Nintendo Switch is powered by the performance of the custom Tegra processor. The high-efficiency scalable processor includes an NVIDIA GPU based on the same architecture as the world’s top-performing GeForce gaming graphics cards."

Edit: back to my original assessment, I already stated that Tegra currently does not have a Pascal chip at this time. The latest chip is Maxwell and as previously stated the Tegra X1 matches the 'Leaked Specs" specs listed above. Until otherwise known, based on this information it is not Pascal.
 
Last edited by Du'Islingr,

phalk

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Maxwell is not energy efficient enough for a Nintendo console.

If it was indeed Maxwell they would just state it's a X1 or a modified X1.
The reason it's stated as a custom Tegra is probably an indication that it's using technology that is not yet released. Comparing it to the top performing GeForce cards almost confirms it.
 

Du'Islingr

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I find it highly unlikely. Nintendo is known for using older hardware. Also I do not believe for a second that in order for it to be at around the 300 dollar price point that its speculated to be then it cannot possibly be Pascal. To use Pascal I believe that Nintendo would be forced to increase the cost and that would make no sense to compete with the Xbox One and PS4 who both respectively sit at that 300 dollar price point. Unless Nvidia gave them a deal just to get some hold in the console market considering AMD is monopolizing that area with PS4 and Xbox One. either way we wont know for sure until we see an official specs announcement.
 

Yil

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From this day onward this post will be dedicated for update.
Foxconn Leak: 100mm2 die size, 1.8GHz quad a73, 921MHz unknown size GPU. Original post is dead.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1325344
NeoGAF leak: Fans in tablet (sorry about the confusion), multiple sensors on tablet, joy-con will have alternative versions (standard xbox 360 layout with proper d-pads), IR, joy con shoulder buttons beside the connector to tablet for multiplayer. Controller unit have extra battery.

Do not trust the Venture Beat Leak. That's pure BS based on the older tegra x1 Devkit made just to get the software running. It's already replaced with a newer version.
 
Last edited by Yil,

Futurdreamz

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Does it support GPU docks? I know it doesn't come with one, but maybe down the road Nintendo could release a Dock+ that improves the performance of the Switch when docked? It would make sense to not even mention it now, the ensure that developers don't rely on it at all - which could cause a Wii U level disaster.
 
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TheDarkGreninja

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Does it support GPU docks? I know it doesn't come with one, but maybe down the road Nintendo could release a Dock+ that improves the performance of the Switch when docked? It would make sense to not even mention it now, the ensure that developers don't rely on it at all - which could cause a Wii U level disaster.
Rumours corroborate that yes.
Also on another note, once I get back home I'll be updating the OP with speculated specs from me as well as a few sources and rumours.
 

AtlasFontaine

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Nintendo threw half a million on research for this thing, I believe that this and the fact that X2 is coming out next year can means that it will use Parker (and the fact that the blog doesn't tell us that it is indeed going to use Tegra X1). Also, just as someone said earlier on this thread, X1 isn't energy efficient to be used on the go.
 
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kumikochan

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I find it highly unlikely. Nintendo is known for using older hardware. Also I do not believe for a second that in order for it to be at around the 300 dollar price point that its speculated to be then it cannot possibly be Pascal. To use Pascal I believe that Nintendo would be forced to increase the cost and that would make no sense to compete with the Xbox One and PS4 who both respectively sit at that 300 dollar price point. Unless Nvidia gave them a deal just to get some hold in the console market considering AMD is monopolizing that area with PS4 and Xbox One. either way we wont know for sure until we see an official specs announcement.
Nintendo is not known for using outdated
hardware. It only did with the Wii U and Wii but the gamecube was powerfull for the time it Came out and also the N64 was.
 
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TheDarkGreninja

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I find it highly unlikely. Nintendo is known for using older hardware. Also I do not believe for a second that in order for it to be at around the 300 dollar price point that its speculated to be then it cannot possibly be Pascal. To use Pascal I believe that Nintendo would be forced to increase the cost and that would make no sense to compete with the Xbox One and PS4 who both respectively sit at that 300 dollar price point. Unless Nvidia gave them a deal just to get some hold in the console market considering AMD is monopolizing that area with PS4 and Xbox One. either way we wont know for sure until we see an official specs announcement.
It most definitely will be using pascal, rumours are that Nintendo and nvidia are selling this thing at a considerable loss just to get a large amount of market share and become the top dogs in the mobile business. I'm sure nvidia will be putting everything they could possibly put into the switch just to make sure it's the most powerful portable in 2017. And while dev kits are rumoured to use X1's this is probably because the X2 has yet have a formal release but I'm sure that the final products will have a custom x2

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Nintendo threw half a million on research for this thing, I believe that this and the fact that X2 is coming out next year can means that it will use Parker (and the fact that the blog doesn't tell us that it is indeed going to use Tegra X1). Also, just as someone said earlier on this thread, X1 isn't energy efficient to be used on the go.
I don't think it will use a vanilla Parker chip.
 

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