All is confirmed the Nintendo Switch is powered by stock Nvidia Tegra X1, same chipset used in Shield TV. The most surprising is the retention of 4 Cortex A53 processor cores, which have no use in the Nintendo switch as they can't be operated at the same time when Cortex A57 cores are running due to the ARM big.little configuration setup.

After subsequent processing of the GPU from the Nintendo Switch, we have determined that the processor is the Nvidia Tegra T210. The T210 CPU features 4 Cortex A57 and 4 Cortex A53 processor cores and the GPU is a GM20B Maxell core.

http://techinsights.com/about-techinsights/overview/blog/nintendo-switch-teardown/

Nvidia Tegra X1 features

• 8 core CPU (4 x Cortex A57 and 4 x Cortex A53)
• GPU is a GM20B Maxell core

A comparison to Shield TV. Switch specs on the left, and Shield TV on the right. The clock speeds are reported from Eurogamer, which are very much true.

• RAM: 4GB vs 3GB
• CPU: 1Ghz vs. 2Ghz
• GPU: 3 modes:307.2Mhz/384Mhz/768Mhz vs 1Ghz

Shield TV is clocked higher initially in both CPU and GPU, but don't forget Shield TV can't keep these clock speeds up for long, it throttles down to the exact switch's dock clockspeeds. Which further supports a stock X1.

 

[Yil]

Someone at neogaf has a gif comparing the two.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=232127603&postcount=1

Where does x1's x-ray come from? I cannot find anything regarding its origin, and its pin resemble shield 2017 rather than original x1 with 20nm.

 

[Pluupy]

Nintendo better make a stronger revision I fuckin swear to god. I'm sick of this bullshit. If any Switch games lag just like the 3DS I'm done.

I don't care if the hardware itself isn't top-of-the-line, if I wanted a powerful machine i'd play on my PC. I want a device that will actually play the games as it advertises. None of this silly-assed lagging because there is one extra pokerman on screen or because Bahamut used Meteor. Enough.

 

[geodeath]

Thanks for admitting that you're FAKE NEWS.


The "industry" is going ARM. The only reason Appbox One is x86_64 is because of Microsoft's attempt to push everyone towards Universally Worthless Programs. I'm not sure why Sony went with x86_64 instead of ARM, though.

Because of availability of parts and dev time. It is easier to dev for one (essentially) platform that 2.

Also, in case you still think i was talking about the same thing when you quoted the 2 completely different things, look here, this comes from the nvidia announcement:

"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."

There lies the Nintendo lie. The xbox lie is something people brought out.

 

[heartgold]

I am. There's a number of ways you can do this, but most commonly people use the shader equation.

SIMD x Compute Unit x ALU per SIMD = Shaders

Shaders x Ops per cycle (normally 2, 1x Multiply + 1x Accumulate) x cycles per second = FLOPS (theoretical)

In this case we have the number of Shaders already, so we can skip Step 1.

256 Shaders x 2 Ops x 384MHz = 196.6GFLOPS

256 Shaders x 2 Ops x 768MHz = 393.2GFLOPS

This checks out as the standard X1 running at 1GHz does reach the correct 512GFLOPS value using this equation, as stated in the documentation:

256 Shaders x 2 Ops x 1GHz = 512GFLOPS

If the number of ALU's on-die is different in the Switch, the numbers might not match - I'm on a bus and don't have the time to zoom in and count them on the silicon.

Excellent work my man!

So we have 0.5gflop machine in console mode and in handheld mode just slightly above the Wii U in power. I can see it struggling to run demanding ports running from PS4/Xbone. hmm... I also believe memory bandwidth is a bottleneck, 25.6GB/s?

 

[Retrojunkies]

it is worrying :/
i played Dragon Quest Heroes 1&2 and it drops down to 20fp which is pretty pathetic.

but maybe they can tweak it abit and put up some update to fix those horrid frame drops :l

that is my only worry, i hope that they optimize the upcoming games nicely for the console ,so that it wont have any frame drops etc.

thing here is, its only just launched, its launch games never tap into the consoles potential, it takes a few years when devs start taking advantage of the consoles hardware to push its games further.

so this has only jsut released and its lagging playing games already..... so what hope do devs have if they try to run anything more demanding.

unless nintendo have deliberately locked resources away and plan to unlock access at a later date, or dont nintendo understand its own consoles infrastructure or will they release a new model with better hardware.

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

So it's a "Nintendo Shield" I brought up this made-up name before and now it's somewhat official.

Well this confirms that there definitely won't be a Gamecube VC on the Switch.

They couldn't just port it as if it were nothing, there are games like Mario Sunshine and Luigi's Mansion that wouldn't work properly on the Switch anyway (lack of analogue triggers).

i think nintendo need to focus on making switch games run smoothly before trying to port older consoles to it.

Ditto.

Zelda:BotW sometimes runs like crap on the Switch.

 

[ov3rkill]

i just don't give a fuck anymore, nintendo can release any sort of dumb quirky stupid hardware they want, i just want to play nintendo games

Sad, but true. I'm always gonna be a Nintendo sucker. I just freakin' love their games even if it's the same first party titles over and over again. Surprisingly, some of their new IPs are still fun. Hopefully, they will keep on making fun games for me... I mean us... for us to enjoy. haha.

 

[FAST6191]

Oh well, that sucks. I guess we'll just have to wait for the 3DS successor cause we all love that dual screen.

You mean the three pillars thing was right after all?

Big whoop. Nintendo tried going with raw power, and look how well that worked out.

20 years ago in an industry that quite often measures in quarter years and probably single years for most things, also with a fairly radical departure from storage norms and increased difficulty in coding? Is that relevant here in today's world?

i just don't give a fuck anymore, nintendo can release any sort of dumb quirky stupid hardware they want, i just want to play nintendo games

Why not call for them to go third party then?

 

[heartgold]

Where does x1's x-ray come from? I cannot find anything regarding its origin, and its pin resemble shield 2017 rather than original x1 with 20nm.

I can't confirm that with you, it comes from another source which I linked. Sorry.

@Yil
Switch is indeed using the same X1 as shield 2017, hence why they are similar.

 

[WiiUBricker]

lack of analogue triggers).

That's not the problem. They could make Joy-Cons gamecube edition.

 

[memoryman3]

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has improved loading times, 2.25x the Wii U resolution, and better post FX. Plus the extra RAM allowed for double items + Mario Kart TV running at the background for all 12 racers.

 

[Xzi]

They couldn't just port it as if it were nothing, there are games like Mario Sunshine and Luigi's Mansion that wouldn't work properly on the Switch anyway (lack of analogue triggers).

That's not a big hurdle to jump, it's as simple as re-binding analog stuff to two different actions/inputs.

 

[leonmagnus99]

thing here is, its only just launched, its launch games never tap into the consoles potential, it takes a few years when devs start taking advantage of the consoles hardware to push its games further.

so this has only jsut released and its lagging playing games already..... so what hope do devs have if they try to run anything more demanding.

unless nintendo have deliberately locked resources away and plan to unlock access at a later date, or dont nintendo understand its own consoles infrastructure or will they release a new model with better hardware.

could be man, let's just hope for the best :/
it's kind of depressing because i love nintendo.

but i think the tons of bashing they are getting , alot of it may be justified because people will keep comparing consoles whether we like it or not.

they will say "Well Dragon Quest Heroes 1 and 2 both run splendidly at 60fp (on the PS4), where as on the switch it will drop from 30 to 20 everytime you are engaging in battles/or in certain areas of the map."

 

[geodeath]

Why not call for them to go third party then?

Hopefully they will.

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

this is another cheap ass last gen revamp that nintendo are selling at an extortionate price.... fuck off £280 for this shit.

On a positive aspect, £279.99 is cheaper than what the WiiU was priced at launch (£299.99 - Premium) but even so, if I hadn't gotten a Switch for £198.50 I'd have skipped it.

This is a HANDHELD. Obviously a HANDHELD would not be on par with a console, especially when it's a lot smaller, and needs to keep cool and not consume too much electricity.

An X2 would have meant better battery life and no memory bandwidth bottleneck yes, but it simply wasn't ready. The X1 currently has the best mobile GPU on the market.

This is the first HD dedicated Nintendo handheld, and it's a huge leap over the 3DS, and smaller, more efficent than the Wii U. It has a lot of potential.

Calm the hell down. And you're wrong.

“Nintendo Switch is a home gaming system first and foremost,” the company told Polygon

http://www.polygon.com/2016/10/20/13347910/nintendo-switch-home-gaming-system

I like how the Nintendrones already "Switched" from "it's almost matching the XBO, it's fine" to "it doesn't matter, it's powerful enough for the games I want, graphics don't matter". This is a disaster for the Switch, I'm not sure if people quite grasp that yet.

Even the loyalists end up disliking the company they so much defend.

 

[TeamScriptKiddies]

Oh boy.... This can't be a good sign...

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

That's not the problem. They could make Joy-Cons gamecube edition.

That is a problem, that would mean people would have to buy an additional controller just to play a game. GC games that require analogue triggers have to be remade or something for the Switch.

 

[Yil]

Nintendo really need to come out and clarify now before devs are driven away.

 

[Xzi]

Nintendo already has third-party stuff releasing on Shield TV in China and on mobile. I don't think they need to go fully third-party any more than Sony does, but I guess that's why we've got Playstation Now on PC. I would prefer ports of the good games, of course, to achieve higher resolutions and frame rates.

 

[WiiUBricker]

That is a problem, that would mean people would have to buy an additional controller just to play a game. GC games that require analogue triggers have to be remade or something for the Switch.

It's not a technical limitation. They could also make the Wii U GC adapter work with the Switch.