Hardware Nintendo must boost GPU speed in docked mode on the updated Switch

willfr

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Please hear me out: Nintendo seriously needs to enable a higher performance mode (just increased GPU clocks) for docked mode on the updated Switch. Mike Heskin says it looks like they might, here's why I think they really, really need to do this. When BotW first came out, in handheld mode the game was using the 384MHz GPU profile and even then, many people said handheld mode was a better, smoother experience than docked mode. Since then, Nintendo has enabled an even higher GPU mode for undocked play, 460MHz. Since they've done this, the difference between docked play and undocked play in BotW is too much, even non technical people will notice it. I know BotW isn't the only game like this.
Apparently there's a 921MHz GPU option in the "old" Switch for docked mode but it's not available to devs (they obviously can't allow 921 on the old Switch because they're already getting overheated in the dock at 768), they need to let the new Switch GPU run at least at 921MHz when docked, ideally higher but I'm sure they don't want to hear about the new Switch warping from heat.

If I've got something wrong please let me know :)
 
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Pleng

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If I've got something wrong please let me know

You've definitely got something wrong. You've said "Nintendo must..." indicating a necessity when in fact there is no necessity for them to do so. There is no obligation for them to do so. There is certainly an option for them to do it. And even perhaps an argument that they should. But, regardless, they wont.
 
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willfr

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I didn't mean "must" in a legal sense, I just meant that the difference between handheld play and docked play is too big (for BotW), it really needs to be addressed and I think their only option is higher GPU clocks for the new Switch. And since they can't bump GPU clocks for the original Switch, maybe they should lower the resolution a bit in docked mode to get a higher and more stable framerate. It should be locked 30fps
 
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willfr

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Digital Foundry just posted an excellent video about this. It turns out the CPU clocks and also memory bandwidth are the real bottlenecks, so just increasing the GPU clocks to 921MHz wouldn't help. Mike Heskin said it looks like the RAM in the Lite and revised Switch is capable of going faster than 1600Mhz, lets hope Nintendo decides to give us a new higher performance profile with higher CPU clocks and faster RAM speeds
 

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