News Nintendo Switch 2 Rumored to Leverage Nvidia Ampere GPU and DLSS

[Admin]

New GitHub updates seemingly point to two Ampere-based GPUs that could find their way into the Nintendo Switch 2.

Nintendo Switch 2 Rumored to Leverage Nvidia Ampere GPU and DLSS : Read more

 

[Order 66]

I wonder (assuming the leaked specs are accurate) if the tdp was 30w if the switch 2 would outperform the steam deck or rog ally.

 

[colossusrage]

I wonder (assuming the leaked specs are accurate) if the tdp was 30w if the switch 2 would outperform the steam deck or rog ally.

Techpowerup has its relative performance at a HD7750 at 15W (https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/jetson-orin-nano-8-gb.c4082).

This is the Jetson Orion Nano running emulation:

View: https://youtu.be/nmZ6fhkFmDY?si=fujCOZXb0a62dV6I

 

[YouFilthyHippo]

So my Radeon HD 5970 from 2009 outperforms it. Of course, leave it to Nintendo to release a "new" 15 year old console. Why can't people get with the times? Sigh

 

[Order 66]

Techpowerup has its relative performance at a HD7750 at 15W (https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/jetson-orin-nano-8-gb.c4082).

So my Radeon HD 5970 from 2009 outperforms it. Of course, leave it to Nintendo to release a "new" 15 year old console. Why can't people get with the times? Sigh

I was referring to the hope that it would run at 30w in which case it would probably outperform the 5970.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Not surprised, I was betting that Nintendo wanted to use Samsung's Foundaries for cheap SoC's.

Using Ampere makes alot of sense since it's already designed on Samsung 8N node's

If they're going to use 512 CUDA cores, that's basically 4 SM's, yes you read that correctly 4 SM's!

Better than AMD's Ryzen iGPU that only has 2 CU's, but only by Double.

Probably closer to one of the Rumored Little Phoenix 2 Specs with 4 CU's as well.

But architecturally behind since it's last gen's architecture while Phoneix 2 or Little Phoenix (Not sure which code name it is) uses RDNA 3.5 which is a current gen architecture.

 

[JarredWaltonGPU]

Original Switch is less than 0.5 teraflops FP32 (double that for FP16, though). I would expect an Ampere variant with 1024 CUDA cores to be close to ~2 teraflops while still staying around 15W. Basically, we have Ampere at 1.9 GHz with 2560 CUDA cores using 115W. Limiting clocks to ~1GHz would probably cut power use to a third of that, give or take, and disabling over half of the cores would lop off another chunk of power.

And this might be a reworked "custom" chip to further tune power and such. Anyway, Nintendo isn't interested in chasing Xbox and PlayStation on graphics horsepower. Getting to perhaps 10X the GPU performance in the same form factor would be a big accomplishment and provide plenty of room for enhanced graphics and such.

It's too early to say for certain where this might end, but power will almost certainly remain relatively close to the original. Whatever can be accomplished within those constraints is the important bit. Too bad Nintendo is probably too cheap to just splurge on a custom Ada chip. TSMC 4N would be way, WAY better than Samsung 8N.

 

[JamesJones44]

The Switch was relatively under powered when it launched. Sadly many non-first party titles are a jittery mess these days on the Switch (luckily young kids don't seem to care).

I would welcome an updated Switch with more horse power, but the history of Nintendo tells me it won't just be a "Switch 2". There be something else tacked on (hopefully not Wii style controllers).

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I

Original Switch is less than 0.5 teraflops FP32 (double that for FP16, though). I would expect an Ampere variant with 1024 CUDA cores to be close to ~2 teraflops while still staying around 15W. Basically, we have Ampere at 1.9 GHz with 2560 CUDA cores using 115W. Limiting clocks to ~1GHz would probably cut power use to a third of that, give or take, and disabling over half of the cores would lop off another chunk of power.

And this might be a reworked "custom" chip to further tune power and such. Anyway, Nintendo isn't interested in chasing Xbox and PlayStation on graphics horsepower. Getting to perhaps 10X the GPU performance in the same form factor would be a big accomplishment and provide plenty of room for enhanced graphics and such.

It's too early to say for certain where this might end, but power will almost certainly remain relatively close to the original. Whatever can be accomplished within those constraints is the important bit. Too bad Nintendo is probably too cheap to just splurge on a custom Ada chip. TSMC 4N would be way, WAY better than Samsung 8N.

Yeah, Nintendo is alergic to spending big $$$ on R&D.

At best, it's going to get something it can profit easily w/o having to jack up the price of the "Super Switch".

The Switch was relatively under powered when it launched. Sadly many non-first party titles are a jittery mess these days on the Switch (luckily young kids don't seem to care).

Young Kids don't have nit picky standards like us "PC Gaming Hardware Enthusiasts".

I would welcome an updated Switch with more horse power, but the history of Nintendo tells me it won't just be a "Switch 2". There be something else tacked on (hopefully not Wii style controllers).

I'm just hoping they call it the "Super Switch" as a homage to the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System).

They can largely delay any major feature upgrades.

The biggest thing might be new Analog Sticks.

New Nintendo Joystick Patent Could Spell The End For Future Drift Issues

Stick it to the man

www.nintendolife.com

 

[Colif]

think one aim is to be able to support 4k tv as the Switch isn't really designed with that in mind.

Nintendo sell consoles based on games, not graphics.

 

[oofdragon]

Nintendo decided it was going to be kids entertainment system since the Wii success, we just have to accept it. They want to profit by selling mlions of old and cheap hardware with easy to get games (homebrew) instead of "making a difference". Nintendo of the 64 and SNES days is long gone.. it's just like that great band that changes the vocalist over time but keeps the right to the name. Breath of the wild and Mario Odyssey were good games, but IMO that was it ... good games, that could have been so much better with the right philosophy and up to date hardware to back it up

 

[Colif]

Nintendo decided it was going to be kids entertainment system since the Wii success, we just have to accept it. They want to profit by selling mlions of old and cheap hardware with easy to get games (homebrew) instead of "making a difference". Nintendo of the 64 and SNES days is long gone.. it's just like that great band that changes the vocalist over time but keeps the right to the name. Breath of the wild and Mario Odyssey were good games, but IMO that was it ... good games, that could have been so much better with the right philosophy and up to date hardware to back it up

One thing remains, they keep innovating with controllers.
None of the machines have really been power houses. The N64 was 32bit with a 64bit GPU - https://www.nintendo64ever.com/Nintendo-64-Technical-Specifications.html

So its unlikely they try to beat/compete with the other 2 in a race they never entered. They running their own event.

Nintendo of the 64 and SNES days is long gone..

Mainly as a lot of the people are different now. Some names may remain but its like any company after 25+ years, its not really the same any more unless the one person been in charge entire time. Nintendo over 100 years old so its seen lots of change in that time.

 

[Amdlova]

The switch will have same power of a ps4 hd 7870 or a 7850
(I think)

 

[salgado18]

Nintendo decided it was going to be kids entertainment system since the Wii success, we just have to accept it. They want to profit by selling mlions of old and cheap hardware with easy to get games (homebrew) instead of "making a difference". Nintendo of the 64 and SNES days is long gone.. it's just like that great band that changes the vocalist over time but keeps the right to the name. Breath of the wild and Mario Odyssey were good games, but IMO that was it ... good games, that could have been so much better with the right philosophy and up to date hardware to back it up

And they are right. For top graphics and processing power, there are already the Playstation, the Xbox and PCs, with lots of multi-platform games. Nintendo is going for their own niche, with inventive hardware and exclusive games that use it, and it's been working very well for them. The SNES was top hardware because the competition was the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, but today if they compete in hardware they'll just be another one.

Too bad Nintendo is probably too cheap to just splurge on a custom Ada chip. TSMC 4N would be way, WAY better than Samsung 8N.

It would, but then it would make the console more expensive to produce, making reduced profits or a more expensive console, right? Maybe a cheaper console is a way to justify lower hardware because of mobility, and also to not compete directly against the PS and Xbox.

 

[ns156]

Honestly, the article is quite out of date. They're reporting stuff we've known for years. The T239 chip was first specified for the rumoured 'Switch Pro' that never materialized, apparently due to chip shortages and Nvidia changing manufacturing processes.

Which is also why the rumours have for some time claimed that the SoC has moved on to 4nm. 8N Samsung would be ludicrous—they'd have to downclock the inefficient crappy node so bad that any power gains would be neutered just by trying to keep a decent battery life. Fine for a mid-gen 'Pro', not so much for a whole new generation.

As for the comment about Nintendo not spending on R&D—you should check their financials. They've spent crazy amounts of R&D for this thing (their budget has gone up yearly since 2018), more than they have ever done before. They've definitely been throwing money into this system.

And let's not forget that Nintendo has had a new CEO for some time, one who has directly claimed he wants to push Nintendo back to the 'cutting edge'. We've seen over the Switch that under him, Nintendo has been embracing more modern technologies in their games. The rumoured Gamescom demos were showcasing UE5, nanite, etc.

It doesn't help that they've found a golden goose and there's not much they can do to the Switch concept to introduce 'gimmicks' like they've been relying on since the Wii. About the only thing they possibly can do without abandoning the idea entirely is to just slap on more power.

So far I've seen no reason to believe that Nintendo is pulling another cheap crappy console they can profit big on. If anything, they might be selling this thing at cost for the first time.

If anything, the latest rumours (which are of course, rumours and should be taken with a grain of salt) have mentioned that due to the time taken, the entire SoC got an upgrade to all Lovelace. This is instead of Ampere with backported Lovelace cores. That would be another serious jump up and signal Nvidia is ensuring their place in the emerging gaming tablet market that AMD is trying to shoehorn their way into.

 

[WrongRookie]

Why is toms hardware interested in what Nintendo is doing. They didn't cover news for 3ds and wiiu and Nintendo is clearly not interested in horsepower.

 

[Colif]

Its still news. Its interesting to see what they doing, even if they not on the cutting edge.

they have games you can't get anywhere else... they don't need amazing hardware to sell their consoles

 

[Order 66]

Honestly, the article is quite out of date. They're reporting stuff we've known for years. The T239 chip was first specified for the rumoured 'Switch Pro' that never materialized, apparently due to chip shortages and Nvidia changing manufacturing processes.

Which is also why the rumours have for some time claimed that the SoC has moved on to 4nm. 8N Samsung would be ludicrous—they'd have to downclock the inefficient crappy node so bad that any power gains would be neutered just by trying to keep a decent battery life. Fine for a mid-gen 'Pro', not so much for a whole new generation.

As for the comment about Nintendo not spending on R&D—you should check their financials. They've spent crazy amounts of R&D for this thing (their budget has gone up yearly since 2018), more than they have ever done before. They've definitely been throwing money into this system.

And let's not forget that Nintendo has had a new CEO for some time, one who has directly claimed he wants to push Nintendo back to the 'cutting edge'. We've seen over the Switch that under him, Nintendo has been embracing more modern technologies in their games. The rumoured Gamescom demos were showcasing UE5, nanite, etc.

It doesn't help that they've found a golden goose and there's not much they can do to the Switch concept to introduce 'gimmicks' like they've been relying on since the Wii. About the only thing they possibly can do without abandoning the idea entirely is to just slap on more power.

So far I've seen no reason to believe that Nintendo is pulling another cheap crappy console they can profit big on. If anything, they might be selling this thing at cost for the first time.

If anything, the latest rumours (which are of course, rumours and should be taken with a grain of salt) have mentioned that due to the time taken, the entire SoC got an upgrade to all Lovelace. This is instead of Ampere with backported Lovelace cores. That would be another serious jump up and signal Nvidia is ensuring their place in the emerging gaming tablet market that AMD is trying to shoehorn their way into.

I would love if this was true and I would buy a switch with these specs pretty much instantly.

 

[ns156]

I would love if this was true and I would buy a switch with these specs pretty much instantly.

One of the terms used at the Gamescom showing leaks were 'visually comparable to PS5'. DLSS will be doing a lot of heavy lifting there for sure, but it can't be underpowered cheap crap either to achieve that level.

 

[WrongRookie]

Its still news. Its interesting to see what they doing, even if they not on the cutting edge.

they have games you can't get anywhere else... they don't need amazing hardware to sell their consoles

Yeah but Nintendo isn't very friendly with the modding community and people who emulate their games..which isn't what most PC gamers like from them.

 

[Order 66]

Yeah but Nintendo isn't very friendly with the modding community and people who emulate their games..which isn't what most PC gamers like from them.

Nintendo will sue you into the ground if you dare try to emulate their games.

 

[Colif]

Unlike Bethesda they don't need modders to finish their games for them.

I haven't had a Nintendo console since the Wii, so I don't know what they been doing for last 10 or so years.

 

[crimsonfilms]

Nintendo decided it was going to be kids entertainment system since the Wii success, we just have to accept it. They want to profit by selling mlions of old and cheap hardware with easy to get games (homebrew) instead of "making a difference". Nintendo of the 64 and SNES days is long gone.. it's just like that great band that changes the vocalist over time but keeps the right to the name. Breath of the wild and Mario Odyssey were good games, but IMO that was it ... good games, that could have been so much better with the right philosophy and up to date hardware to back it up

Why would Nintendo compete with another GPU crazed PS and XBOX? A third console competing in the same arena doesnt make any sense.

And how is Mario Bros more childish than Spiderman? Having higher pixel count @ 60fps doesnt make a game "adult".

Switch is not technically ground breaking in the GPU department but it sure paved the way for the Steam Deck. Are you going to tell me that the Steam Deck is "innovative" and targeted at "adults"?? LOL

 

[AgentBirdnest]

What the hell is all this talk about the Switch being a console for kids? Nearly every adult I know owns one, and the majority of them don't even have kids. Everyone in my circle of international PC-gaming friends owns one, and we're in our 30s.
Are kids suddenly not interested in X-box and PlayStation anymore? Kids have had consoles (any/all of them) at the top of their Christmas wishlist as far back as I remember.

Do you know any kids playing the bestselling flagship title Tears of the Kingdom? I don't. I haven't heard of many kids desperately waiting to play the latest Fire Emblem then binging on it for 12h/day. I know kids that do that for the latest CoD or latest season of Apex Legends, though.

Just to be clear - I'm definitely not calling the Switch any better than the others. I'm not trying to defend Nintendo. I'm just trying to counter what I think are some huge misconceptions...
(Disclosure: I do own a Switch, and a PS5, and a PC. They're all great. Games are fun.)

 

[ivan_vy]

Yeah but Nintendo isn't very friendly with the modding community and people who emulate their games..which isn't what most PC gamers like from them.

it's newsworthy because its Nvidia chip will set the bar for future and future-proof mini consoles like SteamDeck , Asus Ally , etc . also how Nvidia solution fares against AMD.