Nintendo Switch 2 Rumored to Leverage Nvidia Ampere GPU and DLSS

Nintendo Switch 2017 handheld gaming
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Many would agree that the Nintendo Switch, which launched in 2017, is overdue for a hardware upgrade. It has been long rumored that the Nintendo Switch 2 could potentially tap into Nvidia's Ampere architecture to offer gamers a new handheld gaming experience. A new GitHub update (via Kepler_L2) lends some credence to the early rumors.

The original Nintendo Switch debuted with Nvidia's Tegra X1 (Erista) SoC. The T214 processor features four Cortex-A57 and four Cortex-A53 cores. It's the same chip that powers Nvidia's 2017 Shield. However, the variant inside the Nintendo Switch only utilizes the Cortex-A57 cores, which is probably why Nintendo advertised the chip as a "customized Tegra processor." It's a bit of a waste since the four Cortex-A53 cores are left unexploited — for lighter workloads, those could have offered extended battery life.

It didn't take long for Nintendo to revamp the Switch's internals, incorporating a revised version of the Tegra X1. The Nintendo Switch 1.1 and subsequent models utilized the new Tegra X1+ (Mariko) chip. The T210 offer the same specifications as the T214 but had the advantage of a newer manufacturing process. While the T214 was produced on TSMC's 20nm node, the T210 tap into the Taiwanese foundry's 16nm FinFET process node. The performance difference between the Tegra X1 and Tegra X1+ was negligible but the latter was more power efficient. According to Nintendo, the Switch 1.1's battery life spans between four and a half hours to nine hours, a significant bump over the original's two and a half hours to six and a half hours.

The current rumor around hardware circles is that the Nintendo Switch 2 could employ a customized version of Nvidia's Jetson Orin. The GitHub page points to the T234 and T239. As reputable hardware leaker kopite7kimi pointed out, Nintendo will likely utilize the T239, a custom-made version of the vanilla T234.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Nintendo Switch 2*Nintendo Switch (1.1, Lite, OLED)Nintendo Switch
SoCOrinTegra X1+ (Mariko)Tegra X1 (Erista)
Process TechnologySamsung 8nmTSMC 16nmTSMC 20nm
CPUT239T210T214
CPU Cores12 x Cortex-A78AE4 x Cortex-A57, 4 x Cortex-A534 x Cortex-A57, 4 x Cortex-A53
MemoryLPDDR54GB LPDDR4-16004GB LPDDR4-1600
GPUGA10B (Ampere)GM20B (Maxwell)GM20B (Maxwell)
CUDA Cores2,048256256
Docked / Undocked Clock (MHz)?384 / 768384 / 768

*Specifications are unconfirmed.

Orin obviously has a lot to offer over the Tegra X1+. For starters, Orin is based on the Ampere architecture (2020) whereas the Tegra X1+ dates from the Maxwell (2014) days. We're looking at a difference of three generations of GPU performance. Orin features the GA10B silicon, produced on Samsung's 8nm process node, the same process used to fabricate the GeForce RTX 30-series graphics cards.

The T234 features 12 Cortex-A78AE cores and LPDDR5 support, complementing the GA10B GPU. The GA10B (Ampere) silicon houses 2,048 CUDA cores, eight times as many as GM20B (Maxwell). Those are just the official specifications for the T234, though. It's unknown how Nvidia will tailor the T239 toward Nintendo's needs. If we're being realistic, it's unlikely that the T239 will use the full GA10B die. The GA10B has a maximum TDP of 60W. In comparison, GM20B is a 15W chip but has an average power draw below 10W. If Nintendo wants to retain the same power characteristics, the T239 would need to be in the same ballpark as the Jetson Orin Nano, which features a cut-down GA10B chip with 512 CUDA cores and a 10W TDP.

The Nintendo Switch 2 doesn't necessarily have to be a powerhouse. The device will likely take advantage of Nvidia's DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) upscaling technology to improve frame rates while reducing power requirements. Ray tracing support is reportedly on the table too, but though the experience might be lacking since ray tracing is pretty taxing on the GPU.

There have been rumors that a handful of developers got the chance to see the Nintendo Switch 2 in action behind closed doors at Gamescom 2023. The handheld gaming device reportedly ran The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at 60 FPS with a resolution of 4K. The demo allegedly benefitted from DLSS 3.5, minus frame generation. Loading times improved substantially, according to the YouTuber. The Nintendo Switch 2 also demonstrated its prowess  in The Matrix Awakens, an Unreal Engine 5 tech demo, according to other claims.

Zhiye Liu
News Editor and Memory Reviewer

Zhiye Liu is a news editor and memory reviewer at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.

  • 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.
    Reply
  • colossusrage
    jaydenmiller1 said:
    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: nmZ6fhkFmDYView: https://youtu.be/nmZ6fhkFmDY?si=fujCOZXb0a62dV6I
    Reply
  • 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
    Reply
  • Order 66
    colossusrage said:
    Techpowerup has its relative performance at a HD7750 at 15W (https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/jetson-orin-nano-8-gb.c4082).

    YouFilthyHippo said:
    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.
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • 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).
    Reply
  • Kamen Rider Blade
    I
    JarredWaltonGPU said:
    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".

    JamesJones44 said:
    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".

    JamesJones44 said:
    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.
    https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2023/09/new-nintendo-joystick-patent-could-spell-the-end-for-future-drift-issues
    Reply
  • 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.
    Reply
  • 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
    Reply