Alleged Nintendo Switch Pro customized SoC model number points to a chip that will destroy the Switch's Tegra X1+ in raw processing power

[Redaktion]

The model number for the Nintendo Switch Pro's SoC has been shared by a noted leaker. The tipster states that the Big N will use a customized processor for its future Switch console, utilizing Ampere architecture from Nvidia and Hercules microarchitecture from ARM. The apparent Switch Pro SoC model number associates it with the Tegra Orin chip.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Alleged-Nintendo-Switch-Pro-customized-SoC-model-number-points-to-a-chip-that-will-destroy-the-Switch-s-Tegra-X1-in-raw-processing-power.545173.0.html

[mike murphy]

The problem is that the switch was never intended  for 4k and will look junky as hell on a 4k TV sonunslee the old switch won't be able to play switch pro games  they will look like crap in 4k

[Anonymousgg]

The problem is that the switch was never intended  for 4k and will look junky as hell on a 4k TV sonunslee the old switch won't be able to play switch pro games  they will look like crap in 4k

They could use a more powerful CPU/GPU, more RAM, and DLSS to get at least a limited number of titles working well in 4K.

If the Switch Pro is anything approaching popular and has more capable hardware, it could get some ports that were impossible to release on the original Switch hardware, which only has low clocked 4x Cortex-A57, 256 Maxwell cores, and 4 GB of RAM.

[Spunjji]

Happy to be proven wrong, but I don't believe a single rumour that posits Orin as the chip of choice for the Switch. Solid estimates on the die size would place it between 3 and 4 times the area of the original X1 SoC, and it's not even available yet. Nintendo have a history of picking from products behind the bleeding edge - not on it - and I don't think they'd go for something that big (and thus expensive) just to throttle it back!

[Anonymousgg]

Happy to be proven wrong, but I don't believe a single rumour that posits Orin as the chip of choice for the Switch. Solid estimates on the die size would place it between 3 and 4 times the area of the original X1 SoC, and it's not even available yet. Nintendo have a history of picking from products behind the bleeding edge - not on it - and I don't think they'd go for something that big (and thus expensive) just to throttle it back!

Just how customized could this die be? Because if it's an entirely new die with only 4 or 8 Cortex-A78 cores and half or a quarter of the GPU cores, that would be a lot smaller.

If Nintendo can create something that's just capable enough to get some XSX/PS5 generation games ported to it, and price it at $400 initially, they can milk it dry for 6+ years.

[R31ya]

Based on the rumor touted, the 4k in nswtich is dlss upscaled 1080p.

Orin is not considered by speculator due to its die size and thristy for power nature. It was originally for onboard car compute unit.

Thats why those people gravitate towards xavier, smaller die, less thirsty, and an older tech with proven production like x1 was.

Happy to be proven wrong, but yeah Nintendo love choosing affordable existing tech that have enough for their design language, they've avoid using expensive bleeding edge for quite

Tough it'll be funny as hell if NSwitch pro dock mode able to edge out Xbox series S, while still retain ability to go portable if needed

[Anonymousgg]

Tough it'll be funny as hell if NSwitch pro dock mode able to edge out Xbox series S, while still retain ability to go portable if needed

I'll laugh my a$$ off if they put 10 or 12 GB of RAM in a Switch Pro.

[jack mehoff]

Wherever that cursed Mario goes death and destruction follow!

[Cucumber_Sandwich]

From the CUDA cores count and SMs count from the die shot. Automotive Orin SoC seems to use the same compute variant of Ampere architecture as NVIDIA A100 which is very different from Gaming variant of Ampere. I think they would want to swap that out, so it would have support for more gaming features and be compatible with existing graphic libraries.

[Harrykonstantinos]

Don't know why people jack off about this nonesense.. Really think Nintendo is going to stick a 1660m in a switch without a $800 price tag?

There's a silicon sshortage, the success of the switch originally was the use of a mass production chip that made mass production easy, and that's more important than ever this time.

https://developer.nvidia.com/buy-jetson

Don't know why people haven't noticed this but they made a dev kit suffix with "NX" (the switch codename)separate from the other TX models.

The "Jetson tx1 NX" has the exact gpu, mem, and cpu, with added Denver which they probs deactivated.

The only other NX model they've made is the Xavier NX, which is a 384 core vollta chip with 48 tensor cores. 8gb with double the bandwidth.

It's possible that they've got a sneaky one on the way, but given the previous NX model was bang on, this makes perfect sense, it's powerful enough to run 1080 and had ai for up scaling (because only an idiot would a totally believe they'd pull 4k rendering when the ps4 pro used 1440p)

As I said, this would also alleviate the issues with supply as the XNX board has already been mass produced for cars and would enable them to drop the pro at a far more accessible price point.

A 2048 core switch.... Seriously kids....

[Spunjji]

The "Jetson tx1 NX" has the exact gpu, mem, and cpu, with added Denver which they probs deactivated.

The only other NX model they've made is the Xavier NX, which is a 384 core volta chip with 48 tensor cores. 8gb with double the bandwidth.

This is closer to what I'd expect for a Switch Pro. It's still a substantially larger die than what's in the OG Switch, but perhaps Nvidia have a surplus stock they're willing to shift for cheap? Certainly it's going to be less subject to the current rush of demand than anything manufactured on TSMC 7nm or Samsung 8nm.