At the recent grand reveal of the Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo captured everyone’s attention, but they kept mum about the details of the chip powering the new console. Thankfully, Nvidia, the company crafting the custom system on a chip, shed some light in a recent blog post.
At a developer roundtable, Tetsuya Sasaki, the technical director for the Switch 2, commented, “Nintendo doesn’t divulge much about the hardware specs. Instead, we really want to emphasize the value we bring to our consumers.” Following this sentiment, Nvidia also chose not to share specifics like core counts or speeds. However, they did boast that the new chip offers graphics performance that’s ten times better than the original Switch.
The chip includes RT cores for hardware ray tracing, lighting, and reflections, and tensor cores for DLSS upscaling. It seems DLSS will be key to achieving 4K performance when the system is docked and maintaining up to 120 frames per second in handheld mode.
There’s more—the tensor cores also facilitate AI-driven features like face tracking and background removal, showcased with the new social GameChat feature and in games such as Super Mario Party Jamboree: Nintendo Switch 2 Edition + Jamboree TV. While it’s not clear if this technology is related to Nvidia Broadcast for PC, it’s definitely a game-changer.
On top of that, Nvidia confirmed that the Switch 2’s new variable refresh rate (VRR) display is backed by G-Sync in handheld mode, which will help to eliminate screen tearing.
It’s worth noting that Nvidia was also behind the original Nintendo Switch, using a modified Tegra X1 chip. Despite being a bit aged even then, Nintendo managed to continually push out games for it over the last eight years—a testament to its longevity.
As excited as we all are, the real test will be to see how much developers can milk from this new powerhouse chip when the Switch 2 hits the shelves on June 5, priced at $449.99.
