We got more details this week that the original Switch was getting a hardware refresh, alongside the announcement of the Switch Lite. But rather than having to wait for the arrival of the Switch Lite, the homebrew community has offered some key details of what everyone can expected from the updated base Switch models.
Mike Heskin is a British-based security researcher and a long-time member of the Switch and Vita homebrew communities. Because of their heavy programming and infosec background, a lot of what they post isn’t that interesting to the average gamer. But with the recent Switch Lite announcement, and dataminers having already discovered support for revisions to the Tegra SoC within the original Switch in firmware updates, Heskin’s feed got a little more interesting this morning.
Nintendo’s letter this month to the Federal Communications Commission confirmed that the SoC and NAND memory were getting updated, but Heskin offered some extra detail that should help outline what people can expect from a refreshed Switch.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/07/nintendo-switch-hardware-refresh-new-tegra-soc/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2017/03/SAM-0155-1.jpg” title=”The Original Switch Is Getting A Hardware Refresh” excerpt=”So the Switch Lite has been announced. But it seems like the original Switch is getting a hardware refresh as well, according to documents filed by Nintendo with the Federal Communication Commission.”]
Since firmware 5.0.0, one of the Switch’s system modules (PCV) has been crucial in providing insight on future hardware. This is what we know for sure:
– Three hardware lines: one for Erista/T210 units (Original Switch), two for Mariko/T210B01/T214 units (Lite and “New” Switch);— Mike Heskin (@hexkyz) July 11, 2019
– Original T210 hardware has 4GB (retail) or 6GB (dev) LPDDR4 DRAM;
– New T214 hardware has 4GB or 8GB LPDDR4x DRAM with planned support for 10nm chips;— Mike Heskin (@hexkyz) July 11, 2019
– Original T210 hardware used the GM20B GPU;
– New T214 hardware uses the GM20B_B (internal name) GPU;
– Original T210 hardware used the MAX77621 PMIC (for CPU and GPU);
– New T214 hardware uses the MAX77812 PMIC (for CPU, GPU and DRAM).— Mike Heskin (@hexkyz) July 11, 2019
Both Lite and “New” (real name remains unknown) have the same T214 SoC (which backports security mechanisms from more modern SoCs) and both use LPDDR4x DRAM (which grants a small battery longevity boost due to the lower voltages required).
— Mike Heskin (@hexkyz) July 11, 2019
What Heskin mentions about the updated RAM explains why the Switch Lite offers extra battery life (depending on the game) compared to the original Switch, even though the actual battery in the Lite has less capacity. The memory modules don’t require as much voltage, which means the unit uses less power.
The new hardware will also have a slightly upgraded GPU with improved GPU clock speeds, but again, this is just a minor revision of largely the same hardware. It’s not the significant bump in CPU and GPU that the Switch would get if, for instance, it swapped out the Tegra X1 for the Tegra X2 chip that’s in the Magic Leap Pro.
But it’s worth remembering that the Switch deliberately downclocks the hardware in portable mode. That’ll still be the case with the new hardware, but as mentioned before, the improved power efficiencies should mean the fans won’t have to work as hard. (The cooling vents at the top of the system should also be smaller, as you can see at the top of the Switch Lite.) So where you might see the extra performance gain will be when docked.
The downcast element of all of this is, as far as Heskin is concerned, is that there’s no evidence of the rumoured Switch Pro that has been floating around earlier this year. The Wall Street Journal and Nikkei both reported that Nintendo was working on two new models of the Switch, which was partially corroborated with the official reveal of the Switch Lite this week. The WSJ reconfirmed their reporting this week that Nintendo is still planning to release “an enhanced version of the Switch”, but the homebrew community hasn’t seen any references in the Switch firmware that would support a wholly different SoC.
“There’s absolutely no evidence of an actual “Pro” version … at least not in the sense that it would be based off of the Tegra X2 or have massive performance and/or memory improvements,” Heskin wrote.