Jensen Huang on Switch 2's Custom NVIDIA SoC: "Unlike Anything We've Ever Built Before"

[T0@st]

Nintendo's Switch 2 hybrid console is due to arrive at retail tomorrow (June 5), and pre-launch marketing campaigns are in full swing. The Japanese gaming giant has called in a high profile partner—Jensen Huang—to add some surprisingly technical heft during hype festivities. At this stage in time, NVIDIA's Tegra "T239" chipset is a well known quantity—thanks to years of leaked "internal info," and disabled examples turning up for close analysis in China. Industry experts did not anticipate Nintendo's fairly frank discussions that covered Switch 2's hardware capabilities. The Nintendo "Creator's Voice" video series has featured a number of high-profile third-party software development buddies (including CD Projekt RED), but yesterday's Team Green CEO contribution received widespread press attention.

Jensen paid tribute to Satoru Iwata, a former and much missed Nintendo president. Their collaboration started during the era of OG Switch development: "he wanted to create something no one had seen before. A console powerful enough for big, cinematic games—but small enough to take anywhere. It sounded impossible. But that vision became the original Nintendo Switch. We lost Iwata-san before the launch, but his clarity, his purpose, it still inspires our work every day. Together, we poured everything into that system." As mentioned back in April, NVIDIA dedicated significant resources into making their latest "technical marvel."




Jensen outlined key features: "to take (that) original vision further, (we) had to reinvent everything...The chip inside Nintendo Switch 2 is unlike anything we've built before. The most advanced graphics ever in a mobile device. Full hardware ray tracing. High dynamic range (HDR) for brighter highlights and deeper shadows, and an architecture that supports backward compatibility. Dedicated AI processors to sharpen, animate and enhance gameplay in real time. (The chip) is ultra-low power; we optimized the semiconductor process technology for high performance in a handheld device, so we can go wherever you go...Switch 2 is more than a new console; it's a new chapter, worthy of Iwata-san's vision."

Nintendo's video description: "in this special edition of Creator's Voice, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang shares some insights into the creation of Nintendo Switch 2's custom processor."

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Neo_Morpheus]

Jensen Huang on Switch 2's Custom NVIDIA SoC: "Unlike Anything We've Ever Built Before"​

I hope so, since its supposed to be a new chip.....

 

[sephiroth117]

My only "tech" regrets around the switch 2 are not using TSMC 7nm for price/scalability and the LCD not being OLED or mini-led

Other than that, hopefully it should do the job fine for what it is, with time and with Nintendo improving SDKs, reducing system memory footprint etc it should be better

 

[mb194dc]

He's so full of it it's hard to take anything he says seriously and without a mountain of salt...

 

[Sabotaged_Enigma]

Huang: Hopefully this time it won't lose any ROPs

 

[Dragokar]

My only "tech" regrets around the switch 2 are not using TSMC 7nm for price/scalability and the LCD not being OLED or mini-led

Other than that, hopefully it should do the job fine for what it is, with time and with Nintendo improving SDKs, reducing system memory footprint etc it should be better

You will get the Switch 2 Pro/OLED later on.

 

[Leooooo1061]

I seriously wouldn't buy that. $449? This handheld device is now more expensive than a PS5 or a Xbox Series S with a WAY LESS powerful chip AND less games. The APU in the Series S is 3.27x faster than the one found in the Switch 2, AND the GPU clock speed is 558mhz faster (1007 for the switch 2 and 1565for Xbox according to TPU specs). For 449$ the online chat feature STILL requires a subscription of some sort to unlock, the mouse feature of the joy-cons are basically pointless except for a few FPS games, and in addition to that you get a LED screen, not an OLED one. The only advantage over the PS5 and the Xbox is that it is a handheld console (with reduced graphics when playing handheld), which is still not worth paying nearly 100$ more for. In my opinion it is sort of POS like the Wii U; overpriced and accompanied by just a few new game releases. I'm already VERY happy with my OLED ver. of the original switch and I would rather not waste my money on this.

You will get the Switch 2 Pro/OLED later on.

Hopefully. Because the current LED one is a total disappointment for me.

Anyway. Wanna bet how long it takes for this to be hacked? I'm guessing a month or so.

 

[Hecate91]

I hope so, since its supposed to be a new chip.....

A new chip built on 5 year old tech.

But it's funny to see Jensen talk about the switch 2 SoC more than he did about anything with Geforce during the Computex keynote.

 

[rv8000]

I seriously wouldn't buy that. $449? This handheld device is now more expensive than a PS5 or a Xbox Series S with a WAY LESS powerful chip AND less games. The APU in the Series S is 3.27x faster than the one found in the Switch 2, AND the GPU clock speed is 558mhz faster (1007 for the switch 2 and 1565for Xbox according to TPU specs). For 449$ the online chat feature STILL requires a subscription of some sort to unlock, the mouse feature of the joy-cons are basically pointless except for a few FPS games, and in addition to that you get a LED screen, not an OLED one. The only advantage over the PS5 and the Xbox is that it is a handheld console (with reduced graphics when playing handheld), which is still not worth paying nearly 100$ more for. In my opinion it is sort of POS like the Wii U; overpriced and accompanied by just a few new game releases. I'm already VERY happy with my OLED ver. of the original switch and I would rather not waste my money on this.


Hopefully. Because the current LED one is a total disappointment for me.

Anyway. Wanna bet how long it takes for this to be hacked? I'm guessing a month or so.

I disagree on the screen end. Switch 2 supports VRR in handheld mode, and OLED still has flickering issues which is a big nono. On top of that an OLED screen will use more of the power budget on an already shorter battery life.

Consoles and PC are not handhelds and are not comparable, so many people have some weird hangups here. First party games will look and run great, which is 99% of the reason to own or buy a nintendo console.

The price is steep, but that’s the world we live in now.

 

[azrael]

A new chip built on 5 year old tech.

But it's funny to see Jensen talk about the switch 2 SoC more than he did about anything with Geforce during the Computex keynote.

You have to give it to Jensen, though. Selling 5 year old tech at today's inflated price is quite the achievement.

 

[kiniku]

Not sure why people trash his comments. We'll see right? But I for one am pleased to see a very popular console use Nvidia instead of AMD hardware.

 

[Trompochi]

The more you buy, the more you save....

 

[igormp]

"Unlike Anything We've Ever Built Before"​

*Apart from the fact that this is just a spin off or their tegra orin lineup from 2~3 years ago.

 

[Daven]

Jensen Huang on Switch 2's Custom NVIDIA SoC: "Unlike Anything We've Ever Built Before 2020"​

Fixed the title for ya.

 

[bonehead123]

Jacket Man speaks, and you BETTA listen....

or else he'll have his AI-powered firmware bots track down your machine & install some boomwarez on it, hahahahahahahaha..

 

[Rover4444]

Isn't it literally based on Ampere though?

 

[destruya]

Huang: Hopefully this time it won't lose any ROPs

Or have dies become detached from the substrate because they rushed the process to make the release date. They're kinda due for another one of those.

 

[sLowEnd]

I'm disappointed, but not surprised that they stuck with Samsung 8nm for the Switch 2's SoC. Hopefully the usual mid-cycle refresh moves on to something better.

 

[SUPERREDDEVIL]

 

[cvaldes]

Isn't it literally based on Ampere though?

My understanding from semiconductor rumor sites (from the past few months) is that T239 has hybrid graphics. The primary graphics cores are apparently Ampere, the raytracing and tensor (ML) cores are apparently based on Ada Lovelace. Therefore, there is no easy comparison with existing PC graphics GPUs.

It is likely we will see more in-depth third party analyses in the upcoming weeks after teardown specialists get a closer look at the hardware.

 

[SUPERREDDEVIL]

My understanding from semiconductor rumor sites (from the past few months) is that T239 has hybrid graphics. The primary graphics cores are apparently Ampere, the raytracing and tensor (ML) cores are apparently based on Ada Lovelace. Therefore, there is no easy comparison with existing PC graphics GPUs.

It is likely we will see more in-depth third party analyses in the upcoming weeks after teardown specialists get a closer look at the hardware.

 

[JustBenching]

I seriously wouldn't buy that. $449? This handheld device is now more expensive than a PS5 or a Xbox Series S with a WAY LESS powerful chip AND less games. The APU in the Series S is 3.27x faster than the one found in the Switch 2, AND the GPU clock speed is 558mhz faster (1007 for the switch 2 and 1565for Xbox according to TPU specs).

Do people need to be reminded that this is a handheld first device? How much faster is the ps5 pro unplugged sitting on your lap?

 

[Rover4444]

My understanding from semiconductor rumor sites (from the past few months) is that T239 has hybrid graphics. The primary graphics cores are apparently Ampere, the raytracing and tensor (ML) cores are apparently based on Ada Lovelace. Therefore, there is no easy comparison with existing PC graphics GPUs.

It is likely we will see more in-depth third party analyses in the upcoming weeks after teardown specialists get a closer look at the hardware.

Backported hardware, very interesting. I wish they'd do this with actual GPUs every once in a while.

 

[Rightness_1]

This awful man would lie to sell his own mother for profit!

 

[Caring1]

And there's this