"Full Die Shot" Analysis of Nintendo Switch 2 SoC Indicates Samsung 8 nm Production Origins

[T0@st]

Late last month, Kurnal (@Kurnalsalts) shared a partial die shot of a supposed Nintendo Switch 2 chipset—this teaser image seemed to verify previous leaked claims about the forthcoming next-gen hybrid gaming console being powered by a custom NVIDIA "T239" SoC design. Two weeks after the fact, Kurnal has boasted about delivering an alleged "world's first Nintendo Switch 2 die shot." Their social media post included a couple of key specification data points: "Samsung 8N (8 nm), eight Cortex-A78C cores, (shared) 4 MB L2 cache, and 1536 CUDA/6TPC 'Ampere' GPU." Another leaker—Geekerwan—said that they acquired a "Switch 2 motherboard" via Xianyu. This Chinese equivalent to eBay seems to be a veritable treasure trove of tech curiosities.

Earlier on in 2025, black market sellers were attempting to offload complete pre-launch Switch 2 packages for big money. As reported by VideoCardz, recent acquisitions only involved the securing of non-functional motherboard + SoC units—Kurnal disclosed a 1000 RMB (~$138 USD) price point. Digital Foundry's Richard Leadbetter is a very visible advocate of the Switch 2 chipset being based on a mature 8 nm Samsung node process. His personal belief was aimed at certain critics; these opposers predicted 5 nm manufacturing origins. Older leaks suggested a larger than expected die footprint—relative to Switch 1's internal setup; almost twice the size—leading to Leadbetter's conclusion. Comparison charts—produced by Kurnal and Geekerwan—propose an occupied area of 207 mm².




Geekerwan's video description: "the world's first Switch 2 chip! How powerful is the performance?"

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[TheLostSwede]

So a five year old Arm core...

 

[ncrs]

So a five year old Arm core...

In a week Ampere will also be 5 years old (by announce date)

 

[LabRat 891]

Can already smell a Switch 2LL w/ a die shrink, and a Switch 2 Pro w/ a generational revision.

 

[TheLostSwede]

In a week Ampere will also be 5 years old (by announce date)

You'd think they would've picked something a bit more recent for a brand new product, but Nintendo seems to be going its own way as usual.

 

[chrcoluk]

You'd think they would've picked something a bit more recent for a brand new product, but Nintendo seems to be going its own way as usual.

Well they maybe could pick something a year old for the tech enthusiasts, but it would be a dud product costing $1000 to buy?
It only needs to be good enough for its intended purpose, it doesnt need to run the latest AAA at 4k 100fps.
I think it is already overpriced as it is.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Well they maybe could pick something a year old for the tech enthusiasts, but it would be a dud product costing $1000 to buy?
It only needs to be good enough for its intended purpose, it doesnt need to run the latest AAA at 4k 100fps.
I think it is already overpriced as it is.

I think you misunderstand here.
The A78's replacement, which by now is the A725, had three predecessors, the A710, A715 and A720, all of which would have been excellent choices, as they're all ARMv9 based cores, whereas the A78 is using the older ARMv8 instruction set.
We're not even talking the X1-X4 performance cores here, nor the GPU, so no need to get your knickers in a twist about cost.
This is merely a matter of long term software support, since these things are running some variant of Android after all.
It would most likely have cost Nintendo little to nothing to have gone with the newer Arm cores, but it seem like Nvidia might not have a license for them.

On top of that, it's odd that there are no Little cores at all, since a pair of A55 cores would've been able to handle background tasks and what no, while freeing up the A78 cores for the important stuff. It just doesn't look like a good chip for a battery powered device.
Also, the PCIe 4.0 x8 interface appears to not being used, except for maybe one lane being connected to the UFS storage chip.
I really don't get the location on the PCB of that chip though, as it means tricky routing of the PCIe lanes.
Can't find any details on the MTK WiFi and Bluetooth chip.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

You will pay more for less and be happy.

 

[Vya Domus]

Surprisingly large, can hardly be considered a mobile phone-grade SoC, PS5's APU is 300mm^2. And this is for ~5 year old hardware. Lol.

Bet Nintendo regrets going with Nvidia but now they're stuck with them.

 

[igormp]

Wasn't samsung 8nm to be expected since it's using Ampere/Jetson Orin's SoC?
Also interesting how that config is a middle ground between the Orin NX and the AGX.

You'd think they would've picked something a bit more recent for a brand new product, but Nintendo seems to be going its own way as usual.

At least from Nvidia's side, there's no newer option available.
Atlas (Ada-based) was cancelled, and Thor is way too new, and so far only has beefier options available that likely consume way too much power.

It would most likely have cost Nintendo little to nothing to have gone with the newer Arm cores, but it seem like Nvidia might not have a license for them.

I don't think it's a license issue from Nvidia, nor I think Nintendo has any choice on which CPU cores are being used, but rather just picking what SoC is available from Nvidia.

On top of that, it's odd that there are no Little cores at all, since a pair of A55 cores would've been able to handle background tasks and what no, while freeing up the A78 cores for the important stuff. It just doesn't look like a good chip for a battery powered device.

Nvidia has only properly done Little cores with their pascal-based Tegra generation, even on the Maxwell ones the A53 cores were never used and totally removed in later revisions.
Since then there were no other heterogeneous CPUs from Nvidia.

Also, the PCIe 4.0 x8 interface appears to not being used, except for maybe one lane being connected to the UFS storage chip.

Another artifact from being spun out of the regular Orin offerings. Those lanes would be used either for actual NVMe storage, or in-vehicle networking (something like 10GBASE-T1 for all the autonomous fancy features).

I guess the bigger question is not why that SoC, but rather why Nintendo kept the partnership with Nvidia (which we could discuss many different reasons as well)

Surprisingly large, can hardly be considered a mobile phone-grade SoC, PS5's APU is 300mm^2. And this is for ~5 year old hardware. Lol.

Bet Nintendo regrets going with Nvidia but now they're stuck with them.

This is actually small compared to the actual Orin AGX at almost 450mm² lol

https://twitter.com/x/status/1869311677000458418

 

[Space Lynx]

8nm node in 2025 for a 10 yr device huh? honestly, i was on the fence about this anyway with their $95 controller replacement, and metroid prime 4 video doesn't even look that good, the terrain in the gameplay video from last month looks like its a ps3 game. fk it, cancelling my pre-order

 

[QuietBob]

@TheLostSwede
That SoC PMIC is rated for 34.4 W?
Only available in docked mode possibly? I can't imagine this much power being used in handheld mode. OG Switch was 15 W peak.

 

[TheLostSwede]

@TheLostSwede
That SoC PMIC is rated for 34.4 W?
Only available in docked mode possibly? I can't imagine this much power being used in handheld mode. OG Switch was 15 W peak.

No chance there's enough cooling for that kind of power draw either. Could simply be overdesigned, as that isn't entirely unheard of in Arm based solutions.
If nothing else, it means it shouldn't get too hot when charging.

I don't think it's a license issue from Nvidia, nor I think Nintendo has any choice on which CPU cores are being used, but rather just picking what SoC is available from Nvidia.

This. But at the same time, if I got to a company and ask for a custom chip, why would I accept getting whatever leftovers they want to give me?
Unless Nintendo got this for no up front cost and no down payment, this was a bad deal for Nintendo.
The chip really doesn't fit the requirements of the end product.

 

[Baba]

It just needs to play their games at 4k60. Doesn't matter what the hardware is as long as it can do that. They design their games for their hardware. This isn't a PC where you have to have a certain video card for certain performance and resolution level. Hardware that can do above 4k60 is overkill, adds unnecessary cost, and supply chain issues (there is probably more competition for the newer stuff).

 

[yfn_ratchet]

Yeesh. So much for a process node update. They just shuffled around the Orin series a bit and called it good, didn't they?

Then again, this is on brand for the Switch. The hardware is hardly mind-boggling, gets outdone by yester-yesteryear's mobile flagships and for cheaper nowadays, but it doesn't matter when everyone's just gonna whip out the 'but the games are what really matters' schtick.

I just wish it arrived for the $299 price point its older brother did. All would be (mostly) forgiven then.

 

[TheLostSwede]

It just needs to play their games at 4k60. Doesn't matter what the hardware is as long as it can do that. They design their games for their hardware. This isn't a PC where you have to have a certain video card for certain performance and resolution level. Hardware that can do above 4k60 is overkill, adds unnecessary cost, and supply chain issues (there is probably more competition for the newer stuff).

Yeah, no, this thing isn't going to do that, even with optimised games.

 

[ThomasK]

Why are people even surprised at Nintendo pushing last last last gen hardware to its loyal customers? It's not like they won't pay for it anyway.

 

[Onasi]

It just needs to play their games at 4k60. Doesn't matter what the hardware is as long as it can do that. They design their games for their hardware. This isn't a PC where you have to have a certain video card for certain performance and resolution level. Hardware that can do above 4k60 is overkill, adds unnecessary cost, and supply chain issues (there is probably more competition for the newer stuff).

Brother, they already confirmed that it will run 1080p at best in docked mode. Possibly with judicious use of DLSS for things like CP2077. There is not enough juice in this chip to run 4K at any acceptable framerate, let alone 60.
Fuck, currently the PS5 Pro is the most powerful console and THAT cannot run 4K60 consistently in current titles. Switch 2 is significantly less powerful.

 

[Raffles]

Brother, they already confirmed that it will run 1080p at best in docked mode. Possibly with judicious use of DLSS for things like CP2077. There is not enough juice in this chip to run 4K at any acceptable framerate, let alone 60.

The first party stuff is a true 1440p60 at least, 3 out of the 4 games are, with Donkey Kong being 1080p.

Also, for everyone slagging off the machine in this thread, what did you expect? It's around 6 times more powerful than the Switch 1, will be capable of better visuals than a SteamDeck (especially on TV), comes with a big 120hz screen with VRR, and is £400. Seems reasonable to me.

 

[Onasi]

@Raffles
You mean it’s 6 times more powerful than a 10 year old Tegra X1 that wasn’t winning any performance awards even when it released? Truly, a marvel of technology. Stellar progress. I would certainly hope that being the case considering how long it has been and the price they are asking.

But I am being unkind, I am sure that first party stuff will run fine… for a while. But my concern is that, if they plan for another 10 year cycle, it might just not have enough grunt for that going forward.

 

[Baba]

Brother, they already confirmed that it will run 1080p at best in docked mode. Possibly with judicious use of DLSS for things like CP2077. There is not enough juice in this chip to run 4K at any acceptable framerate, let alone 60.
Fuck, currently the PS5 Pro is the most powerful console and THAT cannot run 4K60 consistently in current titles. Switch 2 is significantly less powerful.

I believe it for the 3rd party games. I have a PC to play those. I would only buy Nintendo games for their hardware. I don't consider Nintendo system as the main gaming device. For me, it's just for Mario and Zelda games. It's a terrible investment to only buy for a handful games I guess. I never got into the Switch but after they build up their collection with Mario, Zelda games and remaster the last two switch Zelda games, I'll be tempted to pick up a discounted set at Costco. They usually throw in extra stuff for free. I didn't hear of any performance issues with their own IP on the original Switch so I'm assuming Switch 2 versions should be ok.

 

[Onasi]

I didn't hear of any performance issues with their own IP on the original Switch so I'm assuming Switch 2 versions should be ok.

…what. Tears of the Kingdom literally drops to single digit frames. Most other stuff released recently targets 30 and drops below that target semi-frequently. I recently played through FE Engage and that is running acceptably well for a turn based strategy game, but it looks like absolute ass doing that - there isn’t even proper AF applied. No, the OG Switch has been showing its age even in the first-party games for a while now.

 

[Raffles]

@Raffles
You mean it’s 6 times more powerful than a 10 year old Tegra X1 that wasn’t winning any performance awards even when it released? Truly, a marvel of technology. Stellar progress. I would certainly hope that being the case considering how long it has been and the price they are asking.

But I am being unkind, I am sure that first party stuff will run fine… for a while. But my concern is that, if they plan for another 10 year cycle, it might just not have enough grunt for that going forward.

That's a myth too. Though the CPU absolutely sucks, the Tegra X1 GPU was very good for the time, in the realm of mobile hardware. Especially considering the machine was only £280.

And we're not talking about general purpose PCs here, we're talking about a console with games designed with that hardware in mind, that has resulted in some extremely good looking, polished games, belying the 10 year old mobile hardware.

And again, what do you expect exactly? It's £400 and similar power to a SteamDeck. What better handheld console/PC is there for £400?

I don't see any other handheld machines with the kind of "stellar progress" you speak of, machines that are 2/3 times more powerful than a SteamDeck for £400. The Rog Ally X and Legion Go are almost twice the price, and only around 50% more powerful than a SteamDeck.

 

[watzupken]

For the price of a Switch 2, I think it just makes the Steam Deck OLED more attractive. I won’t just consider the price of the console because games on Nintendo’s store generally cost substantially more than what you find on Steam. Also, you need to buy overpriced storage in the form of micro SD express which runs slower than a SATA 3 based SSD under sustained load. Sure you may not find 1st party Nintendo games on Steam, but I won’t die not playing Mario or Zelda. After all, games are meant for entertainment and not an essential.

 

[Vya Domus]

I suspect the clocks will be abysmal, large chips leak more power, there is a reason mobile SoCs are tiny.