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When Nintendo announced the Switch 2, it did not confirm the technical specifications for the chip powering the console. Now a few weeks ahead of launch, the specifications for the Switch 2's Nvidia SoC have been revealed.
Digital Foundry has confirmed the technical specifications for the Switch 2's SoC. While the Switch 1 utilised a Tegra X1 chip based on its Maxwell GPU architecture, the Switch 2 will use an Nvidia T239 chip with graphics based on the much newer Ampere architecture. There is also confirmation on how much of the system's resources are reserved for operating things like the OS and background processes, versus how much of the hardware is accessible for games.
Here are the specs for the Switch 2 processor, up against the original Switch 1 chip:
| Processor | Switch 2 (Nvidia T239) | Switch (Nvidia Tegra X1) |
| CPU Cores | 8x ARM Cortex A78C (2x cores reserved for OS) | 4x ARM Cortex A57 (1x core reserved for OS) |
| CPU clock speeds | 1101MHz (docked) 998MHz (mobile) | 1020MHz (docked & mobile) |
| GPU Architecture | Ampere | Maxwell |
| CUDA Cores | 1536 | 256 |
| GPU clock speeds | 1008MHz (docked) 561MHz (mobile) | 768MHz (docked) 460MHz (mobile) |
| RAM | 12GB LPDDR5 (3GB reserved for OS) | 4GB LPDDR4 (0.8GB reserved for OS) |
| Memory Interface Bandwidth | 102GB/s (docked) 68GB/s (mobile) | 25GB/s (docked) 21GB/s (mobile) |
The GPU in the Switch 2 is ray-tracing capable, measuring in at 10 gigarays per second while mobile and 20 gigarays per second while docked. However, so far, no game for the Switch 2 makes use of ray-traced graphics, so don't go into this expecting the same level of graphical fidelity we find on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S consoles.
The Nintendo Switch 2 launches on the 5th of June. Current-gen titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake have been confirmed for the console, and many Switch 1 titles are receiving graphical updates for the new Switch 2 hardware.
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KitGuru Says: It is going to be a very interesting Summer with the Switch 2 dropping. We'll no doubt see an increase in third-party AAA support in the second half of the year too.
