One of the biggest leaks about the Nintendo Switch 2 came after a technical analysis by a Chinese fan was published online. The motherboard of the new console appeared on resale websites in the Chinese market, allowing for its complete disassembly. This resulted in detailed images and previously unreleased information about the hardware being leaked online.
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The new Switch will be equipped with the NVIDIA T239 chip, created exclusively for Nintendo. It features LPDDR5X RAM, fast storage, and more advanced graphics.
A new Nintendo Switch 2 leak has surfaced in China
The content was released by the channel 极客湾Geekerwan, known for detailed analyses of electronic components. Although the obtained board is not yet functional, it has been powered on. This allowed for partial testing and confirmation of several specifications that had already been circulating in rumors.
Analysis based on chip engineering and performance simulations indicates that the new console could achieve up to seven times the performance of the current version.
The T239 SoC combines modern architecture and energy efficiency
The heart of the Nintendo Switch 2 will be the NVIDIA T239 SoC, a custom chip that combines an eight-core ARM Cortex-A78C CPU with a GPU based on the Ampere architecture. Each processor core has 256 KB of L2 cache, while the system shares 4 MB of L3 cache. The chip is manufactured using the Samsung 8N process, an advanced variation of the 8 nm node, which prioritizes energy efficiency and transistor density.
The GPU, with 1,536 CUDA cores, represents a remarkable leap compared to the Tegra X1 chip used in the original Switch. It's organized into six texture processing clusters (TPCs), with two stream processors (SMs) each. Furthermore, the graphics unit more closely resembles the Ada Lovelace architecture used in the RTX 40 series than the traditional Ampere architecture of the RTX 30 line.
With support for modern technologies such as DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) and basic ray tracing, the new GPU significantly expands the console's graphics potential. According to the analysis, the chip die is 207 mm², twice the size of the previous graphics processor. In other words, this indicates greater processing capacity and more space for complex graphics features.
Fast memory and expanded storage enhance the technical upgrade
Another point confirmed in the leak is the presence of two 6 GB LPDDR5X memory chips each, totaling 12 GB on a 128-bit bus. With a maximum specification of 8,533 MT/s, this configuration guarantees high bandwidth, although the final version of the console should operate at lower speeds to save energy in portable use.
Internal storage has also been upgraded, with the inclusion of a 256 GB UFS 3.1 chip manufactured by SK Hynix. This represents a significant improvement over the previous model, which had only 32 GB of flash memory and much slower read and write speeds.
Simulations indicate performance up to 7.5 times greater than the original Switch
Since the motherboard is not yet fully functional, Geekerwan used a notebook RTX 2050, with GA107 architecture, to simulate the behavior of the T239 SoC. Thus, by limiting frequency and power consumption, the test sought to reproduce realistic scenarios in both portable and docked modes.
In docked mode, the GPU reaches 755 MHz and the CPU runs at 998 MHz. In this configuration, tests estimate performance similar to a GTX 1050 Ti with DLSS support, scoring around 2,100 in the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark. In portable mode, with the GPU at 421 MHz and the CPU at 1.1 GHz, the simulated performance is equivalent to a GTX 750 Ti, scoring around 1,300 points in the same test.
This performance represents a leap of up to 7.5 times over the first Switch, although it falls short of NVIDIA's initial expectations, which projected up to ten times more power.
Demanding games should run with adaptive resolution and DLSS
Based on simulations, popular and demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Black Myth: Wukong could run on the Nintendo Switch 2, thanks to the intensive use of DLSS to compensate for native resolution limitations. In docked mode, Cyberpunk 2077 should reach 30 frames per second at 1080p with DLSS, from an internal resolution of 720p. In handheld mode, the internal resolution can drop to 360p, maintaining between 30 and 40 frames.
For Black Myth: Wukong, estimates indicate that the game could reach 30 FPS in docked mode with an internal resolution of 626p and balanced DLSS. In handheld mode, performance is more limited, even with lower resolutions and DLSS enabled.
Other titles, such as Monster Hunter Wilds, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Call of Duty, also appear in the predictions. Performance, while variable, points to an experience closer to last-generation consoles like the PlayStation 4, with the advantage of modern upscaling technologies.
The Nintendo Switch 2's limited CPU is the weak point of the new generation
Despite the graphical advancements, the Switch 2 could be a bottleneck. With a frequency of only 1.1 GHz in handheld mode and 998 MHz in docked mode, performance in more demanding tasks is expected to be inferior to rivals like the Steam Deck. In simulated tests, the multi-core score on Geekbench 6 was approximately 2,500 points, which represents about two-thirds of the performance of Valve's console.
The leak confirms several pieces of information that had already been speculated, but it also provides concrete data on what to expect from the new Nintendo Switch. With real images of the motherboard, details of the T239 SoC, and performance simulations in real games, the content has become the main technical source about Nintendo's future console.
