Nintendo Switch 2: Energy-Efficient SoC and Passive Cooling for Longer Playtime

In early May this year, Nintendo released its financial report for the fiscal year 2024, revealing that the cumulative sales of the Nintendo Switch series are approaching those of the NDS series. Additionally, Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has confirmed that the next-generation Nintendo Switch 2 gaming console will be unveiled within this fiscal year, by April 2025.

According to a report by Moore’s Law is Dead, the Nintendo Switch 2 employs a passive cooling design in handheld mode, with power consumption controlled at approximately 5W, offering better battery life than its predecessor. When switched to TV mode, it utilizes more robust cooling to accommodate higher power output, with power consumption rising to between 15W and 30W, resulting in a substantial performance boost. The SoC, designed with energy efficiency in mind from the outset, makes its performance highly competitive.

Despite some differences between the two, Moore’s Law is Dead compares the Nintendo Switch 2 to the familiar Steam Deck, outlining a rough performance benchmark. Although the SoC in the Nintendo Switch 2 is not as powerful as that in the Steam Deck, the former can run games at 60FPS where the latter runs them at 90FPS; if the Steam Deck runs games at 60FPS, the Switch 2 achieves around 40 to 45FPS. NVIDIA’s DLSS and VRR address many issues, potentially even bringing some ray-tracing effects.

Rumors suggest that the Nintendo Switch 2 might ultimately be equipped with 12GB of memory, using LPDDR5-7500 modules with a memory bandwidth of 102GB/s. Additionally, the platform supports 256GB of UFS 3.1 flash storage. It features a custom NVIDIA T239 SoC, with the CPU comprising eight Cortex-A78 cores and the GPU housing 1280 CUDA cores, expected to be manufactured using Samsung’s 8nm process. While the GPU is based on the Ampere architecture, it will incorporate some Ada Lovelace technologies, adding extra custom features.

Compared to its predecessor, the Switch 2 is anticipated to deliver significant performance improvements, likely to satisfy gamers.