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Switch 2 Performance: Is There Any Hidden Headroom Left?

Dorfdad

Gold Member
The Switch 2 has been a massive success relative to expectations for its first year, but because the console was a known entity long before release, its hardware limitations were largely baked in. DLSS has certainly helped, but I am wondering if there is any untapped potential left to exploit going forward.

Frame Gen doesn't seem possible with the current hardware. While we will likely see incremental DLSS refinements, does anyone believe we can squeeze out a 30% performance improvement over the rest of the system's lifespan, or are we already at the pinnacle—meaning only a hardware revision could push things further?

Perhaps a Switch 2 OLED model would include a "Pro" spec bump, utilizing the new screen to finally hit those 4K/60 targets?

what's your take on the switch 2 moving forward!? Honestly interested!
 
Secret Sauce again?
Hungry Fast Food GIF by frittenwerk
 
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There was talk that Nintendo might eventually be able to free up some of the RAM and CPU power currently reserved for the OS, especially if they allow devs to deactivate GameChat functionality while their game is running. Not sure when or if that will actually happen.

There are also definitely going to be improvements as developers learn the nuances of the hardware and various game engines implement optimizations tailored specifically to the Switch 2.
 
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uh... not really.

the times of devs learning hardware over years of optimising stuff for it are long over.

these days you basically see what a system can do within the first year or so
 
these days you basically see what a system can do within the first year or so

If you look at very good ports like SW:Outlaws, Nintendos First Party Titles really fall a bit short in comparison from the technical site. I hope all year 2 titles and beyond use proper DLSS.

I also really hope they somehow make VRR in docked mode possible.
 
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It has entry lvl 2021 nvidia tech, and its launch was pushed back solid couple years coz og switch was selling like crazy, we likely saw max or close to max of its capabilities already, so in future games something gonna have to give, resolution, framerate or graphic fidelity, normally when we talking stationary console hardware u can only have 2 out of 3, in case of switch2 since its so weak(and has handheld hardware) we will likely only gonna get 2 out of 3 too, sometimes maybe only 1 out of 3...

Next jrpg from monolith soft likely gonna be final litmus test, if that doesnt look impressive likely nothing will(and keep in mind it will likely have terribly bad image quality and framerate, same like their xenoblade chronicles 3 had on og switch)
For comparision, thats how SW: O looks and runs on switch2


On super weak(but still much stronger) 3050 it looks visibly better/at higher settings and runs way smoother too, timestamped so u can compare directly:


And just for reference, look where desktop rtx 3050 8gigs version stacks up among modern graphic cards (it launched jan 2022 on 8nm, 250$ msrp):
Again for comparision, 16gigs 9060xt aka ps5pr0 equivalent is roughly at 257% perf lvl in games(in other worlds 2,5x stronger), nuff said...

True problematic times for switch2 graphical prowess(or rather lack there of) will start durning x-gen so end of 2027 and onwards, by that time many multiplats either gonna have to be downgraded to hell and back to run on it or devs gonna decide its not worth their effort and simply not port the game at all...
So u got about 1,5 years left, after that brace for impact :messenger_astonished:
 
I already set my expectations before launch.

Much easier to accept that you're better off going elsewhere for 3rd party. But if you like Nintendo, what we get is what we get.

If this is your only system, then 3rd party will just be...okay.
 
Even in 8K and 240 frames per second, Metroid Prime 4 will always be the child that should have remained hidden in the basement.
 
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