Analysis of leaked photos of the Nintendo Switch 2 motherboard suggests the brand new console will probably be extra highly effective than it first appears.
2025 has continued simply as 2024 ended: with infinite Nintendo Switch 2 leaks, most of which seem like actual. There’s been quite a lot of give attention to the brand new Joy-Cons however what was additionally leaked over the brand new yr was photos of the brand new console’s motherboard.
According to the tech specialists at Digital Foundry, the pictures are virtually definitely actual and they also and others have been capable of make fairly detailed estimates of the console’s energy and what it might probably and may’t do.
It is, as you’d think about, all very sophisticated however the gist of it’s that they estimate the Switch 2 will probably be roughly as highly effective as a base PlayStation 4 (so not a PS4 Pro). However, that comes with quite a lot of caveats, and so they additionally predict that many Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 video games will probably be ported to the Switch 2, even when they don’t run fairly as nicely on it.
On paper, it’s prompt that the Switch 2 appears to be much less highly effective than Steam Deck and different PC-based transportable gadget, however Digital Foundry factors out that uncooked tech specs are by no means a superb indication of what a console can really do.
Importantly, they emphasise that, not like the unique Switch, Nintendo was immediately concerned within the design of the brand new {hardware} and so there will probably be a number of options and ‘secret sauce’ that can enable the Switch 2 to run video games with higher than anticipated efficiency.
It’s predicted that the brand new console will be capable of make use of machine studying options, together with upscaling tech like DLSS, in addition to ray-tracing. And whereas the Switch 2 doesn’t appear to have a SSD, load instances are anticipated to be ‘significantly lowered’ due to a customized decompression block.
Although the Switch 2’s efficiency is in comparison with a standard PlayStation 4, this will probably be augmented by Nvidia DLSS and ‘fashionable GPU options and strong ray-tracing assist’.
As such, it’s predicted that there’ll be a variety of PlayStation 4 period ports, with many video games and franchises which have by no means appeared on a Nintendo console earlier than.
On prime of that, Digital Foundry predict that there may even be PlayStation 5 period ports, albeit operating at a body price of 30fps as an alternative of 60fps and certain with different compromises.
The comparability is made between the present Switch and its array of ‘unattainable ports’, like Doom (2016) and The Witcher 3 which, whereas inferior to the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 4 variations, nonetheless look and run surprisingly nicely.
These are solely predictions, however there have already been experiences of the Switch 2 having fun with important third celebration assist from launch and it was broadly assumed, earlier than the motherboard leak, that the brand new console could be not less than as highly effective because the PlayStation 4.
It will virtually definitely be Nintendo’s personal video games which push the console the furthest, however to date there’s been no substantial leaks about what video games there’ll be at launch and past.
That’s why, regardless of all these {hardware} leaks, the official reveal will nonetheless be massively thrilling, as we nonetheless know nothing about an important facet of the brand new console: the video games.
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