I can't think of one either.
Are you sure it's just slightly more efficient to have it in the unit?
Running fans at higher speed = more noise. Nintendo hates noisy hardware.
Is there any electronic device where the fan and the chip it's cooling are separated? I can't think of one.
Is there any electronic device where the fan and the chip it's cooling are separated? I can't think of one.
I can think of lots of portable devices that gets hot when running demanding applications.I cant think of any portable devices bar laptops that have fans in them period.
Running fans at higher speed = more noise. Nintendo hates noisy hardware.
I cant think of any portable devices bar laptops that have fans in them period.
You would think with modern low friction bearings it would be rather balanced.
The Switch is portable
Nintendo Switch is a home gaming system first and foremost, - Nintendo.
Interesting.
Regardless of how it's marketed the system is physically portable which necessitates certain things.
Is there any electronic device where the fan and the chip it's cooling are separated? I can't think of one.
And many other, if not all big third party releases that require future patches, installs, etc.
It will be the Wii, Wii U, GameCube, etc all over again.
Third parties aren't going to gimp the actual console versions to somehow fit them within the Switches lowest common dominator guidelines.
Sigh.
I wonder how many others are failing to see the pun in this post. It's probably because the bold doesn't show as well in the Dark GAF theme.
Shield portable has a fan in it.
And many other, if not all big third party releases that require future patches, installs, etc.
It will be the Wii, Wii U, GameCube, etc all over again.
Third parties aren't going to gimp the actual console versions to somehow fit them within the Switches lowest common dominator guidelines.
Sigh.
That's exactly why I didn't see the pun actually.
I can think of lots of portable devices that gets hot when running demanding applications.
Shield portable has a fan in it.
I do that now with a Vita + Remote Play
Most portable devices aren't designed primarily to run taxing software all the time. You don't want gaming hardware to get hot and you don't want throttling.They let it get hot as opposed to a fan. Isn't that kind of the idea? Like unless you really need the fan you wouldn't bother.
Most portable devices aren't designed primarily to run taxing software all the time. You don't want gaming hardware to get hot and you don't want throttling.
Doh, I should have noticed it's the AC wiki page. Silly me.Surely this only applied to input ratings on power supplies, not output ratings (which is what's being discussed here)?
That's exactly why I didn't see the pun actually.
But why an internal fan as opposed to just lowering the clock and adding another SM to reduce heat?
The Switch is portable
Nintendo Switch is a home gaming system first and foremost, - Nintendo.
Interesting.
Cuningas de Häme;227410584 said:One thing I am SO HAPPY about the Switch HW is that I don't have to listen spinning discs anymore. I hate that sound so much.
It is just the right frequence or something to mess with my ears. It doesn't matter whether it's a CD or a DVD or a game disk, the sound is really awful.
I am one of those people with a good hearing and don't like to listen stuff too loud.
65C02 FTW.The HW architecture might not even function below a certain clock. There's a good reason why idle clocks aren't just 1MHz.![]()
Doesn't active cooling in the unit itself suggest more cores? IIRC we know about the clock speed, but not the number of cores, given. Given that the clocks are sufficiently low to seem to not necessitate a fan, and assuming that Nintendo wouldn't put a fan in (that may be noisy or fragile) unless absolutely necessary, wouldn't logic dictate that either A. the fan is necessary for some reason (more cores, more heat) or B. The fan won't be in the final SKU (however we've seen the retail SKU on Fallon and it has the vents, suggesting a fan. What would be the benefit of lower clocks, but more cores (perhaps on a smaller die?). Would that be quieter or more power efficient than fewer cores at a higher clock?
Not a tech guy anyone wanna chime in?
First one is extremely unlikely though and all of that ignores the patents for Switch. The patents say that there is only a fan in the handheld (nothing in the Dock) and also state clearly that the fan is used in handheld mode. With the fan speed increasing in docked mode.
I do agree with you though that it doesn't mean there have to be more shader cores. But I think it does heavily suggest something else is going on, wether its a more powerful CPU, more CPU cores, more shader cores, embedded memory added ect. There has to be some kind of customisation that's upping power usage IMO.
Its more power efficient to have more cores at a lower frequency than less at a higher frequency. Yes for me active cooling in handheld mode suggests there's something we don't know about the systems hardware. As in something more than just Tegra Maxwell has as that SoC should be less than 2.5 Watts at those clock speeds, nowhere near needing a fan.
Let's just wait until the 12th I know it will be hard... but I will put a lot of money on most people being satisfied... unless they want a ps4 Xbox one clone.
I believe a customization of the memory setup is almost a guarantee. It sounds like the memory of the TX1 was its bottleneck, and that has traditionally been the one thing Nintendo pays very close attention to since the N64.I do agree with you though that it doesn't mean there have to be more shader cores. But I think it does heavily suggest something else is going on, wether its a more powerful CPU, more CPU cores, more shader cores, embedded memory added ect. There has to be some kind of customisation that's upping power usage IMO.
Shield Android TV is up to 20 watt when used for gaming.
Hmm. Does anyone knows the watts used for the 3DS/n3DS GPU and CPU?At completely different clock speeds yes the entire system uses 19.4 watts. Shield TV is clocked at 2Ghz CPU and 1Ghz GPU, the CPU alone uses nearly 7 watts at that frequency and the GPU will be using somewhere around 4-5 watts.
At Switch handheld frequencies the same CPU would use around 1.7w and the same GPU well under 1w.
Actually, every single Nintendo home console or handheld had a pool of memory dedicated to the GPU excepted for the N64 which was considered one of the major bottleneck of the system since RAM it was pretty slow. I thought that systems like the GB, GBA and DS didn't had any VRAM but I double checked and I was wrong after all.I believe a customization of the memory setup is almost a guarantee. It sounds like the memory of the TX1 was its bottleneck, and that has traditionally been the one thing Nintendo pays very close attention to since the N64.
Shield portable has a fan in it.
Acer Chromebook 13 (TK1) is fanless.Aren't some Nvidia Tegra K1 Chromebooks fanless right?
I would think there wouldn't be an issue with the Switch using updated chips, especially if they are going to downclock them anyway.
It uses the K1 right... well then.
Yeah. What options are there for Nintendo and VRAM/EDRAM for the Switch?Actually, every single Nintendo home console or handheld had a pool of memory dedicated to the GPU excepted for the N64 which was considered one of the major bottleneck of the system since RAM it was pretty slow. I thought that systems like the GB, GBA and DS didn't had any VRAM but I double checked and I was wrong after all.
First one is extremely unlikely though and all of that ignores the patents for Switch. The patents say that there is only a fan in the handheld (nothing in the Dock) and also state clearly that the fan is used in handheld mode. With the fan speed increasing in docked mode.
Every Nintendo ARM-based SoC always had some eSRAM (used as the VRAM) on the die. The GBA had 96KB + 32KB (a mem config probably related to BC with the GBC) of VRAM, 656KB for the DS, 6MB for the 3DS and 10MB for the N3DS. So the Switch not having any VRAM would actually be a first for them in the handheld space. As far as the options available to them, I have no clue. It's been suggested that a pool a VRAM might be unnecessary because of TBR.Yeah. What options are there for Nintendo and VRAM/EDRAM for the Switch?
Why do you believe so?It will be one pool of memory they are not going to go with two.