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Rumor | Nintendo Switch 2 May Use Samsung 5th Generation V-NAND With up to 1.4 GB/S Read Speed

tusharngf

Member
black-friday-nintendo-switch-sales-740x416.jpg


The Nintendo Switch 2 may use Samsung 5th generation V-NAND, which would be a huge step up from its predecessor, judging from some recent findings.

As reported by Doctre81 in a new video shared on YouTube, the LinkedIn page of a former Samsung Electronics Device Solution Division Senior Director who's been at the company until 2019 lists among key qualifications and responsibilities having led the development of a NAND Flash Controller device for an unspecified Nintendo game card. Among the key achievements, the former Samsung employee also lists the development of Secure eMMC Card powered by Samsung Memory's 5th generation V-NAND Flash, which seems to line up not only with the NAND Flash Controller device for the unspecified Nintendo game card but also with some other information, such as innovating security for unspecified proprietary hardware and designing a new PUF IP (Physical Unclonable Function).
The Nintendo Switch 2 requiring faster read speeds than its predecessor isn't exactly surprising, but Nintendo using Samsung 5th Generation V-NAND is still great news, even though it is, by today's standards, somewhat dated tech, as Samsung is working on 9th and 10th generations V-NAND, with the latter planned to be released in 2025. Still, the up to 1.4 GB/s speeds featured by the 5th generation should be more than enough for the new console, and a major step up from its predecessor.

Very little is known about the Nintendo Switch 2, other than the fact that it will be powered once again by NVIDIA technology. The T239 chip will be a massive step up over the Tegra X1 chip powering the current Nintendo system, as it is said to support features such as NVIDIA DLSS upscaling and Ray Reconstruction that is will likely make it the best ray tracing capable gaming system on the market.

Source: https://wccftech.com/nintendo-switch-2-samsung-v-nand/
 

tylrdiablos

Member
feel fridge GIF

Oh look, another load of nothing.

Nintendo are developing a new console, of course they're experimenting with different types of tech from different vendors.

Until Nintendo officially release some facts and figures, you can ignore these "rumour" topics. You'll only end up disappointed and/or confused.
 

Zathalus

Member
I wonder how storage expansion will work on the new Switch? Custom SSD solution like Xbox? Can't imagine Nintendo will go with the open console to screw in SSD route.
 

Dr. Wilkinson

Gold Member
Nintendo's slowly moving away from prioritizing dated tech, but it's definitely still part of their core DNA when it comes to hardware design, ever since the Wii. For consoles, prior to Wii, they focused on specs and state-of-the-art. GameCube was more powerful than PS2, for example. N64 was obviously way more advanced than PSOne, outside of media format. But specifically across their entire handheld line starting with Game Boy in 1989, they've always used this design philosophy of applying older technologies in new ways. That stemmed more from the purposeful approach of prioritizing battery life over everything else. Which was of course the right call, clearly.
 
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Dr. Wilkinson

Gold Member
I wonder how expensive these new game cards based on this tech will be... 3rd party publishers already groan at the thought of shelling out money for those pricier 32GB carts.
Reminds me of the good' ol days from NES thru N64 when third-parties hated how they had to purchase the carts directly from Nintendo, where Nintendo would make money not only on the purchased software, but also from the sale of the cart itself. Well, the good 'ol days in Nintendo's eyes, anyway :messenger_winking:.

Those 64GB Switch carts that were projected to be made available in 2019 never did become available, did they?
 
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Dr. Wilkinson

Gold Member
NAND generations mostly just refer to the number of layers the dies use (this is a ~92-layer-class NAND), so there's not really any useful information without us knowing the number of dies per chip, number of chips and speed bins.
It really just matters that internal system memory will be near or at SSD speeds. And same with Switch 2 carts. I assume that's what they're targeting, but of course always have to balance with battery life targets. Nowadays, you can't launch new hardware that is noticeably slower than SSD speeds. Everything else uses it, Nintendo knows they need storage and data reads to be very, very fast because that's what people expect now from their game systems. And I fully expect that to happen for next-gen Nintendo. They're very dialed-in to what people expect.
 
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Expect a PS4 GPU wise in handheld mode. Expect a PS4 Pro GPU with a 5x more powerful CPU, with 4GB more RAM and a circa 2019 SSD when docked.

This is a mammoth leap over the current Switch and more powerful than Steam Deck in some ways in the Switch form factor with better battery life. It's a win!
 
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Dr. Wilkinson

Gold Member
Expect a PS4 GPU wise in handheld mode. Expect a PS4 Pro GPU with a 5x more powerful CPU, with 4GB more RAM and a circa 2019 SSD when docked.

This is a mammoth leap over the current Switch and more powerful than Steam Deck in some ways in the Switch form factor with better battery life. It's a win!
The question is, can Nintendo package that in at $399 retail and still make a bit of money on it? They can't sell hardware at a loss, like Msoft and Sony can. Not when 90% of their revenue is from their hardware/software business. And no way they're aiming to launch a console more than $400.
 
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Bernoulli

M2 slut
Expect a PS4 GPU wise in handheld mode. Expect a PS4 Pro GPU with a 5x more powerful CPU, with 4GB more RAM and a circa 2019 SSD when docked.

This is a mammoth leap over the current Switch and more powerful than Steam Deck in some ways in the Switch form factor with better battery life. It's a win!
add to that DLSS and you get current gen graphics with small concessions
 
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The question is, can Nintendo package that in at $399 retail and still make a bit of money on it? They can't sell hardware at a loss, like Msoft and Sony can. Not when 90% of their revenue is from their hardware/software business. And no way they're aiming to launch a console more than $400.
Nintendo were making a loss on Switch for most of it's first year :p They turn that into profit quickly though when people buy the inevitable first party launch game and an extra official controller or a 12 month sub to Nintendo Online. It's not the big deal it used to be for Nintendo imo.
 

BlackTron

Gold Member
I wonder how expensive these new game cards based on this tech will be... 3rd party publishers already groan at the thought of shelling out money for those pricier 32GB carts.

Maybe games will run off the cart or require installation on a per-game basis. Not what I want to see of course, I already regret some carts not even including the full game, but the next one could lose even more of its console-ness easy.

The next Switch will be capable of running some pretty high test games...expecting the cart slot to handle all the requirements is a bit unrealistic IMO.
 

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
Maybe games will run off the cart or require installation on a per-game basis. Not what I want to see of course, I already regret some carts not even including the full game, but the next one could lose even more of its console-ness easy.

The next Switch will be capable of running some pretty high test games...expecting the cart slot to handle all the requirements is a bit unrealistic IMO.
Yeah, I'm a bit anxious about this as well, so we'll have to wait and see how they tackle it. I hope at least their 1st party releases will be complete on the cart, like they are on the current Switch.

That said, I do wish Nintendo would provide information on this aspect and on backward compatibility (digital and physical) sooner rather than later. Depending on how they handle the things I've mentioned, I may or may not pick up a Switch 2 on day one.
 
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BlackTron

Gold Member
Yeah, I'm a bit anxious about this as well, so we'll have to wait and see how they tackle it. I hope at least their 1st party releases will be complete on the cart, like they are on the current Switch.

That said, I do wish Nintendo would provide information on this aspect and on backward compatibility (digital and physical) sooner rather than later. Depending on how they handle the things I've mentioned, I may or may not pick up a Switch 2 on day one.

At this point it's all still rumors and speculation anyway. I can't even begin to ponder whether day one will be a tough sell until they confirm anything about it.

I'm pretty confident their releases will be complete on cart, but it's more dubious whether they will all run directly off of it or require installation first like a PS4 bluray. It could be a situation where Puyo Puyo Tetris 3 runs off the cart but Ocarina of Time Remake requires installation 🤷‍♂️
 

Dr. Wilkinson

Gold Member
Nintendo were making a loss on Switch for most of it's first year :p They turn that into profit quickly though when people buy the inevitable first party launch game and an extra official controller or a 12 month sub to Nintendo Online. It's not the big deal it used to be for Nintendo imo.
Where is your source for this? Pretty sure that's not true.

If so this is the first I've heard of this. Reggie said in 2017 the reason there was no pack-in game for launch like with Wii or Wii U was partially because they'd already priced it low, taking into account the accessories bundled with it such as the Grip that added to their build costs.
 
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Sethbacca

Member
We about due for more Switch 2 rumors and release dates at some point? It feels like it was every other thread for a while and it's been silent for a bit now. Hopefully this is the first of many new leaks.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Expect a PS4 GPU wise in handheld mode. Expect a PS4 Pro GPU with a 5x more powerful CPU, with 4GB more RAM and a circa 2019 SSD when docked.

This is a mammoth leap over the current Switch and more powerful than Steam Deck in some ways in the Switch form factor with better battery life. It's a win!
I really wish they would add OLED to this and have two versions. Hard to go back to regular screen after Switch OLED.
 

Dr. Wilkinson

Gold Member
All I want

XBONE/PS4 Level Graphics
8 GB Or More Ram
More Internal Storage (Also MicroSD Slot)
1080p Screen
Full Backwards Compatibility
Storage needs to be faster, too. Much faster. 1080p screen probably adds significantly to the build cost with little-to-no payoff, honestly. Plus it just would chew through the battery to render games in portable mode at that resolution. Just look at the Steam Deck. There's a reason the screen is only 800p.
 
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StereoVsn

Member
Yeah, I'm a bit anxious about this as well, so we'll have to wait and see how they tackle it. I hope at least their 1st party releases will be complete on the cart, like they are on the current Switch.

That said, I do wish Nintendo would provide information on this aspect and on backward compatibility (digital and physical) sooner rather than later. Depending on how they handle the things I've mentioned, I may or may not pick up a Switch 2 on day one.
Price for the carts will go up probably. I can see Nintendo going for $70 / €70 (plus tax) or even dropping requirements for same MSRP.

I am having Genesis and SNES cart pricing flashbacks. $100 for PS IV (in 90s money…).
 
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Shin-Ra

Junior Member
Just to be clear, this is talking about the game distribution cards in which case 1.4GB/sec read-only would be incredibly fast. Fast enough that games could run without an initial copy to internal storage, but you might as well as the copy would be so quick and presumably the internal storage would be even quicker.

I don’t quite believe they could do it cost, heat, battery effectively but good surprises are nice.
 

Sleepwalker

Member
Expect a PS4 GPU wise in handheld mode. Expect a PS4 Pro GPU with a 5x more powerful CPU, with 4GB more RAM and a circa 2019 SSD when docked.

This is a mammoth leap over the current Switch and more powerful than Steam Deck in some ways in the Switch form factor with better battery life. It's a win!

add to that DLSS and you get current gen graphics with small concessions

All I want

XBONE/PS4 Level Graphics
8 GB Or More Ram
More Internal Storage (Also MicroSD Slot)
1080p Screen
Full Backwards Compatibility

Nintendo to fans every time requests like these pop up:

 

NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt

Biggest Trails Stan
Storage needs to be faster, too. Much faster. 1080p screen probably adds significantly to the build cost with little-to-no payoff, honestly. Plus it just would chew through the battery to render games in portable mode at that resolution. Just look at the Steam Deck. There's a reason the screen is only 800p.

That too. As for the 1080p Screen I would
be fine if they with a similar resolution screen as the Steamdeck

Price for the carts will go up probably. I can see Nintendo going for $70 / €70 (plus tax) or even dropping requirements for same MSRP.

I am having Genesis and SNES cart pricing flashbacks. $100 for PS IV (in 90s money…).

I hope the Switch 2 Cart are bigger in size

Nintendo to fans every time requests like these pop up:


You serious?

That's should be doable since it's been around 10 years since the PS4/XBONE launched? And having that level of tech now would be cheaper.

Not to mention paired up with more modern hardware. It would be like a better PS4/XBONE. I also think the CPU is gonna to be better than the one that was used for PS4/XBONE
 
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Mr Reasonable

Completely Unreasonable
They know their customers will buy anything. Look at the WiiU.
perhaps not the greatest example!

But yeah, tbh, I would actually prefer Nintendo to prioritise a lower RRP - I'd be happy with Switch 2 being a moderate improvement over the current machine. I don't see it being possible for it to deliver anything that isn't going to be technically lower quality than other consoles, so why bother stretching to deliver the same thing (in principal).

TBH, switch Pro would be ideal for me - same games, higher res and 60fps would be fine with me.
 

Xellos

Member
Good enough, so great news. I'm not even expecting the full 1.4GB/s, probably <=800MB/s like those Samsung Micro SD express cards announced a month or two ago. Anything around SATA SSD speeds would be fine with me.

All I want

XBONE/PS4 Level Graphics
8 GB Or More Ram
More Internal Storage (Also MicroSD Slot)
1080p Screen
Full Backwards Compatibility

This is what I'm expecting too.
 
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