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Taiwanese Economic Forum reports the Nintendo Switch 2 will have a 120Hz screen and improved battery life, but only 8GB of ram and 64GB of Storage

Its what happens when you don't have any competition

Happy Ryan Gosling GIF by Warner Bros. Deutschland
Unless you count the Steam Deck no one else makes good handhelds anymore.

The benefit of abandoning the dedicated home console market I guess, you set your device as a companion device to home consoles/PCs.
 
Chances are, they are targeting 1080p and 8GB RAM (6-7GB for Games) is totally on track for that. They need to work on the joy on connection though, it disconnects constantly for me whereas my Xbox never disconnects.
 
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killatopak

Gold Member
64gb internal is a massive letdown.

I doubt Nintendo first party games will be bigger than 64gb now pre dlc. It’s like the lowest common denominator holding everyone back. 128 would have been much better future proofed.
 

Fake

Member
How much of that 8GB will be available for games is the burning question.

For Nintendo 1st party, Switch 2 exclusives, its whatever. For multi platform games....?

For the first party studios this is god bless.

Just a reminder that base PS4 have 8GB GDDR5, but still a little ram for PS4 OS tasks.


About multiplataforms, lets just assume its time to them to learn the word optimization.
Next gen games are already struggling with everything they can and devs ask for more power from PS5/Series X instead of optimizing their code/engine.

NS case is no different. They need to learn use what is given to them or else the next NS will be near impossible expensive.
 
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Dr. Wilkinson

Gold Member
Chances are, they are targeting 1080p and 8GB RAM is totally on track for that.
I am assuming they are wanting at least certain games to be able to upscale to 4K for TV Mode. So 8 seems light to me, but certainly do-able. But people will be starved for a Switch 2 Pro within a year or two if they launch this thing with only 8GB.
 
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64gb 😂, most games are larger then this, obviously a load of shit, 512gb minimum, 1080p lcd 60hz, not sure about ram, 8 or 12gb
 
I am assuming they are wanting at least certain games to be able to upscale to 4K for TV Mode. So 8 seems light to me, but certainly do-able. But people will be starved for a Switch 2 Pro within a year or two if they launch this thing with only 8GB.
You’re joking right? The switch barely hits 1080p docked and sold like hotcakes. They don’t need resolution nor do they care. The RAM they will typically use is meant for low power applications and is typically slower than GDDR. Expect 1080p. Gotta save that battery for mobile gaming.
 
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tkscz

Member
Also while that would be cool, I'd rather pay a lower cost for a 60Hz screen than more for a 120Hz screen for a handheld.
 

Fake

Member
Do you want it to be more than $399?

8GB is a bit disappointing to me. But realistically so. Compared to what they offer now it's 100% more, and prolly a lot faster as well 🤷‍♂️

At this point I wish you all know that Nintendo did the devil job making pathnership with Nvidia.

Of all those companies, Nvidia is the most expensive to deal with components.

8GB IMO is the far Nintendo can get from Nvidia without breaking their cost quota.
Remember, this is still a mobile hydric console, and improviment over the ARM will be less likely, making all the weight on the GPU part, requiring an even more precise colling system.

All this cost money, Nintendo need to be careful choising the right components and their costs.
 
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Dr.D00p

Member
The lower the spec, the easier it will be to emulate.

Emulating the Switch 2 will be a whole lot more troublesome than the Switch, not because of the Fisher Price level of hardware but simply because there will be no documentation on the T239 chip, to be found.

The Tegra powered Switch was a very well known & understood part, long before Nintendo used it.

No doubt it will happen eventually but its going to take alot longer this time.
 

Dr. Wilkinson

Gold Member
You’re joking right? The switch barely hits 1080p docked and sold like hotcakes. They don’t need resolution nor do they care. The RAM they will typically use is meant for low power applications and is typically slower than GDDR. Expect 1080p. Gotta save that battery for mobile gaming.
4K has become the standard, and Nintendo will want to adopt it as well at some point. They're not gonna go another 7 years holding everything back with 1080p. It has nothing to do with battery, any 4K upscaling would obviously only apply to TV Mode.
 

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
Assuming the 120Hz capable display is true, Nintendo’s not going to display their UI at full refresh rate just to max it out. That puts extra demand on system resources which are already tight (on any console) and with Switch the UI was restricted to 720p output to a TV, despite 1080p output being the max capability.

When PS5 outputs 120Hz for a game that demands it, the OS-UI drops to what looks like ~1080p upscaled to 2160p while frame doubling 60Hz animation to the 120Hz refresh.

More interesting to know for the internal storage is its read bandwidth for streaming game assets and whether game developers can rely on those specs or if games can also run from potentially slower SD cards. I doubt Nintendo’s putting SSD-class NAND chips and controller in there but greater than SD cards could be guaranteed if games must copy to the internal storage. Then of course you need more than 64GB of internal storage.
 

Mister Wolf

Gold Member
Only reason to do 120hz is to get 60fps 3D games. Maybe this device will be the Switch 3D. 120hz on such a tiny screen is completely useless for a lot of reasons but 3D.

It takes battery, power, more cpu and gpu requirements for zero visible improvement on a carry device.

So in short, I don’t believe the rumor because 3D seems pretty dead nowadays even though I love it personally, and 120hz is just useless for a gaming handheld

I would be happy as hell about them investing in 3D again.
 

ShadowLag

Member
There's no way they don't try and compete at least with the base level Steam Deck, which is $349-399 right now and crushes these leaks for every possible metric (sometimes by a factor of 2, except refresh rate), right?

Valve is only one successful marketing campaign away from the Deck blowing up massively in popularity. Instead of buying a weaker, more expensive Switch 2, one could just buy an old, base model Steam Deck and emulate their entire catalogue at 60-90 fps that also supports all of its controllers.
 
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nkarafo

Member
64GB internal storage? For what, just the firmware/OS and some saves?

Even the first batch of XBOX 360 HDDs were 120GB in what, 2006? 64GB in 2024 isn't even worth mentioning. Just say miniSDs are mandatory or something and leave it there, it would be less embarrassing.
 
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Shifty1897

Member
The games can't even run at 30fps reliably. Why tf would you need a 120hz screen? We just want 720p internal rendering and a locked 60fps, I'm not unreasonable.
 
4K has become the standard, and Nintendo will want to adopt it as well at some point. They're not gonna go another 7 years holding everything back with 1080p. It has nothing to do with battery, any 4K upscaling would obviously only apply to TV Mode.
Native 1080p was a standard at switches release and they still haven’t hit it. Keep your expectations in check as resolutions got worse as the generation continued. The new Zelda games are great, however, they look two generations behind also.

I’m just saying, don’t expect some amazing resolutions and graphics when it comes to Nintendo. They’ve always been a generation or two behind in that regard. But that doesn’t mean their games are bad. I have more use out of my switch than my Xbox or PC because they have great games, just don’t expect amazing graphics or resolutions.
 
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nkarafo

Member
The games can't even run at 30fps reliably. Why tf would you need a 120hz screen? We just want 720p internal rendering and a locked 60fps, I'm not unreasonable.
The menu could be much smoother at 120fps. Many older or indie games also could. 120hz screens should be the standard nowadays. The 60hz motion blur is awful, always has been.
 

Xyphie

Member
Only reason I see them shipping a 120Hz panel would be for a nicer LFC range than a 60FPS panel offers. I don't really see them shipping 120FPS games other than perhaps basic 2D ones. So VRR should be a lock-in.
 

Astral Dog

Member
Likely 6. Would be a typical split of resources.
I think it could go up to 7GB, the Wii U had only 50% reserved for games, while the Switch was more than 3GB

I still think the Switch 2 will have more than 8GB, but less than 16GB,really depends on the target price and budget, Nintendo was asking developers like Capcom about the RAM before revealing the Switch,so it won't be that starved
 

Hugare

Gold Member
There's no way they don't try and compete at least with the base level Steam Deck, which is $349-399 right now and crushes these leaks for every possible metric (sometimes by a factor of 2, except refresh rate), right?

Valve is only one successful marketing campaign away from the Deck blowing up massively in popularity. Instead of buying a weaker, more expensive Switch 2, one could just buy an old, base model Steam Deck and emulate their entire catalogue at 60-90 fps that also supports all of its controllers.
Animated GIF


Nintendo is gonna Nintendo and people will buy it like hotcakes

Besides, do you honestly think that a parent would buy their child a console of the size of their home TV (Deck)?

"See kid, you can play the new Mario on it. But first, download Yuzu from the github page, then rip your Switch cart, rip your BIOS, go to the wikipage for the best configuration settings, download some scripts to unlock more performance and then you're good to go. Oh and dont forget updating your drivers."

Deck will never blow in popularity. It's selling wonderfully already for what it is.
 
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yurinka

Member
I hope that those 8GB of ram for a console that will be released almost in 2025 are false.
It's the next Nintendo portable, so pretty likely will have equivalent horsepower of a PS4/PS4 Pro with (if lucky) a 1080p display. 8GB is enough for that.
 
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hinch7

Member
But if they did that they couldn't sell it to you. Cmon now, Nintendo is nothing if not merciless with their accessories.
I mean I have a spare 512GB Micro-SD but its still feels really bad to having to buy more SD-cards in 2024/5 (whenever it releases) for a brand new machine.
 

Dr. Wilkinson

Gold Member
Native 1080p was a standard at switches release and they still haven’t hit it. Keep your expectations in check as resolutions got worse as the generation continued. The new Zelda games are great, however, they look two generations behind also.

I’m just saying, don’t expect some amazing resolutions and graphics when it comes to Nintendo. They’ve always been a generation or two behind in that regard. But that doesn’t mean their games are bad. I have more use out of my switch than my Xbox or PC because they have great games, just don’t expect amazing graphics or resolutions.
Not always, only since Wii era. Prior to that with GameCube and before they were at parity or ahead of the competition. And changing from that approach was out of necessity to survive financially, it wasn't because they stopped liking new technology, or something like that. No one was buying their powerful hardware because of all the other reasons outside of graphical fidelity back in those days that caused those systems to be unattractive to people outside the super hardcore Nintendo fan/ kids.

I'm well aware not to expect amazing graphics, but 4K has been around for a long time at this point, and Nintendo's philosophy is not to ignore trends, it's to wait to adopt them until they can accommodate them in their own products, in a cost-effective way. Nintendo clearly since the Switch generation began has shown some signs of being interested in more state-of-the-art (like the old days) than they have been the last 17 or so years, so I think that trend will continue. Lots of new leadership at the top of Nintendo these days.

I really don't think implementing the possibly of 4K upscaling for some games/apps in TV Mode when battery is not a concern, is out of the realm of possibility. I think it's quite likely to happen.
 
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Del_X

Member
So a PS4 with maybe a slightly better CPU and some upsampling sauce. 64GB of storage is fine - Nintendo carts will probably be 64-128GB anyway.
 
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