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[KratosEnergyDrink]

Really impressed by the hardware design and the power for a portable console.

Seems Nintendo is back to use the best tech available for their hardware. But that could be expected after they got rid of the PowerPC.

 

[metalslimer]

Really impressed by the hardware design and the power for a portable console.

Seems Nintendo is back to use the best tech available for their hardware. But that could be expected after they got rid of the PowerPC.

Is it? It seems like a really good compromise for what can reasonably be achieved though. I'm hoping for a Switch Pro in a few years though.

 

[Astral Dog]

For me it WILL be a home console. I doubt I'll be taking mine out of the dock, so yeah...it is. But the beauty of the whole thing is that you can use it any way you like. Portable, home console, or both...you choose. The problem with hybrids like this is that being portable has to be the limiting factor if that is a real viable option. I think the dock is there to give that boost so that the home console side doesn't lose out. It's a compromise, but that's the whole design at it's core. Lots of compromises.

Keep in mind Nintendo has been going the smallish,underpowered,low power consumption route since the original Wii anyways.

Switch breaks down the biggest limiting factor of the Wii U (clumsy design,non portable) and helps with less limitations such as more RAM and a truly modern architecture.

As a console its mediocre at best. As a handheld its an amazing little device,lets see if this works for them.

 

[Rodin]

Can you link the video? Also.. this being a devkit would explain the "29th week 2016" thing. Hmm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Yx63llWZE

Really impressed by the hardware design and the power for a portable console.

Seems Nintendo is back to use the best tech available for their hardware. But that could be expected after they got rid of the PowerPC.

CPU could probably be a bit better if DF's clocks get confirmed for retail units, but it's still good. GPU is top of the line and RAM is not the absolute max, but it's very good, and we still don't know anything about whatever they're using for VRAM/caching.

so foxconn leak said pascal or maxwell

Guessed Pascal and 16nm based on the clockspeed he was seeing on the screen when he was (allegedly) testing the system stability with what seems to be a Vulkan demo.

 

[Polygonal_Sprite]

It won't be pascal

The leaked specs will be right

There is no need to be upset

No one is suggesting it's pascal apart from the concern trolls.

 

[TwilightPrincess]

The HAC code really denies the devkit theory.

It does seem strange that there's no Nintendo branding on it, but the product code on the board is HAC-CPU-01. As far as I'm aware HAC is the code used for final consumer versions, whereas HAT would be used if it were development hardware.

I think HAC is used for Devkits too. Its the internal codename for NX/Switch as far as I remeber.

Nikki talked about HAC 01 devkits in September

https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/52g2o0/nwplayer123_on_twitter_hac_nx_codename_sdk/

 

[Hermii]

It would be ridiculous if somebody ever entertained that thought.

All the leaked specs so far has indicated at best a very lightly customised X1.

 

[Matt]

Is it? It seems like a really good compromise for what can reasonably be achieved though. I'm hoping for a Switch Pro in a few years though.

Basically, yeah it is. I mean, specific parts could be bigger or stronger or there could be more of them, but the same could be said for the PS4 or Pro, or the XBO or Scorpio.

 

[weeman_com]

Honestly, as a handheld device, Nintendo have finally delivered a competitive, well designed contemporary machine. I just wish everybody (including Nintendo themselves) would stop pretending this is a home console.

It detracts from what is a very impressive device and brings front and centre it's biggest weakness.

To be honest Nintendo always kind of do this.

The earliest I can remember is when they announced the NintendoDS. They spoke of a 3 pillar strategy they will build their business on, they saw value in home console and dual hand held market competitors. Heavily talked about when the Ds was announced was what they were working on to replace Gameboy advance, and Nintendo kept up the charade. They spoke of how it was still coming, to keep the sceptical media appeased. They didn't want to lose face because if it failed then they could release the worked on next Gameboy and put the DS down as a virtualboy like experiment. But when the DS exploded in sales and popularity, we never heard any more of a 3 pillar strategy. It was all out 1 market 1 device. And now, we have the switch, Nintendo are still speaking of a 2 device strategy with the switch fulfilling the home console portion.

There are 3 possibilities in the next 5 years here in my mind.
Nintendo announces a 1 device future with their consoles forever continuing to have a removable and fully portable experience.
Switch takes the place as home console and they release a successor to DS.
Switch shows greater potential in a high powered portable future so it is recognised by Nintendo being a true portable with the ability to link to tv. Nintendo releases their next true home console that will continue the quirky affordable strategy.

 

[z0m3le]

I think HAC is used for Devkits too. Its the internal codename for NX/Switch as far as I remeber.

Nikki talked about HAC 01 devkits in September

https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/52g2o0/nwplayer123_on_twitter_hac_nx_codename_sdk/

I'd also like to point out that if it is a july final unit, that devkits sent out at this time should be using final hardware (since devkits are manufactured first), and october devkits saw a performance increase, if final hardware was produced in july, this would lead me to believe in a clock increase, though now I am leaning towards this being not a final unit based on the july production and what we heard about final devkits not going out until october.

 

[KingSnake]

I think HAC is used for Devkits too. Its the internal codename for NX/Switch as far as I remeber.

Nikki talked about HAC 01 devkits in September

https://www.reddit.com/r/nintendo/comments/52g2o0/nwplayer123_on_twitter_hac_nx_codename_sdk/

There is a reason why the tweet that was the source of that reddit thread doesn't exists anymore.

Nikki threw a lot of mud at the wall as NX leaks.

Weren't all of the Switch hardware components from the July dev document leak given various HAC code names?

I had a quick look and I don't find it in those docs. Can you point out where?

 

[frankie_baby]

If it is a dev kit where and how would they have got it? Nintendo has those on a tight leash surely? Or could it have come from hiphoptherobot's chinese cousin?

 

[KingSnake]

A devkit would also be under severe NDA.

 

[z0m3le]

There is a reason why the tweet that was the source of that reddit thread doesn't exists anymore.

Nikki threw a lot of mud at the wall as NX leaks.



I had a quick look and I don't find it in those docs. Can you point out where?

So they randomly guessed the codename was HAC?

 

[Labrynian Rebel]

I thought gore wasn't allowed on GAF?

 

[weeman_com]

I absolutely loved that video!!!

Proper gore was back when the consoles were launched there was that guy who went and bought them, then he smashed them on the street in front of everyone else who was waiting. Anyone else remember this?

 

[KingSnake]

So they randomly guessed the codename was HAC?

No, she got that info from somewhere. The problem was that she put no filter whatsoever to what she shared, from Polaris to Tegra X1.

Anyhow, we have the July dev docs, trying to find any reference to HAC in them now.

Edit: there's no HAC mention whatsoever in those docs, unless I'm blind.

 

[To Far Away Times]

That's gamecube level engineering right there.

 

[Skittzo0413]

I had a quick look and I don't find it in those docs. Can you point out where?

I think I must have misremembered. I saw a picture of HAC code names for all the included components on Reddit around the time of that leak but it may have just been from a retail box.

 

[Anteo]

So the new unit of power will be "how many switch duck taped together?"

 

[Nanashrew]

People kept mentioning the Gamecube, so I looked it up

Holy fuck

It really is beautiful. I've taken some apart for repairs and I always smile seeing the internals.

 

[antonz]

At this point the biggest mystery is the Chip itself. I have no belief whatsoever that it is Pascal. Could it be a 16nm chip? That will require more than what we have available to us right now. 16nmFF is just 20nm with finfets so we would need to get into the nitty gritty of the chip itself to determine anything further.

 

[LordOfChaos]

"Ax" markings are mask revisions. The first produced version of a chip is A0. If there are defects, A1, and so forth. The actual logic (and so capabilities) are not changed.

Most chips never go beyond A1, indeed a good lot never reach that far, as they're obsolete before it's worth revising the mask to fix any bugs. It's no proof for or against being TX1 or TX2 based.

 

[z0m3le]

No, she got that info from somewhere. The problem was that she put no filter whatsoever to what she shared, from Polaris to Tegra X1.

Anyhow, we have the July dev docs, trying to find any reference to HAC in them now.

Why? The chip in this picture is from week 29 right? that is July 18th to the 25th, HAC was a thing in July. I mean this looks like it could be the final unit, but we also heard production started in October for retail switch units right? and we heard from other sources that final devkits in October had better performance, which Matt here was able to confirm without giving details. Maybe july's chips were originally suppose to be final and then the delay allowed them to change the process node. 3rd parties probably did come across an issue with CPU power from the A57 quad core at 1ghz, especially with only 3 cores, so would Nintendo who put in more RAM for capcom, go with a 16nm node and increase clocks and or possibly change to A72 cores? That is the big mystery we are dealing with right now.

The memory chips were sadly taken on a potato, so it's hard to tell what they are, I really don't see a 4 in that second digit and the two chips might even have different QR codes, which makes this even more of a head scratcher, and now we are speculating whether this is even final retail units... Why can't leakers be better with this stuff, I imagine this tear down happened in china because it was being produced there. At least we are close to final hardware in the wild where we will know for sure.

 

[Hermii]

It does sound really strange if they manufactured the final soc in July.

 

[Labrynian Rebel]

This is like an ugly version of unboxing.

An unboxing video where they forgot when to stop.

 

[z0m3le]

It does sound really strange if they manufactured the final soc in July.

3 months before final dev kits went out (which have to happen first)

 

[Mutant]

I wish Nintendo was more open about the hardware, because it seems very impressive and top of the line.

 

[Hermii]

3 months before final dev kits went out (which have to happen first)

Well have final shots hopefully from chipworks soon enough.

 

[Not]

Lol @ the battery

Jeez louise. It must need a crapton of power

 

[Thraktor]

Looking over photos of other Nvidia dies, it does seem like the four digits in the upper left are indeed the year and week. It matches up with the expected manufacturing timetables for everything I've seen. For example, the following three GPUs:

The line below that seems to change between individual chips of the same model (as evidenced by comparing this photo and this photo of two GP106 dies). This may be further manufacturing identification (e.g. the machines used, or perhaps even the individual wafer).

The final line seems to be the only one which determines the chip, which in our case is ODNX02-A2.

It does seem a little strange that fabrication would have started as far back as July last year, but it's not necessarily impossible. With how few other chips are coming off TSMC's 20nm production lines, it's possible that they simply got a good deal to use up the excess capacity, offsetting the logistical costs normally associated with stockpiling components.

 

[TannerDemoz]

TLDR: Is the switch an impressive piece of hardware and as a Nintendo fan, can I kind of say to my friends: "This is sick: here's why"

 

[Aostia]

Is it? It seems like a really good compromise for what can reasonably be achieved though. I'm hoping for a Switch Pro in a few years though.

I really think it is
The "bottleneck" is the hybrid form factor itself but once chosen the form factor it seems that this hw is really top notch

 

[Vampirolol]

Didn't Emily report that production of NX was ahead of schedule?

 

[TwilightPrincess]

Looking over photos of other Nvidia dies, it does seem like the four digits in the upper left are indeed the year and week. It matches up with the expected manufacturing timetables for everything I've seen. For example, the following three GPUs:



The line below that seems to change between individual chips of the same model (as evidenced by comparing this photo and this photo of two GP106 dies). This may be further manufacturing identification (e.g. the machines used, or perhaps even the individual wafer).

The final line seems to be the only one which determines the chip, which in our case is ODNX02-A2.

It does seem a little strange that fabrication would have started as far back as July last year, but it's not necessarily impossible. With how few other chips are coming off TSMC's 20nm production lines, it's possible that they simply got a good deal to use up the excess capacity, offsetting the logistical costs normally associated with stockpiling components.

It does sound very unlikely to me that they began producing the final product in July. And we have reports that Devs got stronger Devkits in September/October 2016.

 

[Oregano]

It does sound very unlikely to me that they began producing the final product in July. And we have reports that Devs got stronger Devkits in September/October 2016.

That might simply mean they upped clockspeeds a bit. That's not all that unusual.

 

[KingSnake]

Stronger devkits doesn't equal different chips.

BTW, I don't remember where this rumour about stronger devkits started. Was it Laura?

 

[Skittzo0413]

It does sound very unlikely to me that they began producing the final product in July. And we have reports that Devs got stronger Devkits in September/October 2016.

It could be possible that the October devkits just had more RAM or better thermals. Or the July devkits didn't use this chip here but a more standard TX1 and we have no idea how this chip is customized.

Or it could be that these chips are indeed for devkits. The HAC code name being known as early as September makes that possible.

 

[Eolz]

TLDR: Is the switch an impressive piece of hardware and as a Nintendo fan, can I kind of say to my friends: "This is sick: here's why"

It is sick for an handheld, but then again, everyone agrees on that, even the trolls.

 

[Thraktor]

That might simply mean they upped clockspeeds a bit. That's not all that unusual.

Or that the final chips, after starting production in July, only made it out to third parties in Sept/Oct. There'd certainly be some lag between fabrication, manufacturing the dev kit, and distribution to developers.

 

[FZZ]

Can someone explain if anything has been deduced from the tear down?

Is it Maxwell or Pascal

D:

 

[Sesuadra]

Can someone explain if anything has been deduced from the tear down?

Is it Maxwell or Pascal

D:

we don't know

 

[Oregano]

Or that the final chips, after starting production in July, only made it out to third parties in Sept/Oct. There'd certainly be some lag between fabrication, manufacturing the dev kit, and distribution to developers.

But as far as we know it's still pretty much the bog standard X1 specs they were briefed on in the summer. Nothing has indicated anything different right now.

 

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

Can someone explain if anything has been deduced from the tear down?

Is it Maxwell or Pascal

D:

Yes.

 

[TwilightPrincess]

Stronger devkits doesn't equal different chips.

BTW, I don't remember where this rumour about stronger devkits started. Was it Laura?

I heard it from more leakers, but yes Laura K. D. said the devkits got stronger overall.

That might simply mean they upped clockspeeds a bit. That's not all that unusual.

Could be, might be, we simply don't know. I expect a Tegra X1 derivat as well, also the 4gbs of ram etc. But we won't have proof until someone with the right equipment opens the final hardware.

 

[foxuzamaki]

Can someone explain if anything has been deduced from the tear down?

Is it Maxwell or Pascal

D:

All we know that it was customized, for all we know it can be a franken monstrosity of Pascal and maxwell

 

[Cerium]

Didn't Emily report that production of NX was ahead of schedule?

Not a credible source.

 

[AdanVC]

I don't understand what the fuck I'm looking at. Y'all must be a lot smarter than me.

.

LOL, me right now.

But it seems most replies here are positive so I'm hyped, lol. Can't believe all those tiny ass chips and microcircuits of the size of a DS game card can run Breath of the Wild...

 

[Green Yoshi]

Guys. The reddit thread had this there

http://m.imgur.com/uLF2CUq


Screenshot showing the chip of the new shield and switch

Nvidia released its original Shield TV console back in 2015, but the company has refreshed the design.

The new version still uses the same processor, which is an Nvidia Tegra X1 system-on-a-chip (SOC) coupled with 3GB of RAM. This makes it roughly as powerful as the last crop of consoles (Xbox 360, PS3).

The most notable changes this time include a smaller design and updated peripherals.

http://www.gamespot.com/gallery/nvidia-shield-tv-2017-pics-specs-and-features/2900-1061/ (January 16, 2017)

Bummer.

 

[KingSnake]

But as far as we know it's still pretty much the bog standard X1 specs they were briefed on in the summer. Nothing has indicated anything different right now.

The increase of performance could be as well similar to the one between the original Shield TV and the new Shield TV.

Like the July devkit was using the custom A01 and October devkit a custom A02.