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[Cuningas de Häme]

We've even seen inside one. It has lots of empty space, maybe for excess wires. Dock I mean.

This is quite interesting indeed.

I saw a mention that Nvidia doesn't write down the time on those (Tegra?). Like some of you mentioned it being weak 20 something in 2016.

Don't know how true that is, maybe someone knows better?

How many times we will have the Jobs quote in this thread? I'd say at least five times.

 

[Vampirolol]

Off-topic, I know, but I can't find an answer in any current topic:

Does anyone know if 1-2-Switch has any games were more than 2 players are playing simultaneously? I'm getting the game to play with my kids, but if there are 3 or 4 simultaneous players needed for any games, I'll have to get more joycons. I really don't want to have to buy more joycons...

It seems like the games requiring more than 2 players still use only 1 or 2 joycons. But I'm not sure, since we haven't seen all the games in it.

 

[javac]

I don't know why people are perplexed at the notion of wanting to see the dock opened, people just want to know whats inside. It's not like the Switch tear-down reveals much at this stage either, it has a battery and a CPU shocking revelation.

 

[WadeitOut]

Just by picking it up though. It was apparently exceptionally light. If there is anything in there, it's extremely minimal.

Which makes the idea of running an headset audio cable from it when docked a dangerous proposition lol.

They will need to have light cables going to an adapter if they ever allow GameCube controllers.

 

[-MB-]

It was rumoured there's an extra fan inside the dock to keep it cool under higher clock speeds, I'm not certain if it turned out to be true.

Sounds more to me they downclock in portable mode so it doesn t kill the battery within an hour, and when docked it is of no concenr hence it goes full power, and the fan inside the Switch tablet itself can easily handle that load.
Chances are the fan won't be full tilt or even on much in portable mode.

 

[WadeitOut]

I don't know why people are perplexed at the notion of wanting to see the dock opened, people just want to know whats inside. It's not like the Switch tear-down reveals much at this stage either, it has a battery and a CPU shocking revelation.

Spoiler Alert: it has a small circuit board that handles the connection between audio and video signals.

 

[random25]

Well, there it is.

As expected, everything's very tightly squeezed in there. I'm a little surprised that the cooling fins between the fan and vent take up so little space, but I suppose there's not a whole lot of cooling to be done. The total power output of the chip probably isn't more than 10-12W even in docked mode at full clocks. That J/L-shaped heatpipe should draw heat away from the SoC pretty effectively, though.

It's a bit annoying we don't have higher resolution photos, as the codes on the RAM modules would confirm all the memory specs (i.e. capacity, speed, bus width). We have leaked info on the first two, but it would be nice to get confirmation, and know whether we're looking at a 64 or 128 bit bus.

The use of a break-out board for the eMMC is really interesting. They wouldn't need this if they planned to just swap in higher-capacity eMMC modules at a later point, as the entire point of integrated flash solutions like eMMC is that it's all BGA-compatible (i.e. you can just solder on a higher capacity eMMC chip directly to the motherboard, without having to change any other components). It's possible that they're anticipating switching over to eUFS at some point instead, although that would mean they'd need to have support for both interfaces, and they could quadruple the capacity with eMMC before running into any problems (and they may well be a hardware redesign by that point). The other possibility is that they may want to use the same motherboard in a home console, and they've left themselves the option of using a SATA break out board for a HDD.

It'd be nice if they took the metal shield off the MicroSD card slot so we could see if it supports UHS-II. I very much doubt it does, but it would be good to get confirmation.

A decent photo of the small chip next to the RAM modules (which appears to be the USB-C controller) would be helpful, as if it's an off-the-shelf chip it could tell us some things about the capabilities of the port (e.g. if it can operate at 10Gb/s with DisplayPort alt mode disabled).

A photo of the alternate side of the motherboard would also be useful, as there may be some other interesting stuff on there.

Nice analysis as always, Thraktor.

 

[Xdrive05]

4310 mAh, and it takes 3 hours to charge.

Funny thing. With lowest official gameplay runtime being 2.5 hours, and the official charge time being 3 hours, does that mean the most intensive games will drain the switch even while playing it plugged into an outlet?

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Not precisely on-topic, but is there any technical reason the Nintendo Switch could not make use of Nvidia's GeForce Now streaming service? They're offering (on PC, Mac) access to GTX 1060 and GTX 1080 hardware for PC games. I'm not sure what the requirements are, other than like 10 to 20 Mbps internet connection for 720p 60fps.

Couldn't Switch act as a terminal (be it the system itself, or in docked mode on TV) for much more technically advanced games powered by those mid to highend cards via GeForce Now? That would fall under the Supplemental Computing Device concept.

In terms of hardware? I don't believe so. The question is whether or not Nintendo would be fine with it given their own eshop and all.

 

[frankie_baby]

Which makes the idea of running an headset audio cable from it when docked a dangerous proposition lol.

They will need to have light cables going to an adapter if they ever allow GameCube controllers.

Stick it down might be an idea

 

[Skittzo0413]

The links to the pictures are in the OP.

I mean where did that website get the pictures? I can't read Chinese and google translate is very little help on that page.

Funny thing. With lowest official gameplay runtime being 2.5 hours, and the official charge time being 3 hours, does that mean the most intensive games will drain the switch even while playing it plugged into an outlet?

I'm pretty sure that's not how charging works. The AC coming from the outlet will both charge the battery and power the unit, so the battery won't be discharging when the charger is connected.

 

[celsowmbr]

Any news about the total of RAM?

 

[KingSnake]

Anyway the Foxconn leaker also said 2 RAM modules and got the L shaped heat pipe right, so that should honestly remove any doubt that it's a legit leak.

2 RAM modules was the expected outcome and L (which is actually a J) was also pretty probable if you look at the vents in the tablet and dock.

Not to doubt the Foxconn leaker and I think (s)he has seen the Switch as I mentioned before in that thread.

 

[RTJamerson]

This is not true

Exactly, The only thing making the Switch any more powerful is more juice from being plugged in.

If you have a laptop it is very similar. Games run better when the laptop is plugged into the wall. same thing here.

 

[NeOak]

Funny thing. With lowest official gameplay runtime being 2.5 hours, and the official charge time being 3 hours, does that mean the most intensive games will drain the switch even while playing it plugged into an outlet?

No, just that the battery is charged slowly.

Slower charging allows for prolonging the usable life of the battery.

 

[Distresssss]

Funny thing. With lowest official gameplay runtime being 2.5 hours, and the official charge time being 3 hours, does that mean the most intensive games will drain the switch even while playing it plugged into an outlet?

Probably not. Some modern electronics have advanced capabilities like drawing more power when it's plugged in while being used so that the charge is independent of the "in use" power.

Some mobile devices will make the charge time slower (to reduce heat) but in no circumstance should it really be a problem.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

I mean where did that website get the pictures? I can't read Chinese and google translate is very little help on that page.

That zhaoyang.taobao.com site? Is a parts and repairs service, so at least some of these pictures are basically from them tearing apart the machine to have available for parts that they then sell on. Not sure on the others though.

 

[Dehnus]

Time to X-Ray that shit, and find out what's inside! .

 

[Chris R]

Man, a non mobile unit would be TINY

 

[Xdrive05]

Thanks for clarifying on the charge time. That sounds likely.

I'm sooooo hyped to get my hands on this thing. This will be my exclusive console to go along with my PC setup.

 

[frankie_baby]

That zhaoyang.taobao.com site? Is a parts and repairs service, so at least some of these pictures are basically from them tearing apart the machine to have available for parts that they then sell on. Not sure on the others though.

Can anyone speak chinese? Any chance of asking them if they can take some closer shots of the chips?

 

[random25]

Funny thing. With lowest official gameplay runtime being 2.5 hours, and the official charge time being 3 hours, does that mean the most intensive games will drain the switch even while playing it plugged into an outlet?

The default charger has a lot of headroom to separately power the device while providing good charge rate to the battery. The slower charging time is probably to reduce battery heat when charging, which they seem to really take note of with the overall design and the rumored clock speed.

 

[kraspkibble]

This is what I was looking forward to! It's beautiful!

Any news about the total of RAM?

I thought it was already confirmed to be 4GB?

 

[kraspkibble]

Accidental double post

 

[OmegaDL50]

Not even close. But considering how much smaller this is than a PS4 or XBox One the relative power is pretty fucking astounding.

True, but it still won't prevent certain Gaffers to continuously make unreasonable and totally unrealistic expectations considering it's form factor (i.e comments like 4GB of Ram in 2017 in a tablet sized device being a travesty, or the Switch needing 500GB HDD, or thinking it needs to be a lower price point.)

It's pretty amazing it will be running stuff like Skyrim, Zelda: BotW, or the new Xenoblade as such a small form factor.

 

[ShadowFox08]

This is what I was looking forward to! It's beautiful!



I thought it was already confirmed to be 4GB?

Nintendo never confirmed the memory. We've just heard 4GB from leakers like emily rogers, as well as eurogamer and foxconn leaks from last year.

 

[kraspkibble]

Nintendo never confirmed the memory. We've just heard 4GB from leakers like emily rogers, as well as eurogamer and foxconn leaks from last year.

Ah ok thanks. Not sure why i thought it was confirmed.

 

[Neptonic]

This thing is adorable on the inside
Really impressed with the power they are able to get out of the form factor

 

[Hyperactivity]

Nintendo went full GameCube, never go full GameCube.

People kept mentioning the Gamecube, so I looked it up

Holy fuck

 

[KingSnake]

Nintendo never confirmed the memory. We've just heard 4GB from leakers like emily rogers, as well as eurogamer and foxconn leaks from last year.

And the July SDK docs leak earlier this month.

 

[Vital Tundra]

Nintendo never confirmed the memory. We've just heard 4GB from leakers like emily rogers, as well as eurogamer and foxconn leaks from last year.

It has to be minimum 4 based on Capcoms statement about Nintendo raising the amount after talking to them.

 

[random25]

This is what I was looking forward to! It's beautiful!



I thought it was already confirmed to be 4GB?

There's really no official confirmation, although you can see on the board that there's at least 2 RAM chips in there. We don't know if there's more at the bottom though.

 

[Zedark]

Nintendo never confirmed the memory. We've just heard 4GB from leakers like emily rogers, as well as eurogamer and foxconn leaks from last year.

We do have the July dev kit leak which has 4 GB, though that is still possibly subject to change, just like the cpu and gpu.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Nintendo never confirmed the memory. We've just heard 4GB from leakers like emily rogers, as well as eurogamer and foxconn leaks from last year.

Yep. The only thing we have (seemingly) confirmed right now are two RAM modules, which makes 4 seem like the reasonable minimum right now, though could technically be (though doesn't feel probable) 6 or 8.

 

[Thraktor]

The RAM appears to be Samsung. You can see SEC is printed on there, standing for Samsung Electronics Co, which they print on their LPDDR modules. I can't make out the product codes, though.

 

[frankie_baby]

Do 3gb lpddr4 chips exist? Could nintendo have gone for 6gb?

 

[Cuningas de Häme]

Maybe capcom spoke after July and told Nintendo to up the RAM department?

 

[Milly Osworth]

How did Nintendo go from Wiiu to this? Crazeh.

 

[frankie_baby]

The RAM appears to be Samsung. You can see SEC is printed on there, standing for Samsung Electronics Co, which they print on their LPDDR modules. I can't make out the product codes, though.

There's a 531 after the SEC if that helps?

 

[Jedi2016]

I'm honestly more interested in seeing the inside of the Joy-Cons. Figure out how that new rumble works.

 

[tebunker]

If you combine the ram questions with Capcom saying they asked for more ram and Nintendo gave it to them, could we theoretically have 6gb? So that the devs have more for games than the 3.whatever. I mean it seems unlikely but fun to dream

I can't wait for the full break down either way. Love reading tech stuff I don't know enough about.

 

[Jonneh3003]

How did Nintendo go from Wiiu to this? Crazeh.

Systems internals seemed like a second thought with Wii U, the focus was on the gamepad.

If you combine the ram questions with Capcom saying they asked for more ram and Nintendo gave it to them, could we theoretically have 6gb? So that the devs have more for games than the 3.whatever. I mean it seems unlikely but fun to dream

I can't wait for the full break down either way. Love reading tech stuff I don't know enough about.

6gb seems like too much for a system of this size.

 

[Cleve]

I'm excited for the switch too, but surprised how excited some of you are getting for the pcb layout. It's basically as tightly laid out as any modern high-end electronic should be. I guess that's new for nintendo, and miles ahead of the wii-u, but it shouldn't be surprising given what they were trying to do.

Do 3gb lpddr4 chips exist? Could nintendo have gone for 6gb?

I think samsung make them. It would be awesome, but I'm sure cost was the factor there.

 

[BlastProcessing]

The dock has no secret tech hidden inside.

There is something to be learned from the Dock. I would very much like to see the chips that are converting the USB-C signal to HDMI and USB A.

 

[Inspectah_Deck]

nvmnd

 

[GinoFelino]

True, but it still won't prevent certain Gaffers to continuously make unreasonable and totally unrealistic expectations considering it's form factor (i.e comments like 4GB of Ram in 2017 in a tablet sized device being a travesty, or the Switch needing 500GB HDD, or thinking it needs to be a lower price point.)

It's pretty amazing it will be running stuff like Skyrim, Zelda: BotW, or the new Xenoblade as such a small form factor.

YES

 

[Plum]

I don't think more than 4gb of RAM is likely. You've got to remember that this is a mobile device, and 4gb itself is quite high-end. Even the highest-end tablets like the iPad Pro 'only' have 4gb of RAM, in fact I'm not sure if there's a tablet form factor device with more than that.

 

[Sesuadra]

I'm excited for the switch too, but surprised how excited some of you are getting for the pcb layout. It's basically as tightly laid out as any modern high-end electronic should be. I guess that's new for nintendo, and miles ahead of the wii-u, but it shouldn't be surprising given what they were trying to do.

I just love looking at tech..I'm also hyped every year for MacBook/iPhone teardowns

 

[JonnyDBrit]

I'm excited for the switch too, but surprised how excited some of you are getting for the pcb layout. It's basically as tightly laid out as any modern high-end electronic should be. I guess that's new for nintendo, and miles ahead of the wii-u, but it shouldn't be surprising given what they were trying to do.

I think it's mostly because with all the uncertainties around a hybrid device, particularly on battery, that it's all so tightly packed suggests that Nintendo didn't simple spare any expense in putting this together.

 

[Rodin]

Do 3gb lpddr4 chips exist? Could nintendo have gone for 6gb?

Yes they do exist (Samsung makes them btw), but it's unlikely that this has more than 4GB from what we know.

The foxconn leak was right?

Obviously. We can't tell if they were right about the clocks though.