No more secrets: Nintendo Switch 2 report answers the mystery behind the processor

The arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2 is almost upon us, with only a few more weeks left to wait. The console maker has already shared a spec sheet, detailing the hardware packed inside. However, Nintendo has been vague about the processor sitting inside the hybrid console, only stating that it’s a “custom processor made by NVIDIA.” A new report has now shed some light on this lingering question.

Richard Leadbetter of Digital Foundry has shared new details about the Switch 2’s SoC. This information dives deep into the technical makeup of the processor. In addition to the chip, this report also reveals a few details in other areas that have not previously been mentioned.

Starting with the CPU, Leadbetter writes that it features a ARM Cortex A78C, which runs on an ARMv8 64-bit instruction set. There’s also 64K of L1 instruction cache and 64K of L1 data cache. Meanwhile, all eight cores of the L2 have 256K and can share 4MB of L3 cache. Six of the eight cores in the ARM Cortex A78C are available to developers, and the remaining two are reserved for running the OS.

Something peculiar Leadbetter found is that the CPU runs at 1100MHz in handheld mode, while shifting down to 998MHz in its performance mode. It’s speculated that memory bandwidth drops in handheld mode may have something to do with why the system’s CPU runs faster in that mode. Finally, it’s mentioned that the maximum clock speed for the CPU is 1.7GHz.

As for the GPU, Nintendo has switched from the NVIDIA Maxwell architecture used in the GTX 900 series to the Ampere architecture used in the RTX 30 series. This GPU features 1536 CUDA cores with clock speeds of 561MHz (handheld mode) and 1,007MHz (docked). For the maximum clock speed, we’re looking at 1.4GHz.

The rest of the report mostly covers details that were already confirmed by the spec sheet Nintendo Japan released last month. However, there are a few details we haven’t heard about until now.

One such detail is the inclusion of a file decompression engine (FDE). File loading and decompression can usually be handled by the CPU, but the Switch 2’s CPU can hand off that responsibility to the FDE, making load times faster and more power efficient. Another aspect of the Switch 2 that hasn’t been talked about is multi-touch. Like the original Switch, the Switch 2 will also feature a 10-point multi-touch capacitive touchscreen.

The Nintendo Switch 2 launches in the US on June 5. It will be available for $450, with the price going up to $500 for the Mario Kart World bundle.