Digital Foundry has been sharing their thoughts on the technical aspects of Switch 2 hardware and games leading up to and following its release. Now, after having hands-on time with the hardware for a few weeks, they’ve shared their final breakdown and analysis of the console as a whole.
Overall, Digital Foundry found the Switch 2 to be a reasonable upgrade over the original Switch, though they did have some concerns. You can watch the full two hour review video above, which gives a detailed look at the console’s screen, framerates, download speed, display output, and much more. You can also check below for a summary of some of their findings:
- Switch 2’s custom-build Nvidia processor is “a step behind” the Steam Deck’s
- Eight ARM Cortex A78C CPU cores are a big leap compared to Switch, but might not be able to be fully utilized by devs
- Clock speeds run at 998MH while docked and 1100MHz in handheld mode, with a theoretical max of 1.7GHz
- GPU clocks at 561MHz in handheld, and goes up to 1007MHz in performance mode which is typically used when docked
- The GPU could be maxed out at 1.4GHz, but is restrained to reduce heat output and conserve battery life
- There are 12GB of memory, of which devs can make use of 9GB. Memory runs at 6400MT/s when docked, 4200MT/s in handheld mode
- Uses 22W of power when docked, 10-12W handheld
- They were able to get 2.5 hours of battery life playing Mario Kart World and No Man’s Sky
- Screen is larger with improved color reproduction and native 1080p capable in handheld
- Screen can’t produce high HDR contrast, and features some blurring
- Fully featured Variable Refresh Rate is possible on Switch 2, but doesn’t appear to be utilized well in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man’s Sky
- Switch 2’s Wi-fi download speed hits 363Mbps, much higher than Switch 1’s 32.6Mbps
- Game Share function resulted in slowdown and input lag in complex games like Fast Fusion
- GameChat featured impressive technology in order to isolate players’ audio and video feeds, but could result in lowered framerate while in use
