Nintendo Switch 2 specs confirmed: CPU, GPU, Memory, and restricted performance

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The specifications for the highly anticipated successor console to the original Nintendo Switch have now been confirmed by the tech experts over at Digital Foundry.

For about the last four years, we have been hearing rumors and rumblings about the hardware that Nintendo selected to power the Nintendo Switch 2. After leaks of the motherboard within the console, Digital Foundry is able to confirm exactly what gamers will be getting and, more importantly, what developers will have available to them with the Nintendo Switch 2.

CPU

The original Switch featured an NVIDIA Tegra X1, a 4x ARM Cortex A57 chip, and by comparison, Nintendo and NVIDIA have agreed upon the ARM Cortex A78C, an eight-core CPU running the ARMv8 64-bit instruction set with cryptography extensions enabled. Notably, 32-bit is not supported by the SDK.

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Additionally, the Switch 2 iteration features 64K of L1 instruction cache, 64K of L1 data cache, 256KB L2 cache per core, and 4MB of L3 cache for all eight cores. Six of the eight cores are available to developers for games, while the remaining two cores are reserved for system OS operations. As for clock speeds, in portable mode the CPU is clocked at 1100MHz, and 998MHz in docked.

• ARM Cortex A78C
• Eight-core CPU
• ARMv8 64-bit instruction set
• Cryptography extensions enabled
• 64K L1 instruction cache
• 64KB L1 data cache
• 256KB L2 cache per core
• 4M L3 cache for all eight cores
• 1100MHz in portable
• 998MHz in docked
• Six cores are available to developers for games
• Two cores reserved for system OS operations

GPU

The Switch 2 uses a custom NVIDIA "Ampere" GPU that features 1536 CUDA cores, runs at 561MHz in portable mode, 1007MHz in docked, and has a theoretical maximum GPU clock speed of 1400MHz. Some GPU time is reserved for system operations, but the GPU will be running at 1.711 TFLOPS in portable and 3.072 TFLOPs in docked.

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• NVIDIA "Ampere" GPU
• 1536 CUDA cores
• 561MHz in portable
• 1007MHz in docked
• Theoretical maximum GPU clock speed of 1400MHz
• 1.711 TFLOPs
• 3.072 TFLOPs

Memory

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• 12GB LPDDR5X (2x 6GB modules)
• 128-bit memory interface
• 2133MHz EMC portable
• 3200MHz EMC docked
• 68GB/s bandwidth portable
• 102GB/s bandwidth docked
• 9GB of memory available to games
• 3GB reserved for system OS

Storage

• Fully custom-made file decompression engine
• 256GB of UFS storage
• Support for MicroSD Express cards up to 2TB
• Decompressing files is handled by the file decompress engine and not the CPU, improving load times

Display

• 7.9-inch wide color gamut LCD screen
• 1920 x 1080p resolution
• Support for HDR10
• Support for VRR
• 120Hz refresh rate
• 10-point multi-touch touchscreen (same as Switch 1)
• No support for VRR over HDMI (docked)

In other Nintendo Switch 2 news, Nintendo's president recently stated that GameChat, one of the new big features with the Switch 2, will be used by consumers in ways the company never thought possible. If you are interested in reading more about that story, and how Nintendo intend on saving the battery life of the Switch 2, check out the links below.

• Read more: Switch 2 battery life expected to be saved by a new Nintendo feature
• Read more: Nintendo thinks GameChat will be used to play games in ways it 'never imagined'