Well in the case of the Switch changes in that aspect would be interesting because they cab lead to better battery-life in handheld mode.
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Switch revision potentially leaked via 5.0 firmware (Codenamed Mariko, 8GB RAM) [speculation]
- Thread starter Atheerios
- Start date
Well in the case of the Switch changes in that aspect would be interesting because they cab lead to better battery-life in handheld mode.
Potentially, but you would need to bear in mind that a bootrom vulnerability by itself would likely need a userland and/or a kernel level exploit to be usable.
Though the likelihood would be that it would only be released once a full exploit was available and after the release of a new model that has a fixed bootrom.
Yeah, if it's a revision of the Switch itself that would pretty much be the extent of it, as they can't substantially change the size/shape/design of it without breaking compatibility with existing Joy-Cons, which I can't imagine they'd want to do (certainly not this early, anyway). In theory they could increase the screen size a bit, but I wouldn't expect it.
A portable-only Switch Mini is a distinct possibility, though. A die shrink would allow them to achieve this, by dropping the active cooling and allowing for a smaller battery. Combined with a smaller screen, no dock, no detachable controllers, etc, there's no reason they wouldn't be able to release it this year for under $200 and take over from the 3DS at that price point.
Hmm while I do see the possibility of a Switch Mini I'm also in the camp that says they can't change much and won't change much, the biggest change I can see is a Switch Lite that streamlines things a bit, has maybe better battery-life and is lighter but I think if they go that route they will definitely keep the relative size to maintain Joycon compatibility and I firmly believe they will maintain the dock/undock process in all variants.
I'm thinking that it could be a possible Switch mini. Looking at the Wiki on Mariko states: written using different [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanji']kanji characters and can mean:..."long distance, child"[/url]. Granted, I could be possibly wrong in my assumption.
Man, i was just hoping for bringing the cost down, but if true, this would be very welcome.
That was speculated yes but it's a little surprising current devkits don't have 8GB already then isn't it? I thought devkits usually doubled ram for debug?
I've been seeing videos on this. Can someone explain how much of an upgrade this would be if an 8GB ram Switch releases.
It's double what's in the current Switch (4GB) and on par with PS4 and Xbox One.
Eh, raising costs so soon after launch is weird. I imagine it's a devkit. What would be the point of adding more SKUs so quick?
The switch already bothers developers with making two modes (portable at Wii U levels, docked at 400GFflops) so the idea of having four modes is ridiculous (portable switch, docked switch, portable switch Pro, docked Switch Pro) so I imagine this 8GB is just for dev kits
Xb1X kits have 24GB and the retail unit has 12 after all.
The switch already bothers developers with making two modes (portable at Wii U levels, docked at 400GFflops) so the idea of having four modes is ridiculous (portable switch, docked switch, portable switch Pro, docked Switch Pro) so I imagine this 8GB is just for dev kits
Xb1X kits have 24GB and the retail unit has 12 after all.
But wouldn't the switch modes be more like PC with different settings? I can't imagine that it would be that much more time consuming or difficult to add in a few different modes. Besides, why a new devkit, why now? And double the RAM is a lot for debug reasons, if I'm not mistaken.
Edit: I just saw what you said about X1X. If true nvm.
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Maybe because shipping a devkit without debug Ram was a mistake and they're rectifying it?
Just seems dumb to have such minor improvements between modes. 200GF (portable switch), 300GF (portable Switch Pro), 400GF (docked Switch) and what 800GF at best (docked Switch Pro)
Just seems so insignificant. Nintendo doubled the 3DS RAM, added more CPU cores and even then very little games used it even via Nintendo. And that was a refresh 4 years into the systems life. They didn't do much with that, why would they do much with it now?
If we were going from say 200GF to 1TF portable, maybe but that's not happening with 3 hour battery life until next gen.
Aside from the fact that it's the way they've approached handheld revisions for several generations if there actually is a hardware level vulnerability it the Switch this would be the best way to rectify it. I don't see how things would be any more fractured than their other handhelds or the current gen consoles.
Well, that's very interesting indeed. It would seem to rule out a simple internal refresh or Switch Mini. A full Switch 2 a little over a year after the first seems just too quick for me, though.
Not wanting to drag things into crazy off-the-wall speculation, but back in Nov 2016 a rumour appeared purporting to be from Foxconn with a number of details about Switch that hadn't yet been revealed. As it turns out, many of the details turned out to be exactly right, including precise battery capacities for both Switch and joy-cons, the red and blue colours for the joy-cons and the SL/SR buttons, among others.
It also had a separate part, detailing another device, described as a dev kit, which had the following details:
- Producing 2000x units for now
- The core is 1x times bigger than the one above,200mm2, looking it looks like 12x18
- Extra ram, this version is 8GB
- No dock for this version for now. Can be plugged into TV without docking, power is inside
- Speculated provided the core is only include GPU, it would be even more powerful than PS4 pro
- Screen is the same size as the normal one
- It's much more powerful, but also much heavier, not feeling great in hand, speculated for 4K gaming
- Haven't seen such a huge core, and it's 16nm + 100mm2 main core
- There's no battery inside this version
The GP106 could have simply been the most easily available stand-in for the performance target they were looking for (a 4K Switch would only need a ~GTX1050 level of performance). The existence of the screen does seem quite strange, though, as even a substantially cut-down GP106 would be far too large and power-hungry to fit in a portable form factor.
Devkits don't get their own SoCs, and typically don't have extra RAM anymore these days either, as far as I'm aware (I think the original Switch dev kits all had 4GB).
What's wrong with a new Switch? Kimishima may have word they need to step it up a little before the next gen PS5/Xbox come out. Or he knows they need some more power or whatever for bigger games.
Its just too soon to do so. I fully expect a more powerful switch but not 1 year after launch.
There's no reason for this to necessarily mean a fragmented userbase as far as games go. Extra RAM may just be for improved system functions, such as longer video record times.
LPDDR4 isn't cheap. It would seem to me to be a big added manufacturing expense just for a things like longer video record times.
It's not necessarily the same CPU/GPU though since it refers to a new SoC. Current Switch = T210, Mariko = T214.
Current Switch actually has 3 performance profiles, docked (393GF), undocked (157GF) and undocked boost (197GF).
Depending on how it's designed, games with variable performance or dynamic resolution could get automatic boosts with a Switch revision without the need to go back into the code. Much like Xbox One's S model does or the performance mode in PS4 Pro. That could help something like Xenoblade 2 or DOOM maintain essentially a locked resolution for example without having to go back and update the game even.
Nintendo tends to be hands off when it comes to forcing developer enhancements or using new features in revisions. A publisher would still only need to deliver 2 modes; one docked and one undocked. If they wanted to deliver more taking advantage of Switch DX then they could though and I can see some of the bigger publishers wanting to take advantage of that and perhaps release some Switch DX only titles too. FFXV might be a good candidate there for example.
From what I've read, it would be very difficult to achieve that with USB-C due to bandwidth reasons.
But someone with more of an insight into these kinds of things can paint a better picture than I can.
I have a Razer blade with a 1060. The sound of the fan is not a great fit for portable gaming heh.
No chance this will be a performance revision. Nintendo isn't splintering its userbase this early on.
I had an MSI laptop with 1060 and despite the GPU and CPU staying relatively cool the laptop itself got VERY warm while gaming like it sorta made my hands sweat from being on it lol.
That rumor seems to suggest a docked only version of a Switch using Mariko?
If so, it would be neat if it would still allow local remote play using the plain Switch for home streaming.
If so, it would be neat if it would still allow local remote play using the plain Switch for home streaming.
I can't believe I didn't catch this before. I really liked the characters in The Wolverine.
Any link or citation for the bold text or is that an assumption on your part?
Seeing as only 2000 get developed maybe it's a dev kit for a target power envelope future revision? Like two/three years from now the Switch Pro, when Nvidia estimates they can make a Tegra with an (underclocked) 1060 spec, as a counter to PS5/XB2? Still seems way too powerful though. I expect PS5 to be a 1070 equivalent lol.
100% assumption.
Just seems bothersome idk. No proof of course. I have been corrected in that there are three performance modes on Switch it seems not two, so assuming they made three more for a Switch Pro, 6 just sounds like a ton for little gain imo.
Just can't see this meaning much other than a devkit or a 2015 PS4 style internal revision (or 360 style revision) why do this so soon after launch with sales not lagging?
You introduce models to increase a gens longevity and it's not like Switch sales have done anything but go up. Maybe XL type revisions but I doubt anything New 3DS or Pro/X type of significance
Would the fact that this is in the current Switch hardware indicate compatibility (either backwards\forwards)?
That's interesting, I didn't know who Erista was. And yeah, Mariko being Japanese was probably the reason.