Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=221085180&post... interesting post. yeah i think atm nintendo is fibbing in regards to the dock not providing extra power.

@skywake That's an awesome gif! Haha.

@WebHead Why would Nintendo lie about the dock not having extra power? That's a selling point surely?

If an additional CPU isn't in they're (whether it was impractical or expensive), it could be possible that the dock just has a single component, like an upgrade in RAM or GPU. I'm no expert on competers, though, but I usually think of those things as easily upgradeably on computers, so maybe it's easier for the Switch to switch GPUs on the fly(?) I have no idea what is more or less feasible, I'm just throwing the idea out there.

I did notice how wide the back of the dock is previously.

@FragRed they mentioned they haven't shown everything about the system. they don't want to overwhelm and keep the reveal message about the main concept.

Taking in account the battery life, the CPU and GPU are probably underclocked. What if the docking station provides a cooling mechanism and allows the system to run at full power. The docking station doesn't contain its own CPU or GPU in that way, but it ''unlocks'' the extra horsepower in the main unit. Since it's now hooked up to the mains, it doesn't have to rely on the battery anymore.

@WebHead
There are a few alternative explanations. For example instead of having the power brick for the dock on the lead or at the wall? Perhaps they have it in the back of the unit. Combine that with the space required for a powered USB hub and HDMI pass through? I mean there'd be space left but not a whole lot.

Another theory would be that the back section has a bit of additional cooling. So when docked not only does the unit get as much power as it wants but it also gets a bit more active cooling. Which wouldn't exactly be "more power when docked" but it would allow the GPU to boost up to a higher clock than it would on the go. Though to be fair this is going to be a thing regardless of whether there is active cooling or not. When docked it won't be running off the battery.

The third theory I have is the closest I think it could be to "more than just a dock". Basically I think that the dock might have space for a 2.5" HDD. Possibly even with some sort of super cheap ARM SOC that allows the system to run in a kind of stand-by mode when the tablet is undocked. Purely so it can keep downloading updates if you undock and maybe display a simple "please dock the Switch" screen.

@Octane I thought the same thing. Maybe that's why the games appear to run better on the TV on the preview.

Theres probably a downclock when using it without the dock for battery life purpose, i mean, most tablets and phones die in like 3 hours if you only game on them, so im not particulary impressed if this has around 3-4 hours of battery life.

But it will probably use the full power with the dock to support 1080p resolution without downgrade in performance

I GUESS

@Vinny
The preview is pretty much all just clever editing. Those games weren't running on the system when they filmed it. Which makes sense when you think about it. Imagine being the director of this promo clip and you hire a bunch of actors. You try to get the best shots you can of the actors. But then oops, they pressed the home button on that take. Oh no wait, you didn't quite pull off that move we're going to have to do that shot again. Crap! The game crashed! Hold up. Lets pull over the developers to see if they can get it running again. Yeah, no.

If the shots are put in during post-production? You can film the whole thing with the screens blank. You just tell the actors "you're playing a racing game on it" and they act. You don't even have to have the game footage lined up. Then you get the developers to send you in a whole bunch of game footage they want to use. They can then match the game footage to what the actors have come up with. And that's exactly what they did. People have zoomed in and slowed it down. You can see it.

I wouldn't read too much into how the games ran in different scenes. If there was slowdown? It was because the editor stuffed up. They either made an active decision to slow the footage down so it'd sync up a bit better. Or they grabbed the wrong bit of footage

@Octane: I've had this idea too. When it's on the go, its got to keeps its power level down for the battery, as well as heat for the hand, all while keeping a vivid display on. But when its docked, it can keep the screen off and get as hot as it wants without worrying about battery. If a cooling system was added to this, then a huge difference between handheld and home performance makes a lot of sense.

It really does make sense. I've seen a well timed screenshot of the preview where the footage from the Mario game on the switch screen clips into the woman's hair, but I initially thought it was just for that specific scene (since that's when she takes the Switch out of the TV).

If the dock doesn't provide some sort of upscaling or power boost then lol @ any third party support. There's no way it can be that powerful as just a handheld. Not for the price they'll go for.

@Operative i think therell still be support. just not same as the competition.

Maybe it's just my eyes acting up, but you can spot a slight jitter in the gameplay screens, some artefacts from the editing. The gameplay doesn't always perfectly line up with the tablet or the TV. And the screens look way too crisp and clear for it to be shot off-TV. That's basically how everyone does it, so I think we can safely assume that the gameplay is added in afterwards in the NS trailer.

@Nicolai It still has to render the image, whether it does that on the tablet or on your TV shouldn't make much of a difference. The main thing is that the extra power can increase the CPU and GPU speed; meaning it can do more stuff in the same time and probably make the games look a little better than on the tablet.

I think you all should make a 45 minute video about it

@Octane: Even though outputting on the TV takes as much processing, keeping a screen lit still takes up a lot of energy and generates a lot of heat, doesn't it?

@Nicolai It does indeed consume battery, that's for sure, but I don't think that by disabling the screen alone, you'd get visible results. The battery is the biggest bottleneck in this case, and a different power supply alleviates that problem. The system will the underclocked anyway to whatever Nintendo deems acceptable on a 720p screen, so I don't think the energy consumption of the screen will really matter in the end.

If the 360 was 1x in terms of raw performance....
The Wii U would be 1.4x
The XBOne would be 5.4x
The PS4 would be 7.5x
The tablet Nvidia sold for $299 in 2014 would be 1.25x
The microconsole Nvidia sold for $199 in 2015 would be 2x
The tablet Nvidia could have sold for $299 in 2016 would be 3.3x
The Switch? it's a tablet Nvidia is making for Nintendo in 2017

Do the maths....

I'm so glad they opted not to have backwards compatibility for the NS. That was part of the reason why Nintendo consoles were underpowered compared to their competitors after the GameCube.

@skywake The Switch isn't any more of a tablet than the Vita was, and the Vita wasn't a tablet.