The Nintendo Switch was touted to have a customized NVIDIA Tegra chip to power the new hybrid console from the Japanese manufacturer. However, a teardown of Nintendo's latest platform was found to be using an older stock NVIDIA Tegra X1 CPU and a GM208 Maxwell GPU.
Nintendo Switch teardown
Fortune reported that engineering and product development consultancy Mindtribe, tore apart a Nintendo Switch to reveal what powers the hybrid gaming console. On Tuesday, Mindtribe released its findings of the Switch teardown.
Mindtribe folks were impressed and applauded Nintendo for how well designed the Nintendo Switch is and for having its components crammed into such a small footprint. Additionally, lauded its decision to rely on NVIDIA as a good move.
However, as it turns out, closer inspection of the Nintendo Switch's NVIDIA CPU revealed the chip inside the Switch was revealed a stock Tegra X1 processor and has not been customized in any way according to Tech Insights, who also did a teardown of the device.
Before the Nintendo Switch was released, speculations about which CPU it will be using have been making the rumor mills. Many were speculating that the new gaming device might use NVIDIA's newer Tegra X2 chips.
However this has been debunked, and details of its CPU was kept under wraps, except saying that the Switch will use a customized Tegra processor. Nvidia itself claimed that the custom processor in Switch is based on 'the same architecture as the world's top-performing GeForce gaming graphics cards.
What was customized with Nintendo Switch's Tegra X1
It is not certain what customization was actually done on the Tegra X1 processor. On the hardware side, it most likely disabled portions of the processor that is irrelevant to the Switch. On the software side, it was announced to have a fully custom software with revamped physics engine, libraries, advanced game tools.
Accordingly, NVIDIA created new gaming APIs to fully harness performance. Not doing much on the Tegra X1s physical chip side, the company appears to have done much for the software side of things.
In light of these revelations, the Nintendo Switch is still a hot item, and as of the moment, a hard to find.
