NVIDIA’s Tegra239 SoC Confirmed for Nintendo’s Switch 2; First Chip Images Emerge

So, it turns out that the latest Nintendo Switch 2 indeed includes some of NVIDIA’s magic, just like its predecessor. The spotlight now shines on a first-look at the chip powering this device.

With the coming of Nintendo Switch 2, we’ve discovered some impressive details like its ability to output 4K at 60 FPS when docked. However, the specifics of what chip is under the hood were initially elusive. What we did know was Nintendo’s ongoing collaboration with NVIDIA to employ their specialized Tegra SoCs, leading many to suspect that the emerging star would be the next-generation Tegra239 chip. This speculation has finally gained some footing as @Kurnalsalts recently revealed a picture believed to be NVIDIA’s Tegra239 chip, marked with “T239.”

The Twitter post didn’t spill all the beans, but it nudged us to rely on past nuggets of information to piece together the chip’s specs. Sources suggest it houses eight Arm Cortex-A78C cores, accompanied by a unique GPU combining Ada Lovelace and Ampere technologies, and boasting 1536 CUDA cores. Moreover, CPU speeds are speculated to range between 1.1 GHz and 1.5 GHz, reflecting its performance in docked mode. The chip also reportedly comes with a 128-bit memory interface utilizing LPDDR5 technology.

The background on the Tegra239 remains somewhat murky, keeping us from diving into nitty-gritty details. However, what stands out is its DLSS upscaling support, which significantly boosts the console’s performance. For a deep dive into this, check out our detailed breakdown of the device’s features. NVIDIA’s push with the Tegra239 chip clearly showcases their ambitions with custom ASICs, maintaining exclusive collaboration with Nintendo alongside ARM’s expertise.

The big question looming large now is when NVIDIA plans to roll out its chip for the AI PC market. There have been whispers since last year about a partnership with MediaTek to craft an ARM-centered SoC, presumably named the N1X and N1 series, though updates on this front have been scant.