The Nintendo Switch is using Nvidia technology for the first time ever, with a custom-built chip based on Nvidia’s Tegra. And this was a top priority for Nintendo, according to its technology head Genyo Takeda.
Nintendo was impressed by Nvidia’s success in the PC industry, and wanted the company to bring that graphics power to the Switch.
Specifically, Takeda said during a recent investors Q&A session:
“The PC has been a major gaming device, especially outside of Japan, and my top priority in the development of the Nintendo Switch hardware was to bring NVIDIAʼs GeForce, which has played a key role in realizing high-performance graphics for PC gaming, to our hardware with low power consumption.”
Using Nvidia is a big step for Nintendo, who used ATI (AMD) graphics in their last three consoles: the Wii U, Wii, and GameCube all had graphics chips made by ATI (which was acquired by AMD back in 2006).
The Nintendo Switch features a custom-made Nvidia Tegra chip that includes an ARM-based CPU and a graphics processor as well. For more, you can check out the full Switch specs here.
