Clock-speeds are a crucial piece of information required to get some idea of Switch's capabilities beyond the physical make-up of the Tegra processor. As many have speculated, the new Nintendo hardware does indeed feature two performance configurations - and the console is categorically not as capable in mobile form, compared to its prowess when docked and attached to an HDTV. And we can confirm that there is no second GPU or additional hardware in the dock itself regardless of the intriguing patents that Nintendo has filed suggesting that there might be. With battery life and power throughput no longer an issue, the docked Switch simply allows the GPU to run much faster. And to put it simply, there is a night and day difference here.

Where Switch remains consistent is in CPU power - the cores run at 1020MHz regardless of whether the machine is docked or undocked. This ensures that running game logic won't be compromised while gaming on the go: the game simulation itself will remain entirely consistent. The machine's embedded memory controller runs at 1600MHz while docked (on par with a standard Tegra X1), but the default power mode undocked sees this drop to 1331MHz. However, developers can opt to retain full memory bandwidth in their titles should they choose to do so.

As things stand, CPU clocks are halved compared to the standard Tegra X1, but it's the GPU aspect of the equation that will prove more controversial. Even while docked, Switch doesn't run at Tegra X1's full potential. Clock-speeds are locked here at 768MHz, considerably lower than the 1GHz found in Shield Android TV, but the big surprise from our perspective was the extent to which Nintendo has down-clocked the GPU to hit its thermal and battery life targets. That's not a typo: it really is 307.2MHz - meaning that in portable mode, Switch runs at exactly 40 per cent of the clock-speed of the fully docked device. And yes, the table below does indeed confirm that developers can choose to hobble Switch performance when plugged in to match the handheld profile should they so choose.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2016-nintendo-switch-spec-analysis

Pre-order cancelled, that's just shocking.

Expected.
It´s a handheld with a tv output. Shame really for everyone like me who doesn´t game on the go.

Of course, but the degree of downclocking is massive.

I'm more intrigued in what this can do in practice versus numbers.

I mean if this thing can pull off Wii U graphics on a portable gaming device, its still a very capable machine. The new Zelda game and Skyrim reflects that.

I expect lower resolutions on portable mode which is why they can bring that speed down. 540p can look fine on a screen that small for example. Vita games looked fine pushing 480p.

Ouch.

More curious to see what games will be running at Jan now.

So according to gaf we're looking at 150gf in portable mode and 400gf when docked.

Thank you op! 👌

Wonderful news here. Its stonger than the NES classic and can run the new DQXI game on a powerful system!

Even when docked it´s pretty bad. Every penny over $199 is a scam for this imo.

Shield TV is $199 and has a decent controller packed in.

Cant quite understand what this means.Other than tge fact that in handheld mode it is way weaker(Which can be compensated by the lower resolution), I dont know where this puts the Switch at in terms of power.Could someone elaborate for me?