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Soundwave on 24 August 2016
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TheLastStarFighter said:
Soundwave said:

This is what the patent says:

 

  • Supplemental computing device(s) configured to detachably couple to a game console in order to provide processing resources for an increase of speed or quality of a user's gaming experience.
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  • The supplemental computing device includes one or more processors, memory and one or more communication interfaces.
  • In some instances, the functionality of the device may be basic in order to keep a cost of the device relatively low. As such, the device may be free from drivers, video cards, user-control interfaces, and the like.
  • Users may share processing resources. Doing so can compensate a user in form of access to other supplemental computing devices maintained by other users, discounts on games, access to certain game content, points for redemption for digital or physical goods, social network badges, any form of value really.
With Nintendo it's probably for the best to keep your expectations low in terms of technology, otherwise you're likely to be dissapointed. They have no released a system with high end performance (or even mid-tier performance) in like 15 years and the NX concept presents several problems. 
Beyond all the other issues, the power gap between the SCD and base unit can't be so large, if its that large you're basically asking developers to have to make two seperate versions of each game for the price of one game ... which I don't see going over very well.
A 2:1 ratio with the Tegra X2 (500 GFLOPS to 1 TFLOP) would be probably the ideal sweet spot, once you go above that you're going to have massive problems running the same game on both configurations. 
You can't just have a 400-500 gigaflop portable (in actual usage) and then like a 3 TFLOP SCD configuration, the gap beween the two is ridiculous. 

So you're saying the patent doesn't require that the units need the same power supply now?

Also, a 2:1 ration isn't necessary.  As you have said many times, it takes far more resources to present the same game on home screen than a portable. A 3:1 or 4:1 ratio would be fine.

As far as expectations, I have none.  I merely speculate.  I am not exlcuding any option, which you rapidly do only to change it when the next rumor comes along.

I kind of still think we may see two units, a home and a portable, with a shared OS and games but different hardware.

Those are the base points of the patent if you read the whole thing I believe it says specifically the SCD does not have its own power supply. It's also illustrated that way. It draws power from the main unit. 

Yes I've said scalable hardware is a good way to go in the past, but Permalite and others have discussed it with me and while some things would work ... other things (like just raw geometry/polygonal crunching power) would be problematic to scale. 

Two Tegra X2s isn't so bad really, I still think with a higher speed RAM frame buffer suitable for 1080P that you'd get basically something comparable to what a Playstation 4 can do. At least enough so that you'd be able to see what Mario Kart and Mario 3D would look like on a PS4 type machine. 

And it would be cheap and very low power draw, two Tegras together even at full load run could run at like 30-40 watts, which would be about the same as a Wii U. 

It wouldnt be so bad and it would be fairly easy for developers too I think, a 2:1 ratio scale is not so tough. I think two Tegra X2s with a higher bandwidth memory layout does get you into the same ball park of XB1/PS4. 

To be honest I think it would be kinda neat if Nintendo just let people buy these little tiny chips and just stack as many as 4 together, lol, that would be neat, though not likely to happen. The idea of a modular console that is easy to plug and play and very streamlined and power efficient because it uses mobile parts is interesting though.