Nintendo Switch could keep evolving with Nvidia Tegra just like PS4 and PS4 Pro

[JEMC]

mutantsushi said:

JEMC said:

In two-three years the 10nm process will be already on the market, and that could allow Nintendo/Nvidia to pack more shaders (of the same architecture) paired with newer ARM cores while keeping the same overall power envelope.

10nm already is on the market to OEMs, in fact is moving to it's 2nd stage.  By the Switch launch date it should be quite viable to use.
If Nintendo does not choose to use it, it is simply down to cheapness and aversion to cutting edge tech.
Switch is already known to be custom silicon, with totally different GPU than X2 (originally announced as 16nm).

IMHO I don't expect more CPU cores, simply because programmers have been unable to fully leverage so many cores.
That is what happened to PS3, and likewise we don't see Nintendo going for more cores than Xbone/PS4 despite years of progress in arch/fab... Likewise for Scorpio.
Obviously GPUs are another story than CPUs.

I don't see the big deal on AMD vs. NVIDIA GPUs here, obviously the latest of either is better than older gen stuff (ala OG Xbone/PS4).
AMD's architecture is great at new features as seen in DX12 and that is what consoles are leveraging as well.
All in all, I don't see some big story out of Nintendo/NVIDIA collaboration here, if it does well certainly expect an "update" of arch, nothing new there.

I read that TSMC was going to bring 10nm by the end of this year with volume production in 2017, but after the fiascos they got with the latest node transitions, I don't know if that's still true or there have been delays.

In any case, 10nm right now would be more expensive and with lower yields than 16nm, so Nintendo will probably avoid it right now.

About the ARM cores, I didn't mean to say that they would put more cores into the hypothetical Switch revision, but replace the existing ones with newer and more efficient cores. The standard Tegra X2 comes with 2xDenver 2 and 4xA57 cores. We don't know if Nintendo's customisation has changed that configuration (they could have gotten rid of one or two of the A57 cores to put some fixed instructions, like they did with the Wii U processor), but a revision could see the A57 cores replaced by newer processors for more performance but also increased efficiency.