wombat123 said:
Not for $350. The only Tegra based SoC I know of that would be able to achieve that kind of power is the Xavier which isn't even out yet. Even though I like the idea of staggered hardware generations like Soundwave has described (even advocated for it before we knew what the Switch was), I don't think that's the priority for Nintendo nor is it financially viable at the moment. What they want to do is try to drop the price of the Switch to as close to $200 as possible by the end of next year because that will probably be the console's impulse purchase price point which will allow for multiple Switch units per household like Nintendo wants. |
We don't know what Nvidia is really working on because the consumer class Tegra chips (ie: what would be basically the Tegra X3) is something Nvidia is likely not going to talk about anymore. Why? Because those chips are for one vendor now and one vendor only and that's Nintendo. And Nintendo would likely prefer they keep quiet, so Nvidia will understandably respect that. But I certainly think a Tegra X3 does exist (not just the giant sized Xavier chip for cars), Nvidia just can't announce it/show it because everyone and their grandma would know it's for a new Switch model and start flooding the internet with speculation.
Likely Nvidia can make a chip for Nintendo comparable to the Apple A12X in the new iPad that just released. A12X is probably about 4x the Tegra X1 processor, but when the Tegra X1 launched it was comparable to the high end Apple chip of that time (Apple A9X). I don't think Nvidia has just been sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
$200 is fine and dandy for a budget model, but I think people need to realize something ... price cuts and "kid friendly redesigns" never pushed the 3DS into sales shipments past 14 million/year. If Nintendo wants the bigger numbers for Switch (like 20 mill/year shipments) they're gonna have to understand the whole "kiddie portable" thing doesn't sell as many systems alone. Part of the Switch's appeal and a major part of it is being able to play fairly high end games ... at least keeping only a 1 generational gap. If Sony/MS move to PS5/XB2 and Nintendo is stuck with PS3/Wii U tier games, that's a two generation gap and the Switch becomes much less credible as a "portable console" and once they've used up most of their top tier franchises (probably around 2020), the system becomes a harder sell.
