In Digital Foundry's latest piece, they experiment with pushing the Switch's CPU and GPU clocks to the maximum that the Tegra X1 supports, so see what effect it has on games.
For the GPU, it's pushed from its normal docked clock of 768MHz to a max of 921MHz, roughly a 20% increase.
For the CPU, it's pushed from it's usual 1020MHz to 1785Mhz, about a 75% boost.
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2019-switch-overclocking-analysis
The gains vary greatly on a game by game basis, depending on whether a title is limited by CPU, GPU, or memory bandwidth.
Here's the interesting part though; even when fully overclocked, the Switch, in docked mode anyway, only increases in heat from 60 degrees to 68 degrees; well below the system's throttle limit of 83 degrees.
Therefore, in theory, there is room for Nintendo to continue to unlock more of the Tegra X1's power over time, as they have already done by offering a 460MHz overclock in portable mode and more recently the full-speed CPU "boost mode".
Now, the CPU was most likely kept low to ensure parity of gameplay between docked and portable play, but graphics scale more readily, especially in this era of dynamic resolution, so opening up the option for devs to run at 921MHz in docked mode could make for a better TV experience. Again, they've already allowed for an increase in portable GPU clocks, so why not also docked clocks, where battery life is not an issue?
Instead of making a "Switch Pro" with better specs that leaves existing users shortchanged, Nintendo could simply allow developers to use higher clockspeeds on the existing Switch; it will run a bit hotter and make more fan noise, but owners of a base Switch won't have to deal with subpar performance.
Last edited by curl-6 - on 13 August 2019
