After the Switch reveal a few days ago, many people had already assumed the tech on the new system is around the same level as the WiiU or sightly more powerful. Understandably most of the games have an art style that isn’t really meant to flex any GPU muscles. And it still seemed to struggle a bit. Even Zelda is only running at 900P 30fps. The skepticism is understandable. 

One exception to the more cartoony visuals, however, was the Skyrim trailer, as that game boasts a more realistic art style. The trailer didn’t made it clear if it was a port of the special edition and many may have assumed and claimed it looked like the 360 version. Yet...

An article on a website called Gearnuke did a nice job of comparing and proving the footage shown in the Switch event looks a lot like the Special Edition.

Heres the comparison:

Old ugly vanilla PC version:

New Shiny Special Edition PC version:

Nintendo Switch supposedly 360 quality version:

Neogaf agreed. Link to the article. (Note that all this is assuming the footage they showed was even from the Switch version).

I’m not claiming the Switch is on par with the XB1 or PS4, but it doesn’t need to be. It just need to get close enough. But can it?

We all remember when Digital Foundry tested the Tegra X1, which is rumored to be the chip inside the Switch dev kits. It concluded it could run last gen games with slightly better performance. Of course it still left many questions in the air, like how would it perform in a console environment. It also only tested games available on android, most of them last gen ports. So how would it do against a more modern game. At this point there is no way to know, but that shouldn’t stop us from doing some highly educated conjecture

Enter the GeForce 830m. What so special about it? Two things: 

1- It’s based on the Maxwell architecture. That is one of the rumored architectures the Switch custom GPU is based on. The other possible GPU architecture being the much improved Pascal.

2- Its rated at 526 gigaflops. The Tegra X-1 (also Maxwell) is rated at 512 gigaflops.

Anyway, here is how the GeForce 830m performs on Dark Souls 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJhBD6e21VU

and The Witcher 3:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Nl--5F1GA

What does this means? Is this acceptable? Unplayable? Can we directly compare the performance of a PC to a console? Is it imposible for the Switch to run these games? Did Nintendo underclocked the GPU so much is not able to perform any flops at all?

You tell me. I have no idea. But I still think we should wait and see if more third party ports of “serious” games find their way to the Switch.

Update: justiceiro made a thread comparing the Switch version of Steep to current gen consoles. http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=224733&page=1

The Tegra X1 in the Switch is 384 GFLOPS in docked mode and 152 GFLOPS undocked ... and games have to be able to run in both modes.

500 GFLOPS is a hypothetical top tier performance for the X1, even in the Shield Console is can only hold 500 GFLOP performance for a few minutes before it throttles itself down to 384 GFLOPS. 

Meh I don't care about graphics. I just want the games to run 1080p 60fps... Like Splatoon 2... it looks EXACTLY like the original Splatoon.... which is a dissapointment. 

It's still never been confirmed that a Tegra X1 though is what is in the Switch. All that has ever been said is "Custom Tegra Chip".  Even if it were an X1, Nintendo got a modified version of it that could have increased what it can do greatly. 

Switchs graphics are going to be fine. It won't be doing PS4/XBO level stuff, because it is slightly underpowered, but even more so because of storage and RAM limits. For Nintendo games, Switch is going to get the job done, it is not a system for 3rd party games, no matter who trys to spin it, it just is not going to happen.

People are either just going to have to be happy with a very well built system, specifically for Nintendo software, or they are going to have to just live without Nintendo software. For the first time in almost 20 years, I will be buying a system specifically for Nintendo Software, because I think Switch is the first great device Nintendo has made since N64. Looking back even on N64 all I played was, Mario 64, Mario Kart, Diddy Kong Racing, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Goldeneye, Donkey Kong 64, and No Mercy, every one of my games was N64 exclusive and only No Mercy didn't come from Nintendo.

For people happy with Nintendo software Switch will be a great device. If there are not enough people to justify a Nintendo console, then it is time for Nintendo software to come to PS and XB.

There's more than likely a reason they are making everything in an animated art style (including Monolith Soft). That's all I'm gonna say.

For the new Xenoblade Chronicles 2 I think it being a direct sequel has more to do with the art style than anything else. XCX was said by the developers to be its own thing set apart from the first and now second game.

I'll give up on graphics if it means awesome art styles and more importantly, great gameplay.

GFLOPS aren't a good measure and are not the only thing that matter. You will find GPUs that beat others with less GFLOPS. Not to mention you have to factor in the fact that 500 gflops would be it's maximum performance (if it were using the X1), and undocked would be around half of that, so optimizing for half of that would require noticeable graphical sacrifices, as if the lowest settings docked wouldn't be low enough.

So, not the best comparison. But I do believe the Switch will use Pascal and just barely compete with XBONE docked, though many people here would call me insane for believing that.

XC was not an anime cel shaded game. Not sure where you got that idea.