Why Is PS4 Specs More Powerful Than Nintendo Switch?

Nintendo Switch game console coming this March will be less powerful compared to Sony's three-year-old PlayStation 4. The console uses the custom Maxwell Tegra hardware, which is technically better than Wii U.

Nintendo planned to rush it to the market since they know that they are going to kill Wii U, and decided not to wait for the Pascal but went with the Maxwell instead. Earlier this year, Nvidia announced its new Pascal architecture but that certain technology is said to be not yet ready for the Tegra chip installed into the Switch.

Venture Beat reported that Switch's custom Maxwell Tegra will have more than 1 teraflop of performance. This means that the console in terms of horsepower is below compared to the PS4 Pro with 4.2 teraflops, PS4 with 1.8 teraflops and the standard Xbox One with 1.3 teraflops.

On the other hand, Nintendo assured that Switch's visual capabilities can still satisfy most gamers. They applied realistic-looking games in the trailer like Skyrim and NBA 2K. It's obvious that the Switch will not have the same horsepower as the PS4, but it could still tackle many modern games. For portable mode, because of Switch's 720p 6.2-inch screen, games will run at a lower resolution dropped at 540p that enables games to run even smoother, rather than setting to 720p.

Jon Peddie, an analyst and market researcher at Jon Peddie Research, said that "If Nintendo gets traction with this, we forecast they will ship 5 million Switches by the end of 2017." Nintendo's choice of Maxwell means that Nintendo box will be a lot cheaper compared to other brand-new consoles. Maxwell graphics will be inserted in the ARM-based Tegra processor, an all-in-one chip. Gamers and fans will probably have the answer in January when Nintendo will announce all the specs and other details about the Nintendo Switch.