Nintendo Switch has apparently come to the backfoot after the launches of next-gen handhelds such as the ROG Ally. However, Geekerwan, a YouTuber, has managed to overclock the Nintendo Switch to extract all the juice from its onboard chip and run various games on it from platforms such as PC, Android, and Linux.
Nintendo Switch's Tegra X1 Chip Has Untapped Potential, Overclocking Shows Great Performance Improvement, Modded Handheld Runs PC Games
Nintendo Switch itself can't be overclocked unless it is modified through a particular method. So Geekerwan here was able to install Android on the handheld through a new emulator. Moreover, he could also modify the clock speeds of the memory and chip on the Nintendo Switch.
For a recap, the Nintendo Switch features NVIDIA's Tegra X1 processor released back in 2015. It features 4 ARM Cortex-A57 CPU cores and 4 ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores running originally at 1.0 GHz. However, Geekerwan was able to overclock the CPU clock speeds up to 2.3 GHz by modifying the bootloader files of the Android emulator. That's over a 2x clock speed improvement with the OC applied.
Moreover, he also overclocked GPU clock speeds from 768 MHz to 1.267 GHz, marking over a 60% improvement in GPU clocks. As highlighted by Geekerwan, the Tegra X1 chip is running at much lower clock speeds than it should mainly because Nintendo aims to have a device without having high thermals.
While the tweaking improved synthetic benchmarks (such as Geekbench 5), it couldn't do much to squeeze out power in gaming scenarios. Android titles such as Genshin Impact couldn't surpass the 30 FPS mark since they are heavily CPU dependent. Geekerwan also went out of the way and installed Linux on the Nintendo Switch to run the latest PC titles, and to our surprise, the games were loading up.
Titles such as GTA 5, Devil May Cry, and God of War were loaded up on Nintendo Switch but the effort went into vain since the handheld couldn't achieve more than 10 FPS. Considering the fact that the device is almost five years old, loading up a AAA title is still an achievement for it.
This modding attempt was indeed a unique one and it expanded upon the capabilities of Nintendo Switch. However, we advise readers not to perform such attempts since it could void a product's warranty or potentially lead to device failure if not done correctly. As far as the device is concerned, Nintendo right now is behind every current-gen option, and we are hoping that the company releases its successor soon.
News Source: Videocardz
