I got to experiment with a NVIDIA Shield TV, featuring similar technology to what is in the Switch. If you browse the internet or most schools of thought, [you will see] the modern Tegra is an impressively powerful chip.
But upon trying the Shield TV for myself, I realized it really isn't. The Shield TV struggles to achieve 50 FPS in an old PC game, Half-Life 2, at what I assume is 1080p. A quick online search typing in the right key words reveals it also has problems keeping up with a Core M in 3DMark. It's more ideal for high-end tablet games unless you are Geforce Now streaming, it seems like. If I had to guess, although the GPU is really impressive and cool sounding, the system is probably gimped by a low memory bandwidth.
Now, to the Switch. While I believe it can match the Wii U at the least, I have serious doubts it can run Skyrim and the like at a high detail level. I also doubt that it being a Pascal, if it is, would be enough to save it. I'm really starting to expect PS3-quality third-party games.
I don't hate the Shield TV, it's in fact decent so long as your expectations are in check, but sometimes a person's eyes need to be opened, and mine were. I think the Switch will be cool, but certain statements I have made about it, may need retracted. Lol.
I'm actually going to hold off buying a Switch now and wait for Mario to come out and for a $50 price drop on the system. I figure, why not? Now excuse me while I experiment more with the Shield TV.
But upon trying the Shield TV for myself, I realized it really isn't. The Shield TV struggles to achieve 50 FPS in an old PC game, Half-Life 2, at what I assume is 1080p. A quick online search typing in the right key words reveals it also has problems keeping up with a Core M in 3DMark. It's more ideal for high-end tablet games unless you are Geforce Now streaming, it seems like. If I had to guess, although the GPU is really impressive and cool sounding, the system is probably gimped by a low memory bandwidth.
Now, to the Switch. While I believe it can match the Wii U at the least, I have serious doubts it can run Skyrim and the like at a high detail level. I also doubt that it being a Pascal, if it is, would be enough to save it. I'm really starting to expect PS3-quality third-party games.
I don't hate the Shield TV, it's in fact decent so long as your expectations are in check, but sometimes a person's eyes need to be opened, and mine were. I think the Switch will be cool, but certain statements I have made about it, may need retracted. Lol.
I'm actually going to hold off buying a Switch now and wait for Mario to come out and for a $50 price drop on the system. I figure, why not? Now excuse me while I experiment more with the Shield TV.
Last edited: