Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to offer 30FPS at 4K resolution. Digital Foundry analyzed the console’s performance capacity and GPU usage.
Nintendo Switch 2 is expected to deliver games at 4K resolution, but only at 30FPS, with NVIDIA’s DLSS upscaling technology. Experts at Digital Foundry also discussed the possibility of the next-generation Nintendo console playing games at 4K resolution at 60FPS.
Nintendo Switch 2: 30FPS Expectation at 4K Resolution Analyzed by Digital Foundry
Tech experts at Digital Foundry, a respected provider of video game hardware and software analysis, evaluated the Nintendo Switch 2’s ability to play games at 4K, 60FPS using NVIDIA DLSS. Experts stated that the Switch 2 could deliver 4K resolution at 30FPS, but argued that 60FPS was not possible due to the costs of the console’s GPU upscaling the content.
The Digital Foundry team stated that their goal was to emulate the rumored hardware in the Switch 2, based on a test they conducted with the T239 chip. In particular, testing where they upscaled Death Stranding from 720p to 4K using DLSS Ultra Performance yielded significant results. The team found that this upgrade added 18.3 milliseconds to the frame time relative to native resolution, so 60FPS was not possible. However, upgrading from 720p to 1440p only added 7.7 milliseconds.
Developer Preferences and Sourcing
Based on these results, testers emphasized that targeting 4K 30FPS would be a misuse of console resources if more than half of the GPU time was spent on upscaling. They point out that such a high upgrade cost would not allow developers to optimize their games for this combination, given the resources available. Instead, it is believed that developers will opt for 1080p or 1440p at a higher refresh rate.