Rumor: Nintendo Switch to use last-gen NVIDIA GPU

There have been rumors surrounding Nintendo's upcoming console and it's connection to NVIDIA for a while now. While we know the Nintendo Switch will be using NVIDIA technology, it's unclear what GPU the console will use.

It was hoped that the Switch would make use of the new and more powerful Pascal, but it seems as though this hope could be tossed out of the window.

According to sources at VentureBeat, the Nintendo Switch will be powered by NVIDIA using the last generation Maxwell architecture rather than the new Pascal. Because of this, the Nintendo Switch is expected to be less powerful than the PlayStation 4.

Which is an interesting development, considering NVIDIA's boss said that getting PS4 and Xbox One games on the Switch wouldn't be a problem.

Rumors suggest that the Switch will see boosted performance while docked, which begs the question of its performance while undocked. The report from VentureBeat states that Nintendo's decision for the lower model may have been made due to their inability to wait for Pascal's Tegra to be produced because of poor Nintendo Wii U sales. Many fans may wonder if staying their hand until they were able would have been a better choice, but it may have simply been a matter of economic need. This will, however, make the Nintendo Switch cheaper, which was a limiting factor for the initial sales of the Wii U, causing the console to dive on its price.

Our last rumor on the price of the Switch was around $245, which is significantly lower than the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One at launch, which was $399 and $499 respectively. We've reported earlier that Nintendo will hopefully have an official reveal of stats and prices in January, so while this report is logical, the final word will come from the big N themselves shortly.