The Nintendo Switch isn’t anywhere close to being as powerful as its contemporary competitors, the Xbox One and the PS4, and while people have mostly not been overly concerned with that fact, there are a few prospective buyers who are still on the fence thanks to the system’s supposedly underpowered nature.
However, as per new reports, the Switch will offer game developers with something known as the boost mode, which will give them significantly more power to work with, translating into a 25% improvement on the GPU.
As per a recent report by Digital Foundry, where the system’s GPU clock speed was originally reported to be running at 307.3MHz when outside of its dock and essentially in handheld mode, the new boost mode increases that GPU speed to 384MHz when the system is running out of dock. It should, however, be noted that this is only an option for developers, and not something users will be able to toggle on and off on the system. Developers, by the way, can also work without the boost mode should they choose to do so.
While this is a significant upgrade, it should be noted that it doesn’t bring the system on par with its direct competitors- but then again, that isn’t the point of the Switch, so that shouldn’t make too much of a difference.
Click on the link provided above to read the full report by Digital Foundry in case you want to go into the nitty-gritties of the matter. A short while back, we went hands-on with the Switch and came away hugely impressed. You can read our impressions here.