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New Nintendo Switch Pro SoC information diverts the super console rumors even further away from the Nintendo Aula origin story

The Nintendo Switch Pro and its SoC are mysteries even to someone as intrepid as Link. (Image source: Nintendo/Nvidia - edited)
The Nintendo Switch Pro and its SoC are mysteries even to someone as intrepid as Link. (Image source: Nintendo/Nvidia - edited)
Apparent new information about the Nintendo Switch Pro’s SoC has come to light, with the codename “Black Knight” being offered up for it. Ensuing speculation has suggested once more that a new Nvidia mobile chip will star in the Switch Pro, leaving the console’s origin story as Aula even further in the distance.

The noted tipster kopite7kimi has shared a couple of words with followers in connection to the T239 chip that Nintendo will allegedly use in a future product. The source posted the words “Black Knight”, which has been taken to mean the codename for the SoC that could be used in the Nintendo Switch Pro. While no official name has even been given to the Switch successor yet, with Super Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 also being suggested, there has been quite a lot of seemingly conflicting information issued in regard to its likely processor.

Thanks to the same source, it seems possible that the Switch Pro could come with a customized variant of the Nvidia Orin S processor, with “Orin” being associated with Team Green’s products for the automobile industry. The potential specs for this chip put it way beyond the revised Nintendo Switch’s T214 “Mariko” chip: the Nvidia Tegra X1+. The regular Orin’s CPU part is much more powerful than that of the Tegra X1+ (12x Cortex-A78E vs. 4x Cortex-A57 + 4x Cortex-A53) and the GPU component with a reported potential bandwidth of 200 GB/s puts the 25.6 GB/s of the Mariko chip to shame.

Even a customized and cut-down variant of the Orin processor, like the 15-W Orin S, will still be a major leap in terms of performance from Mariko. However, a further spanner in the works has been provided by a combination of “Black Knight” and Nvidia’s codenaming scheme for mobile and vehicle SoCs. As pointed out by Dakhil96Gaming, the Orin chips are named after DC Comic characters while Marvel character names go to mobile chips. So this could imply that although the T239/Black Knight might borrow from Orin, it really is its own “family”.

The information kopite7kimi has delivered so far has taken the Switch Pro or Super Nintendo Switch further away from its origin story, which can be traced back to some datamining from the well-known hacker SciresM. Back in January, it was stated that Nintendo Aula would come with the aforementioned Mariko SoC but likely with performance enhancements. This would make Aula more of a revision of the Switch rather than a Pro model or true next-gen successor. It’s possible Nintendo has more than one piece of gaming hardware in the works or there is some efficient misdirection going on while the Big N carries on making fans wait for an official announcement.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2021 06 > New Nintendo Switch Pro SoC information diverts the super console rumors even further away from the Nintendo Aula origin story
Daniel R Deakin, 2021-06-25 (Update: 2021-06-25)