When it comes to the technical side of games, there’s basically nobody more on top of things than the folks over at Digital Foundry — they continue to provide all the details and nuances on specs you could ever need. And now, they’ve made a revelatory discovery of Switch hardware — that, in certain instances, Nintendo has put in a “Boost Mode” during Handheld use that overclocks the Tegra X1 chip.
In short, the new configuration has been used sparingly in three games — Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, and Mortal Kombat 11. The effect is most notable in the last of those, as it keeps the game running (relatively) smooth while not sacrificing grandiose amounts of visual fidelity. DF notes that the overclocking is primarily used in BotW and SMO (where it was added via patches) to help loading times, and they display the difference firsthand, finding a small yet notable decrease in load times.
You can check out the full Digital Foundry video for details:
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
