The Nintendo Switch console, in its various versions, has sold more than 122 million units. This is due to its good abilities and, above all, to the great sagas of video games like Super Mario, Zelda or Pokémon, among others. Although the Nintendo Switch-Console It has its limits, especially with regard to Living memory.
First, the first Nintendo Switch launched in March 2017, more than six years have passed since then. Nintendo launched the Lite version at the end of September 2019, which introduced few changes from the original model.
More recently, Nintendo launched OLED, more precisely in October 2021. This console does not bring any hardware changes compared to the original model, just like the Lite.
Nintendo Switch: how much RAM it has and how it’s distributed
As we said, the console of the Japanese company in these six years and despite the existence of two “revisions” has not changed at the hardware level. Although new models have come out, the basic components have always been the same. Only the screen has changed, being a bit smaller on the Lite console and a bit bigger and better on the OLED model.
All models of nintendo switch They count with 4GB LPDDR4 RAM. Initially, it was thought that the OLED model would expand the capacity to 8GB, but that didn’t happen. Recall that this model was launched during a pandemic, when there were major problems with the supply of materials.
What is interesting is that these 4 GB of RAM are distributed as follows:
- 1 GB of RAM exclusively for the operating system
- 3 GB of RAM for games and shared with the operating system
At the time of its release (2017), it was a fair amount. At that time, any computer had 8 GB of RAM, whether or not it was used for games.
Obviously, a computer is not the same as a console and less than a portable console. Additionally, Nintendo games tend to opt for more cartoon-inspired graphics. This type of graphics is less demanding, we can say that it is lighter. So, for this type of graph, 3 GB of RAM is enough.
Yes, there have been issues in some games, like the new Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
How much RAM should a Switch 2 have?
First of all, Nintendo should already stop using NVIDIA SoCs. Currently, the company is no longer working on these chips and insisting on them is nonsense. The Steam Deck uses a semi-custom AMD Ryzen APU and the ASUS RoG Ally uses the AMD Ryzen Z1, two very powerful chips.
Obviously, Nintendo has to make the jump to AMD’s solutions, which have already proven to be brutal. This means at the same time that the amount of RAM could easily be doubled or quadrupled. Just thinking about a Switch 2 with the Ryzen Z1 and 16GB LPDDR5 makes you want to buy it.
Realistically, Nintendo has copied the model it already introduced with the Game Boy, releasing new models that add nothing. Remember that the Game Boy was in free fall and was saved by the Pokémon saga.