Nintendo Switch 2 rumor claims DLSS 3.5 capabilities but no frame-generation

The newest Nintendo Switch 2 rumors suggest that the console will be able to make use of DLSS 3.5 Ray Reconstruction, but might miss out on DLSS 3’s cutting-edge frame generation features.

There are plenty of rumors floating around about the Nintendo Switch 2, and the latest comes from Nate the Hate (via WccfTech). The rumor claims that Nintendo’s next handheld will be able to make use of Nvidia’s DLSS 3.5 ray reconstruction technology. The tech remains in its infancy, and we’ve observed more than a few issues with it when playing Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

They claim that various forms of DLSS will be available on the console, such as super-resolution. But, it’s likely that frame generation will not be supported by the system.

Nate the Hate’s comments do line up with other rumors about the Switch 2’s SoC, which is likely based on Nvidia’s T239 chipset, and we’ve explained why you shouldn’t expect frame-generation features on Switch 2 below.

Why the Switch 2 probably won’t have DLSS 3 frame generation

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If rumor is to be believed, then the chip being used by the Switch 2, the Nvidia T239. This chip is actually based on the RTX 30-series Ampere architecture and is rumored to house 1280 CUDA cores. Its specifications are around exactly half of what you’d expect from the Nvidia RTX 3050.

With this in mind, and with the way that Nvidia’s frame-generation tech works, the chip would need to have the same optical flow capabilities as the 40-series Ada Lovelace architecture.

Since it does not, it’s likely that the performance of frame generation will likely be diminished when compared to its more modern 40-series brethren. It’s the same reason the RTX 30-series doesn’t have DLSS 3 frame generation either.

It’s important to note that DLSS 3.5 is strictly talking about ray reconstruction, which seeks to enhance the way that ray-traced denoising works, which can be performed on any RTX-equipped GPU, which is why it’s compatible with Ampere hardware.

Remember, we’re deep into speculative territory here, so be sure to take all of this with a heap of salt. Nintendo is not expected to release hardware until at least after April 2024.