Nintendo Switch vs Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
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CPU comparison with benchmarks
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| Nintendo Switch | Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) | |
CPU comparisonIn this CPU comparison, we compare the Nintendo Switch and the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.
We compare the Nintendo Switch 8 core processor released in Q1/2017 with the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) which has 4 CPU cores and was introduced in Q4/2023. |
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| NVIDIA Tegra (2) | Family | AMD Ryzen 5 (85) |
| NVIDIA Tegra X1 (2) | CPU group | AMD Sephiroth (Steam Deck Refresh 2023) (1) |
| 2 | Generation | 4 |
| Cortex-A57/-A53 | Architecture | Sephiroth (Zen 2) |
| Mobile | Segment | Mobile |
| -- | Predecessor | Valve Steam Deck (AMD Custom APU 0405) |
| -- | Successor | -- |
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CPU Cores and Base FrequencyThe Nintendo Switch is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz). The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) clocks with 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz), has 4 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel. |
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| Nintendo Switch | Characteristic | Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) |
| 8 | Cores | 4 |
| 8 | Threads | 8 |
| hybrid (big.LITTLE) | Core architecture | normal |
| No | Hyperthreading | Yes |
| No | Overclocking ? | No |
| 1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz) 4x Cortex-A57 |
A-Core | 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz) |
| 1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz) 4x Cortex-A53 |
B-Core | -- |
Internal GraphicsGraphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback. |
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| NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell) | GPU | AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) |
| 0.30 GHz | GPU frequency | 1.00 GHz |
| 0.77 GHz | GPU (Turbo) | 1.60 GHz |
| 1 | GPU Generation | -- |
| 20 nm | Technology | 7 nm |
| 1 | Max. displays | 2 |
| 2 | Compute units | 8 |
| 256 | Shader | 512 |
| No | Hardware Raytracing | No |
| No | Frame Generation | No |
| 2 GB | Max. GPU Memory | 8 GB |
| 12 | DirectX Version | 12 |
Hardware codec supportA photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos. |
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| NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell) | GPU | AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) |
| Decode | Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) | Decode / Encode |
| Decode | Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) | Decode / Encode |
| Decode / Encode | Codec h264 | Decode / Encode |
| Decode | Codec VP9 | Decode / Encode |
| Decode | Codec VP8 | Decode / Encode |
| No | Codec AV1 | No |
| Decode | Codec AVC | Decode / Encode |
| Decode | Codec VC-1 | Decode |
| Decode / Encode | Codec JPEG | Decode / Encode |
Memory & PCIeUp to 4 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Nintendo Switch, while the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s enabled. |
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| Nintendo Switch | Characteristic | Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) |
| LPDDR4-3200 | Memory | LPDDR5-6400 |
| 4 GB | Max. Memory | 16 GB |
| 2 (Dual Channel) | Memory channels | 4 (Quad Channel) |
| 25.6 GB/s | Max. Bandwidth | 102.4 GB/s |
| No | ECC | No |
| 2.50 MB | L2 Cache | 2.00 MB |
| -- | L3 Cache | 4.00 MB |
| -- | PCIe version | 3.0 |
| -- | PCIe lanes | 8 |
| -- | PCIe Bandwidth | 7.9 GB/s |
Thermal ManagementThe Nintendo Switch has a TDP of 5 W. The TDP of the Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) is 15 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution. |
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| Nintendo Switch | Characteristic | Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) |
| 5 W | TDP (PL1 / PBP) | 15 W |
| -- | TDP (PL2) | -- |
| -- | TDP up | -- |
| 5 W | TDP down | 4 W |
| -- | Tjunction max. | 100 °C |
Technical detailsThe Nintendo Switch has 2.50 MB cache and is manufactured in 20 nm. The cache of Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) is at 6.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 6 nm. |
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| Nintendo Switch | Characteristic | Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) |
| 20 nm | Technology | 6 nm |
| Chiplet | Chip design | Monolithic |
| Armv8-A (64 bit) | Instruction set (ISA) | x86-64 (64 bit) |
| -- | ISA extensions | SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3 |
| -- | Socket | FF3 |
| None | Virtualization | AMD-V, SVM |
| No | AES-NI | Yes |
| Operating systems | SteamOS (Arch Linux) | |
| Q1/2017 | Release date | Q4/2023 |
| -- | Release price | -- |
| show more data | show more data | |
8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!
4C 8T @ 2.40 GHz (3.50 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!
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Rate these processors
Average performance in benchmarks
⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
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Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz |
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Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
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Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz |
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Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz |
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iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)
The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
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Nintendo Switch
NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell) @ 0.77 GHz |
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Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Steam Deck) @ 1.60 GHz |
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Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
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Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz |
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Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)
The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
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Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz |
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Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
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Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz |
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Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
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Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz |
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Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh)
4C 8T @ 2.80 GHz |
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Devices using this processor |
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| Nintendo Switch | Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) |
| Nintendo Switch | Valve Steam Deck (2023 Refresh) |
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