My son’s and nephew’s Switches both had fan failures, so I had to redo the thermal paste on them as part of servicing them. Afterwards I saw great performance on both, but since I was having fan issues, I can’t say how much of the improvement was just the paste.
this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
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Interesting!
I could only find limited info about the SoC's TjMax / operating temperatures, although we could assume it's somewhat similar to the actual Tegra X1, in which case:
- This datasheet lists a TjMax of 105°C (page 2) and several thresholds before that (page 17) at which the APU would downclock (or shut down), with no actual value unfortunately.
- Gamers Nexus talks about the above, with a supposed throttling threshold at 70°C - and possibly 90°C - where frequency drops by 6%.
- Digital Foundry made a video testing Switch overclocking years ago (apologies for the ResetEra link, but there's a good summary there), where they had operating temperatures in the 60s (though I'm not sure that's the junction temperature).
That being said, my (V1) Switch is modded so I could test that a bit more, and check operating temperatures and frequencies before/after a repaste.
Thanks for the data sheet! I struggled to find anything even vaguely official about the X1, so this is quite helpful. I think the throttling at around 70 could be our culprit, as (assuming most of the docked power goes to the SOC) I've had processors in portable devices in that sort of power class with similar size coolers have junction temperatures go into the 80s and 90s regularly, so probably in heavier games the temperature goes past that threshold regularly on a lot of systems. This is not helped by the thermal compound both ageing and probably not being the best thing even on day 1, in comparison to something like PhaseSheet that is among the top performers.
Part of me is curious as to if Nintendo have a low temperature target set for the SOC that could see the boost stop early, and the lower temperatures from a repaste allow us to get past it. The data sheet suggests that the throttling thresholds are configurable considering there are no default numbers in the document at all, so Nintendo might have gone more conservative to increase system reliability. If you can, try and get some frequency data, as this might be the reason as to why I'm seeing an improvement.
I am excited to see your results, as it'll give some hard numbers to see if this is worth all the trouble for everyone to accomplish (the heat spreader is quite the pain to remove).
Oh, neat! I hope it keeps up and you find a good way to confirm the performance increase.
Now I'm interested in trying this. Although I just play simple, cartoony games that really don't tax the system.
Unfortunately, I'll probably not be able to confirm the results with hard numbers for a while until a new way to modify the Switch is found, as I have a system with a patched chip that blocks one of the main current methods, and I'll probably leave mod chipping it as I have a PC right next to it for all the stuff I would do on a modded system. I might try and see if I can borrow an unopened Switch some day for a side by side comparison. Also a heads up in case you do try this, the thermal paste on top of and under the main cooler is fairly accessible, but getting to the one under the heat spreader is quite a task involving prying in just the right spots to not break the spreader or the board. Just be prepared to take your time, and that you are kind of risking your Switch doing that final paste. The other spots however are easy to get to, so if you are experienced taking apart electronics they aren't too much of a hassle and can still provide some benefit, especially if you're on an older system.
Thanks!
Interesting. The important part to me is this:
The outside of the Switch is definitely exhausting more heat, which could suggest more heat is being taken away from the SOC and consequently cooling it down.
Dumb hypothesizes from a non-expert:
- You have cleaned dust during your modifications, making a better air Flow (more heat out, better internal thermal, better CPU performance).
- You have broken a thermal sensor and your switch is actually heating a lot while the sensor think it does not.
- Both ?
You raise some fair points. I'll answer to the best of my knowledge:
- Dust: There was nearly zero dust in the system, as it has been kept in a clean room and has been used outside only rarely. Therefore, the only dust was a bit on the speakers.
- Temperature sensors: There were no temperature sensors on any of the parts I removed, so I assume the Switch is like a PC GPU where the sensors are integrated into the chips rather than being external. The fan still spins at a decent pace to keep up with the heat, so those sensors still appear to be working.