Latest Nintendo Switch Update Makes Games Load Faster and Run Better

A couple weeks ago, Nintendo released the new 8.0 update for the Nintendo Switch, which added a healthy slab of new features and improvements to the console. It added a new save transfer data option, a new zoom feature, and apparently also a new boost mode. After the update went live, homebrewers, as they do, dove under the hood of the system to get a better look at the changes the update made, and what they discovered is the aforementioned boost mode, which isn't listed in the official patch notes.

With the boost mode, the Nintendo Switch's CPU can now overclock itself, in specific situations, to 1.75GHz, which as you may know, is a considerable improvement on its stock 1GHz speed. As a result, apparently games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey, with their new patches installed, are loading noticeably faster than they previously did. And this is because of the new boost mode. Basically, what is happening, is the games are overclocking the CPU to 1.75GHz during loading screens, and then once the game is loaded in, the CPU will return to 1GHz.

For The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild specifically, this means loading save files is down 10 seconds, fast travel is improved by eight seconds, and entering shrines is now three seconds faster.

This may seem like marginal improvements, and technically they are, but they are pretty noticeable and notable to not even mention. Of course, going forward, games will now able to take advantage of this new overclocking, which should mean faster load times on the console and general performance improvement.

For more news, media, and information on the Nintendo Switch, be sure to peep all of our previous and constantly updating coverage of the system by clicking right here. And, as always, feel free to leave a comment letting us know what you think or hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ to talk all things Nintendo Switch.

Thanks, GearNuke.

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