I’ve been doing some experimentation lately with my Switch, and have replaced the thermal paste on all layers (under the copper heat spreader, under the heat sink, and on top of the heat pipe). I used a combination of Thermal Grizzly PhaseSheet (for heat spreader and heat sink) and K5 Pro (for heat pipe) if anyone is curious. I am running a Switch with the original SOC (higher heat and power) that I bought in about late 2018.

I wasn’t expecting much if anything, but in games they seem to have had a bit of a performance improvement, especially in docked mode. The two games I especially noticed were Fire Emblem Three Houses and Pokemon Violet. In Three Houses, the loading sections in explore mode (so fully in game, with everything still showing on screen) took far less time than I remember (1-3 seconds compared to 5-10) along with a higher frame rate during the loading, and in Violet the frame rate seems a decent bit more stable. Unfortunately, since my Switch is not modded, I do not have any hard performance numbers to back up these perceived improvements. I have heard that the Switch will prioritise CPU clocks over GPU when loading due to thermal restrictions, but I cannot find anything about it being able to boost both if it has the thermal headroom. 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.

Does anyone have any experience with doing this, and have you gotten a similar result? I am curious to find out if this is just placebo, or if this is genuinely a way to increase performance even just by a little bit.

  • BigMikeInAustin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    8 days ago

    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.

    • heythatsprettygood@feddit.ukOPEnglish
      3·
      8 days ago

      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.