Overclock Your Switch to Make Tears of the Kingdom Work Better
If you were one of the many Nintendo fans who played The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom this week, you’re sure to have enjoyed being back in Hyrule, exploring the Sky Isles and making some crazy stuff. However, you may notice that the game drops framerate more frequently than its predecessor. While these slowdowns are more than playable, you don’t have to live with them – unless you mind getting your hands dirty, of course.
First, let me say this: it’s a miracle that a game like Tears of the Kingdom even exists on the Nintendo Switch. The six-year-old console delivers a massive sandbox adventure that lets you build just about anything you can think of with little or no bugs or glitches. It has become the industry norm to expect such big games to come with their fair share of fun and frustrating issues, but not Zelda .
However, there are some performance quirks in the game. Aside from running at low resolution for a 2023 AAA game, the frame rate, which is typically 30fps, tends to get a little wobbly. You’ll notice this the most during intense gameplay, running through dense villages, or when using a scanning device like the Ultrahand. During these periods, the frame rate of the game slows down a bit before returning to normal. It’s not enough to detract from the overall experience in any way, but for those used to buttery smooth play, it’s pretty obvious.
Most of us, of course, assume that this is the case, and that we’re better off thank god that a game like this can run so well even on 2017 hardware. It’s really impressive, especially given the gigantic scope of what the Zelda team has achieved here. But, if you wish, you can improve the performance of the game. All it takes is a little fiddling, a little time, and a willingness to go against Nintendo’s wishes.
You can overclock the switch
As it turns out, you can overclock your Nintendo Switch to boost your CPU and GPU performance beyond Nintendo’s limits. For the uninitiated, overclocking is when you run components like the CPU or GPU faster than what the manufacturer claims. This is common with PCs as you can get more power from your computer and improve its overall performance.
It now makes sense for Nintendo to limit the clock speed of their Switch hardware. The console is designed for both handheld and desktop gameplay: handheld players would not do well if games took full advantage of the hardware but drained the battery too quickly. However, the Switch can handle it, and it helps games like Tears of the Kingdom run a little more smoothly.
Modern Vintage Gamer tested their modified Switch by increasing the clock speeds to 1862MHz (memory), 1683MHz (CPU), and 921MHz (GPU). This combination proved successful: he could run the Ultrahand in a busy place like Kakariko village and the game wouldn’t budge from a steady 30fps.
You can even overclock the game to 60 frames per second. The Switch 60 FPS Handheld posted a video showing the start of the game at a very smooth 60fps. It looks like their switch is connected to power, which makes sense. I don’t know what the battery life of an overclocked switch will be, but it can’t be good.
Hacking Your Switch
Before you can overclock your Switch, you need to “hack” it by installing custom firmware. Switches purchased before 2018 are the easiest to hack because they have a bug that Nintendo cannot fix to stop the hack. Newer switches can be hacked, but you may run into some issues when trying. You will only know by trying.
Now hacking the switch will void the warranty . If your Switch is new and you don’t want to risk Nintendo dropping support, it’s best to stay away. Also, while the overclocking process should be safe, there is always the risk of damaging data or hardware with something like that. Remember: Nintendo doesn’t want you to do this, so it’s only possible thanks to the hacker community. Hack and overclock at your own risk.
This guide will walk you through the basics of turning your Switch into a DIY machine, including installing the Atmosphere firmware you’ll need to overclock. Just know that you will need a PC, an Android phone, or a jailbroken iPhone to proceed. If you have succeeded with a hacked Switch, you can find instructions for installing overclocking software from this guide .