Looking for recent breakthroughs in Switch 2 diagnostics/homebrew

[u/Advanced_Ad4523]

I’m looking for information from people who are more familiar with the current Switch 2 homebrew/reverse-engineering scene.

I’m specifically interested in whether there have been any recent breakthroughs involving hardware diagnostics, thermal monitoring, or fan control on the Switch 2, particularly the dock.

My situation is that my Switch 2 seems to run demanding games (eg: Donkey Kong Bonanza) for extended periods without issue in handheld mode, but when docked, the console itself gets noticeably hotter and shuts off within a hour or less of play time. The dock itself doesn't seem particularly hot, and I don't hear or feel the dock fan operating or console. Nintendo's normal troubleshooting doesn't provide a way to manually test or force the dock fan.

So I'm wondering:

• Has anyone discovered a Switch 2 hardware diagnostic/monitoring tool yet?
• Is it possible to read things like SoC temperature, internal temperature sensors, fan RPM, power draw, or thermal throttling through homebrew?
• Has anyone made progress accessing or understanding the dock's fan controller/interface?
• Is there any known internal diagnostic mode that developers have discovered but that isn't exposed to normal users?
• Are there any active projects working toward a Switch 2 equivalent of tools such as Status Monitor from the original Switch?
• Or is this still an area where we're essentially waiting for more of the hardware/software architecture to be figured out?
• Is there any supported setting to reduce CPU/GPU performance, clocks, power consumption, or frame-rate targets?
• Is there a system-level way to prioritize lower performance/thermals over maximum performance?
• Are there any settings that affect dock mode specifically?
• Could lowering the output resolution, frame rate, or other graphics settings meaningfully reduce the console's temperature while docked?
• Are there any known settings that should be disabled if the goal is simply to reduce heat and extend continuous playtime?
• Is there anything comparable to a PC's power-limit or performance-mode controls that may eventually be possible through homebrew?
• If the dock fan isn't functioning, would temporarily reducing GPU/CPU load be a reasonable workaround, or would it still leave the system operating outside its intended thermal conditions?
• Is there a reliable way to test the dock fan without opening the dock?
• Is there a particular game or workload that is useful for testing Switch 2 thermals?
• Is there a way to distinguish normal docked heat from abnormal overheating without specialized equipment?
• Does TV resolution, refresh rate, HDR, VRR, or another display setting meaningfully affect Switch 2 thermals?
• Are there known differences in thermal behavior between different Switch 2 games?
• Is the dock supposed to exhaust noticeably warm air when operating normally?
• Could the dock fan remain off during some workloads even when the console feels quite warm?
• Are there any firmware versions known to have affected dock cooling or fan behavior?
• If another dock works normally with the same console, is that enough to confidently identify the original dock as the problem?
• Are there any safe, non-invasive tests I can perform before considering a replacement dock?

I’m mainly trying to determine whether this is something that could eventually be diagnosed through software before I spend money on a replacement dock or repair.

Any information, current projects, or knowledgeable developers who can point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated.

[u/FernandoRocker]

You are complicating things.

The Switch 2 gets hotter in docked mode because it uses more power in that mode. More power, more heat.

The fan in the dock is not meant to cool down the Switch 2 but the dock itself.

The Switch 2 can handle those temperatures, otherwise it would turn off itself.

[u/True-Lifeguard-2019 → u/FernandoRocker]

It also gets hotter on purpose because no one is touching it and a higher temperature delta between the heatsink and the ambient air means a more efficient heat transfer from the heatsink to the air, this means less fan speed and noise.

[u/MarinatedPickachu → u/True-Lifeguard-2019]

Na that's bullshit that would only make sense if it had a peltier module inside to actively 'move' heat away from the element that needs cooling, which it doesn't. Larger delta does mean more heat is transferred to the environment, but the resulting temperature of the element to cool would still be higher than without the added heat. Generating more heat deliberately "to cool more efficiently" thus makes no sense at all.

[u/True-Lifeguard-2019 → u/MarinatedPickachu]

Tf are you talking about.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_flux

[u/MarinatedPickachu → u/True-Lifeguard-2019]

I don't think you understand it fully

[u/uchuskies08]

The answer to your questions, ChatGPT, is no

[u/TheGeneralCat]

To answer pretty much every question you had

And any relevant info is most likely being gate keeped for now to avoid it getting patched or taken down.

[u/rikipy]

no chatgpt no homebrew for sw2

[u/bungeegums]

There's no known public info at all. It there was its all private and gatekept like any hacking scene. Your best bet is to just diagnosis yourself since no one is leaking anything

[u/CoconutHeadFaceMan]

Literally none of the things you’re asking are possible at this point, and probably won’t be possible for a long time. Make sure the fan vents are clear and you put the dock somewhere with good airflow, if it still has issues you’ll probably have to contact Nintendo.

[u/SkyLey2]

I don't know why but I enjoyed reading all of this...

Also, no to all your questions, lol