Tweaktown : Nvidia Jetson (Tegra K1)

[sontin]

With 36k points in the 3DMark unlimited graphics test Tegra K1 is 80% faster than AMD's fastest Mullins processor the A10-6700. It is on par with the Athlon 5350

That is really incredible when you think that AMD is the only other company which can compete with nVidia...

 

[ams23]

PCPer review of the Mi Pad: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Mobile...d-Tablet-Review-Utilizing-NVIDIA-Tegra-K1-SoC

The CPU performance of Mi Pad is more than 2x faster than Nexus 7 (2013 variant with S600 SoC inside), and the GPU performance is more than 3x faster than Nexus 7 (and even up to ~ 6x faster in GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan Offscreen)! The platform power consumption with WiFi web browsing is ~ 1.3w higher, however, due to the higher res screen in Mi Pad and the much more powerful CPU/GPU in the TK1 SoC (note that the Mi Pad has a resolution of 2048x1536, Nexus 7 has a resolution of 1920x1200, Asus Memo 7 has a resolution of 1280x800, and Tegra Note 7 has a resolution of 1280x800).

 

[jdubs03]

That pretty much confirms what we have already seen from snippets, Anand's Shield review will likely fill in the rest for the quad-core version. The battery life data is impressive too, to gain both performance and staying power on a similar process node is great. Bring on Denver, clocked at 13.6% higher, I expect to see a nice bump even above that of the quad-core.

 

[TrulyUncouth]

Gotta say I think they did put together what appears to be a pretty badass chip. As they point out, a rough rundown of battery shows higher consumption(I know it includes all components)- but even if they lowered clocks to hit same consumption it appears they would still destroy the competition. I am taking NV off my skeptical about promises list.

My biggest problem right now is that I am quickly falling in love with the idea of an x86 tablet. The Tomshardware gaming review then the eurogamer one posted in here... its made me salivate at the idea of working through my huge back-catalog of steam titles in time I would otherwise be doing nothing but browsing reddit on my phone.

Also the performance of Android ports on PC titles appears to be quite terrible. Look at the eurogamer review of Half-life/Portal, not even the top-end Baytrail SOC has considerably higher settings and outperforms Tegra 4. Once cherry trail comes out, even if it fails in benchmarks against TK1 it still seems like it will be the best choice for my taste in mobile gaming.

Is it absolutely impossible for Nvidia to make a translation chip or layer that can get windows working? Intel does the opposite to some degree with ARM.

Either way unless Android gaming gets some more interesting titles I think I may just be out of the market. Perhaps if this gets into the next nexus and is ~$200 I would buy one. Sorry for the ramble, just wanted to share my massive shift in preferences over the last few days.

 

[monstercameron]

Is it absolutely impossible for Nvidia to make a translation chip or layer that can get windows working? Intel does the opposite to some degree with ARM.

bolded, funny thing...http://www.techpowerup.com/67814/nvidia-licenses-technologies-from-transmeta-corporation.html

UL, there maybe a greater performance hit going from risc to cisc

 

[xpea]

Also the performance of Android ports on PC titles appears to be quite terrible. Look at the eurogamer review of Half-life/Portal, not even the top-end Baytrail SOC has considerably higher settings and outperforms Tegra 4. Once cherry trail comes out, even if it fails in benchmarks against TK1 it still seems like it will be the best choice for my taste in mobile gaming.

Android L with new ART runtime + GPU extension pack + new garbage collector and other optimizations will solve gaming issue on Android

 

[NTMBK]

Is it absolutely impossible for Nvidia to make a translation chip or layer that can get windows working? Intel does the opposite to some degree with ARM.

The settlement with Intel bars them from producing any x86 translation software or hardware.

 

[AtenRa]

Excellent SoC, but i would like the Tablet at 9.7" at the same price. Any way this is the new performance mark everyone else will have to reach.

 

[monstercameron]

call me skeptical but how does nvidia deliver this performance with such a low power draw...

 

[AtenRa]

call me skeptical but how does nvidia deliver this performance with such a low power draw...

Combination of Design/Architecture and Process. Much like how AMD did with Beema/Mullins.

 

[sontin]

They did a lot with Tegra K1:
28nm HPM
A15r4
Second 28nm SoC
Kepler.M optimized for low power

And nVidia started all this years ago. They knew that they have to bring their desktop architecture to the mobile world if they want to survive there.

 

[xpea]

They did a lot with Tegra K1:
28nm HPM
A15r4
Second 28nm SoC
Kepler.M optimized for low power

And nVidia started all this years ago. They knew that they have to bring their desktop architecture to the mobile world if they want to survive there.

And the best is still to come with TM1 aka Erista featuring Maxwell, the first Nvidia architecture designed for mobile first (Kepler was still designed for Desktop first). Combined with 20nm process, Erista will give the green team an even bigger lead. I expect 4 * 64bit Denver cores + 2 SMX Maxwell for the same powerdraw of TK1

 

[blackened23]

The settlement with Intel bars them from producing any x86 translation software or hardware.

....and nothing of value is lost since Windows 8.1 is a very poor mobile OS. For an ultrabook for KEYBOARD AND TOUCHPAD USE, yes, windows, but for touch driven mobile tablet use? No. Android and iOS are far better touch driven operating systems, compatibility with everything is the bane for Win 8.1 for both DPI scaling (still F'ed up) and general touch driven use (most apps aren't fully designed for touch).

There's really nothing MS can do either since the apps have to be designed for 1) small tablets with no DPI scaling issues and 2) touch driven use. Win 8.1, it's great for desktop and a full ultrabook. Mobile touch? Nah.

 

[NTMBK]

....and nothing of value is lost since Windows 8.1 is a very poor mobile OS. For an ultrabook for KEYBOARD AND TOUCHPAD USE, yes, windows, but for touch driven mobile tablet use? No. Android and iOS are far better touch driven operating systems, compatibility with everything is the bane for Win 8.1 for both DPI scaling (still F'ed up) and general touch driven use (most apps aren't fully designed for touch).

There's really nothing MS can do either since the apps have to be designed for 1) small tablets with no DPI scaling issues and 2) touch driven use. Win 8.1, it's great for desktop and a full ultrabook. Mobile touch? Nah.

Meh, I'm personally a big fan of my convertible Win 8 tablet. Haswell in a tablet is surprisingly good at games.

 

[TrulyUncouth]

....and nothing of value is lost since Windows 8.1 is a very poor mobile OS. For an ultrabook for KEYBOARD AND TOUCHPAD USE, yes, windows, but for touch driven mobile tablet use? No. Android and iOS are far better touch driven operating systems, compatibility with everything is the bane for Win 8.1 for both DPI scaling (still F'ed up) and general touch driven use (most apps aren't fully designed for touch).

There's really nothing MS can do either since the apps have to be designed for 1) small tablets with no DPI scaling issues and 2) touch driven use. Win 8.1, it's great for desktop and a full ultrabook. Mobile touch? Nah.

Apparently you didn't read any of my post explaining why I've become a quick convert to the idea of a windows tablet over android. I have a steam library of over 200 games. Between the indy titles and older ones it looks like half of my library would be playable on this or cherry-trail gen tablets. That is a huge catalogue of high quality games you have no chance of getting on android/iOS.

That, along with the software eurogamer showed that can do custom screen overlays Win8 is easily equal to Android/iOS in touch gamings. Once you add in a keyboard dock like the Acer Switch or Asius t100, or use a controller with any tablet you can see why I am very quickly falling in love with wintablet gaming.

I understand the impulse to hate windows 8, I avoided it on the desktop for a long time until I bought a laptop that came with it. After getting back the start button it has been basically identical to 7. I think you might just be so anti-Win8 you didn't even read what anyone wrote and just shot off with your pre-prepared ramble as soon as you saw an opening.

 

[jdubs03]

To add to that, for my V8P, it really isn't that much of an issue using W8.1, even the desktop isn't too bad (I mainly use Chrome), and since I've gotten it Chrome has gotten better support for touch. Also, keep in mind that Windows 9 is likely coming within the next 9 months, so that should be a large change in how we interact with these devices. I might lose the desktop but that might not be too much of an issue to stomach, and by then I will know whether to stay on 8.1 or upgrade to 9.

I would like to add too with Android L and ART, all these scores we've been seeing are likely to get a resounding increase from where they are right now. The future is bright for both platforms IMO, but I'd be sticking with Windows, especially as Cherry Trail is likely to be quite the CPU/GPU. But I don't plan on replacing my V8P until at least next year, if not a 10nm implementation of Atom.

 

[TrulyUncouth]

And the best is still to come with TM1 aka Erista featuring Maxwell, the first Nvidia architecture designed for mobile first (Kepler was still designed for Desktop first). Combined with 20nm process, Erista will give the green team an even bigger lead. I expect 4 * 64bit Denver cores + 2 SMX Maxwell for the same powerdraw of TK1

I am becoming more convinced that unless they can get game devs to move games over its not as useful to get this amazing performance. They did a great job with Trine and HL2/Portal but they need to use all their contacts to get some major games moved over. Even a single major title like one of the bigger MMO's or DOTA... something or anything with a big playerbase.

Meh, I'm personally a big fan of my convertible Win 8 tablet. Haswell in a tablet is surprisingly good at games.

I assume you have the surface 2? Its sad that early reviews seem to point to a step back in gaming performance on Surface 3- I wish intel had gotten Broadwell out earlier, a Surface 3 with that would've been pretty cool.

 

[xpea]

I am becoming more convinced that unless they can get game devs to move games over its not as useful to get this amazing performance. They did a great job with Trine and HL2/Portal but they need to use all their contacts to get some major games moved over. Even a single major title like one of the bigger MMO's or DOTA... something or anything with a big playerbase.

I think Android is simply not ready yet to handle big PC games. Too many flaws in the google OS.
But with L coming along with much better optimizations (ART, GFX extension pack, low latency audio, new garbage collector, etc), it should bring solid arguments for top class gaming. Then nvidia will be able to shine...

 

[ams23]

And on top of that, by end of this year and continuing next year and beyond, we will finally start to see some desktop-class 64-bit CPU's and desktop-class GPU's in the ultra-mobile space for use with Android L + AEP. The hardware needs to come first before the software can come to utilize that hardware, so it is only a matter of time now because the wheels are already in motion.

 

[TrulyUncouth]

I truly hope they pull off what you guys think. The sooner we get a movement to Android for mainstream games the better. I think NV needs to come out with their own android console. Give us quad-core Denver with twice the GPU power and convince valve to move steam/1st party games over. If they pull that off they have a chance. Otherwise I just don't see it.

I also wanna see someone evaluate their claims of xbox 360 level power. I'd definitely read an article breaking all that down.

Thanks for the info about the gfx extension- gonna read up more on that.

 

[NTMBK]

I assume you have the surface 2? Its sad that early reviews seem to point to a step back in gaming performance on Surface 3- I wish intel had gotten Broadwell out earlier, a Surface 3 with that would've been pretty cool.

Nah, it's a Dell with a Haswell Y- little bit slower than the SP2.

 

[gdansk]

With 36k points in the 3DMark unlimited graphics test Tegra K1 is 80% faster than AMD's fastest Mullins processor the A10-6700. It is on par with the Athlon 5350

That is really incredible when you think that AMD is the only other company which can compete with nVidia...

Intel's integrated GPU in the Surface Pro 2/3 scores higher. Secondly, the Mullins scores 25K in Ice Storm, compared to 28K for K1 in Ice Storm. Which test do you see 80% improvement?

 

[ams23]

The difference in graphics performance is not 80%. The difference is ~ 30% in 3dmark unlimited graphics test and ~ 50% in GFXBench. Considering that this is comparing a thin 8" tablet on battery power to a thicker 11.6" tablet on AC power, all the more impressive. Surface Pro 2 and Pro 3 both have active cooling (ie. fan) inside, so the GPU power consumption should be much higher than the mobile Kepler GPU in TK1.

 

[sontin]

Intel's integrated GPU in the Surface Pro 2/3 scores higher. Secondly, the Mullins scores 25K in Ice Storm, compared to 28K for K1 in Ice Storm. Which test do you see 80% improvement?

The graphics score. MiPad gets 36k, Mullins around 20k.

 

[monstercameron]

see for yourselves...