NVIDIA Tegra Architecture

[Deleted member 2197]

Report: Nintendo NX will use Nvidia’s new, unannounced Tegra chip

However, a new report now says that while the NX will be powered by the Tegra, it won’t be the current X1 chip, but the upcoming X2, which will be far more powerful.

http://wiiudaily.com/2016/07/report-nintendo-nx-will-use-nvidias-new-unannounced-tegra-chip/

 

[BRiT]

Report: Nintendo NX will use Nvidia’s new, unannounced Tegra chip

http://wiiudaily.com/2016/07/report-nintendo-nx-will-use-nvidias-new-unannounced-tegra-chip/

Take the report of it being a new Tegra chip with a grain of salt. It's being interpreted from a known Nintendo Fan Site (WiiU Daily). The actual report is just a tweet from https://twitter.com/DirectFeedGames:

Since it is being discussed elsewhere, I can say with confidence that Nvidia will announce a Pascal Tegra Chip for NX

And before that:

Hearing more and more on NX. Folks need to remain calm and wait for the official details to hit. #NintendoNX #NX

Today I learned people don't understand what a report/rumor is. The NX may destroy the sanity of the game industry community.

 

[Wynix]

Here are the articles that really gave the Tegra rumour some legs.

#1-Eurogamer
#2-Eurogamer

 

[BRiT]

Here are the articles that really gave the Tegra rumour some legs.

#1-Eurogamer
#2-Eurogamer

Tegra is fine, what I question is if it's truly a "NEW Tegra" chip (instead of an existing one).

 

[CSI PC]

Just to add,
in their latest article seems they still do not know for sure whether the NX will be X1 or X2.
By going on about early dev X1 kits so much it seems quite a few of their readers are taking it to mean retail will also be X1, and this has also been picked up by other tech sites that then only provide half the story.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...e-and-wii-titles-to-virtual-console-in-theory

Whether NX ends up using the Tegra X1 or a newer, potentially Pascal-based X2, it's clear that the power is very much in hand to simulate these older machines.

Cheers

 

[Blazkowicz]

I tend to agree with arguments that Tegra X1's CPU sucks anyway, that is the infamous Cortex A57 is too power hungry and they'll use a different or follow-up chip for that reason alone.
Or Nintendo might use the X1's Cortex A53 only, however low-clocked they are, and be CPU-starved.

 

[swaaye]

The Tegra X1 and its A57s seemed to work out alright for Pixel C. It has/had other problems though. Tegra X1 ought to be considerably more powerful than WiiU.

Color me skeptical on Nintendo using a bleeding edge chip (X2).

I've read that there is another Shield Tablet floating around out there and my bet would be on X1 in that too.

 

[Erinyes]

I tend to agree with arguments that Tegra X1's CPU sucks anyway, that is the infamous Cortex A57 is too power hungry and they'll use a different or follow-up chip for that reason alone.
Or Nintendo might use the X1's Cortex A53 only, however low-clocked they are, and be CPU-starved.

Its not the Cortex A57 which is too power hungry..the issue is more the planar 20nm process. While A72 is more power efficient, A57 is certainly no dog. Look at Samsung's Exynos 7420 which uses A57s on a 14nm Finfet process for example.

If anyone is thinking of launching a new handheld console right now..it would be a much better idea to use an SoC manufactured on a FF process..even if it meant waiting a bit. Which is why if Nintendo is in fact using Tegra..I highly doubt its Tegra X1.

 

[Blazkowicz]

So it's not so much that core X or Y is always bad or good, but the implementation - all matters of implementation - have a large effect on the outcome.

 

[Wynix]

If we take the rumours as true and an Nvidia Tegra will be in the NX, we have to ask how could Nvidia land that deal?
Price would have played a large role in Nintendo's decision to pick Tegra, though it's also probable that Nvidia has leveraged other factors to get the deal; Such as, their strong 3rd party relations with western developers, something which Nintendo has not been very good at.

I also think that the X2 or similar SoC is the most likely choice for the NX; 16nm is already mature(Look at how quickly the high performance/power and vastly more complex 1080,1070,1060 and Titan X have rolled out), It will provide a SoC that potentially produces less heat, consumes less power, a smaller internal footprint, significantly higher performance and all this for a small premium over 20nm which will rapidly erode in just a year.

 

[swaaye]

Don't you guys think it's unlikely that Nintendo would use any pre-determined off-the-shelf design? They always get something custom. On here we always sit around trying to pick out some chip they'll use and they always end up with something customized.

Maybe it will be based on Tegra K1? This is Nintendo we're talking about. Overestimation is easy.

 

[Rikimaru]

Don't you guys think it's unlikely that Nintendo would use any pre-determined off-the-shelf design? They always get something custom.

And very old.

 

[BRiT]

Don't you guys think it's unlikely that Nintendo would use any pre-determined off-the-shelf design?

Or maybe Nvidia had an excess supply of older/current Tegra SOCs sitting around so they cut Nintendo a sweet discount on them.

 

[monstercameron]

And very old.

I believe most of nintendos hardware so far have been old, like the 65nm design of the 3ds and the 40nm of the wii u.
Mind you that is before going into the age of the IP itself. The tegra x1 might be the most cutting edge hard I think they might deploy.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Or maybe Nvidia had an excess supply of older/current Tegra SOCs sitting around so they cut Nintendo a sweet discount on them.

As many TX1 chips laying around as they may have, getting it onto a Nintendo console would always mean having to ramp up production numbers towards higher orders of magnitude.
E.g. a new Nintendo console would need a launch with at least 5 million units, probably more. If nvidia has more than a couple hundred thousand TX1 chips laying around then something definitely went very wrong in the supply/demand control.

If getting rid of chips is what they needed, launching a reasonably priced 1st party tablet or console would make more sense, like nvidia did in the past.

 

[Ailuros]

What makes you as optimistic that Nintendo would go for something as the X1 in the first place?

 

[cheapchips]

What makes you as optimistic that Nintendo would go for something as the X1 in the first place?

Digital Foundry have confirmed that an actively cooled X1 is in the current dev kits. That does suggest that final performance is in that ballpark.

 

[Ailuros]

Then there's no chance they had any X1 SoCs just "lying" around at least IMHO.

 

[french toast]

This is nintendo we are talking about, they do things their own way, so that means a proprietary homebrew soc with some cortex a5s and a 2 year old broadcomm gpu+512mb ram on 65nm- i jest of course - still we are looking at yesterdays technology modified and x1 would fit the bill nicely, wouldnt put it past them to disable the a57s and down clock the gpu + pair it up with 2gb ram, probably a 480p 3d display or some other gimmick.

Edit: The x1 shield tablet has been cancelled for business reasons if reports are to be believed.

 

[CSI PC]

Then there's no chance they had any X1 SoCs just "lying" around at least IMHO.

Yeah and also worth remembering is when Emily Rogers called out the AMD rumours and said her internal sources were inferring it was a very modern non-x86 chip design, and also custom with performance close to Xbox-One.

I think the cancellation of the Shield Tablet reinforces they have the Nintendo contract, if there were doubts in anyone.
Cheers