NVIDIA Tegra Architecture

[xpea]

It's kind of confusing that they say they don't know how well PowerVR's support is because it doesn't support OpenGL ES 3.0 yet, but they can claim to know that NVIDIA has excellent support for OpenGL ES 3.0. AFAIK, Tegra doesn't have support for OpenGL ES 3.0. Is it correct of them to assume that since the GeForce cards have pretty good support that Tegra will have so as well? Especially as they have no experience with Tegra.

Well I suppose they think about Logan, mobile Kepler, that will be compatible with CUDA and OpenGL ES 3.0. If Nvidia will have a common base stack for their driver between desktop and mobile GPUs, then it's legitimate to think Logan will have good drivers.

 

[Helmore]

Well I suppose they think about Logan, mobile Kepler, that will be compatible with CUDA and OpenGL ES 3.0. If Nvidia will have a common base stack for their driver between desktop and mobile GPUs, then it's legitimate to think Logan will have good drivers.

There's probably some truth to that, but they specifically mention Tegra 4. They actually say they couldn't test Tegra 4 because they don't have the money to buy a Tegra 4 device. It's like they don't even know Tegra 4 doesn't support OpenGL ES 3.0.

 

[Exophase]

There's probably some truth to that, but they specifically mention Tegra 4. They actually say they couldn't test Tegra 4 because they don't have the money to buy a Tegra 4 device. It's like they don't even know Tegra 4 doesn't support OpenGL ES 3.0.

They're aware it doesn't support OpenGL ES 3.0. They've reviewed the extensions nVidia has exposed and feel that those are sufficient for their needs. It's true that it's an assumption on their part that nVidia's mobile drivers will be superior based on their drivers for very different discrete GPU parts.. but there's probably some truth to that.

Personally I find this whole driver shootout from the Dolphin people blown out of proportion. They're rightfully annoyed that the features they want aren't supported, but given that OpenGL ES 3.0 has barely been available in anything and there hasn't been a strong demand for games to migrate to it it's no surprise that the support isn't stellar (and it's not some great catastrophe - it's also no surprise that no one else is whining). Their needs in trying to emulate a console that had low level access to the GPU using a high level API are esoteric and not really representative of what game developers must have to get a game out.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Do we actually have some reviews of these new Chinese phones with the Tegra 4? I've seen lots of talk but zero actual feedback on how they perform in terms of both performance and especially battery-life.

 

[Mariner]

I don't think any of the Chinaphones with the T4 have been released yet, have they?

The Xiaomi Mi3 is scheduled for release soon, I understand, with a TD-SCMA version only for the T4. Here's an 'unboxing' video, though possibly of a pre-release test version:

http://www.gizchina.com/2013/09/28/exclusive-xiaomi-mi3-tegra-4-unboxing-hands/

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

Things aren't looking particularly good for Tegra 4. Looks like Nokia has opted for Qualcomm's S800 instead of Tegra 4 for their WinRT slate. WinRT may not be that that big in comparison to the Android market, but it represented a significant volume for Tegra 3 (almost all WinRT devices were Tegra 3 I believe), and one of the few reasons that Nvidia's Tegra division did as well as it did in the last fiscal year.

It makes me wonder if Microsoft may also be going with the S800 instead of Tegra 4. If so, that would put quite the squeeze on Tegra 4 for this fiscal year.

Regards,
SB

None what you stated has happened. Nokia killed their WinRT slate and Microsoft went with the Nvidia Tegra 4.

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

XiaoMi Mi3 Snapdragon 800 Variant Delayed

I think Xiaomi is pretty unique among IHVs for the way they deal with phones. Their continued investment in and development of MIUI with weekly updates is impressive.

...

That said (and to bring my post back on topic!), it really does seem strange to release a high-end phone with what will be two different hardware layouts, especially when one of them (the Snapdragon 800) would appear to be capable of doing the job of supporting all of the networks around!

Looks like the real reason is that the Snapdragon 800 Xiaomi wants to use is delayed.

http://www.androidheadlines.com/201...yed-tegra-4-version-track-oct-15-release.html

XiaoMi announced their newest flagship, the Mi3, on September 5th. They are producing the Mi3 with two different chipsets. The Tegra 4 version will be carried by China Mobile with TS-CDMA connectivity. XiaoMi is also making a Snapdragon 800 variant designed to run on China’s WCDMA/GSM networks.

The problem is, the company has not even begun production of the Snapdragon 800 version. While XiaoMi’s CEO Lei Jun has confirmed that the Tegra 4 Mi3 will be available for purchase on October 15th, the Snapdragon 800 version will not be up for sale anytime soon.

XiaoMi’s co-founder and vice president Zhou Guang Ping said that production of the Snapdragon 800 Mi3 has not started yet. The reason for the delay is that the Snapdragon 800 SoC they are using isn’t ready for the device yet. Current devices powered by a Snapdragon 800 chip are running the MSM8974 version. XiaoMi is working on putting the MSM8974AB, also known as the MSM8974Pro, in their Mi3 flagship. They haven’t completed work on getting the Mi3 up and running with the MSM8974Pro and that’s why this version of the device has been delayed, according to Chinese tech site

 

[Mariner]

I'd imagine that the MSM8974AB/Pro is little more than a speedbin of the basic 8974. Perhaps Qualcomm aren't getting enough chips which can run stably at the higher speeds to release in the Mi3 as yet? Alternatively, it may be that one of the bigger 'manufacturers' have bagged the 'Pro' chips for use ahead of Xiaomi?

Personally, I think the Mi3 would have been perfectly well-served using just the basic 8974 which is still pretty damn quick in comparison to practically any other chip!

I don't think it likely that the T4 was selected for use in China because of ready availability - after all, nobody else seems to be using the T4 in phones yet whereas there are plenty of Snapdragon 800 devices in phones already. I can only assume that NVidia have given Xiaomi a really good deal on the T4 because I can't really see why they would go to the expense of developing two completely different flagship devices otherwise. It will take months of work to design and properly test a new phone (especially those on the bleeding edge) so Xiaomi have obviously not just banged a few components together in a short time after discovering there would be a delay with the 8974Pro.

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

Another T4 design win

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/mad-catz-m.o.j.o.-console-gaming-android,24591.html

Android gamers waiting impatiently for Mad Catz Interactive's M.O.J.O. console can now pre-purchase the device for $249.99 USD. The console will begin shipping on December 10, 2013, packing a Tegra 4 SoC, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. That's $50 less than Nvidia's Shield handheld, which has its own built-in 5 inch touch screen, mini-HDMI output and can be played anywhere.

 

[Alexko]

It's $50 less than Shield, but also $150 more than OUYA and $50 more than the cheapest Xbox 360.

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

It's $50 less than Shield, but also $150 more than OUYA and $50 more than the cheapest Xbox 360.

So now you think Shield is a good deal

The OUYA uses the older Tegra 3.

Since when has the Xbox 360 been able to play Android Games?

 

[liolio]

It's $50 less than Shield, but also $150 more than OUYA and $50 more than the cheapest Xbox 360.

It is crazy expensive, I hope they are aiming at real low quantity, mostly the super tiny niche of the "collectors".

 

[jimbo75]

So now you think Shield is a good deal

Making Shield look like a good deal would be the only logical reason for releasing this at $250.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Yes, that console's price is being slammed pretty much everywhere.

One can't help but wonder why that thing would ever cost more than $50 over an OUYA.

 

[Alexko]

So now you think Shield is a good deal

The OUYA uses the older Tegra 3.

Since when has the Xbox 360 been able to play Android Games?

I didn't say that either. Well, I guess if you want a game streaming device that can also play Android games, it is a pretty good deal, but that's mostly because it's the only deal available.

The Xbox can't play Android games, but it has a hell of a lot of good games that this and Shield can't play. That seems more important to me, but then again I have no interest in consoles in general, so…

 

[ninelven]

I think long term these devices hold promise, but $249 for a T4 box is just too high. 149 - 199 with an HDMI in and overlay like X1 and Google TV would have at least been tempting. A mic to support Google Now would also be nice.

But knowing T5 is going to support OpenGL 4.x, I'd be more inclined to wait for that.

 

[A1xLLcqAgt0qc2RyMz0y]

What I find interesting is that the Android Console market seems to be all Nvidia wins.

 

[wco81]

What Android console market?

 

[trinibwoy]

What Android console market?

Touché!

 

[Turbotab]

What appears to be the first glimpse of the Tegra 4i, NO IT DOESN'T, 2.3 GHz CPU and OpenGL 2.0 have arisen on GLBenchmark. EDIT, I've been informed that the GK20A Laguna was the debug board used to demonstrate Logan [/B] It was pulled so quickly that I didn't get a chance to cache the opengl info.

Anyway, it scored 17.6 fps in T-Rex offscreen, but I'm sure it's clocked a lot lower than final silicon. I wonder if the CPU in T5 will actually be clocked at 2.3 GHz?

http://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?benchmark=gfx27&D=NVidia+Tegra+GK20A+(laguna)&testgroup=overall

And it's been pulled....