NVIDIA Tegra 4 officially

After a sluggish buildup as non-users demand notable chip Tegra and Tegra 2, a third-generation processors for devices submobilnyh NVIDIA presented a very interesting solution as the Tegra 3 processor with four cores generation core Cortex-A9 and one auxiliary energy efficient core. Tegra 3 came out on a large number of tablet models, the most prominent of which can be considered as a 7-inch tablet Google Nexus 7. But already in the 10-inch Nexus 10 , Google has preferred dual-core processor architecture, Samsung’s Cortex-A15. Response to the challenge from competitors was to become the new processors – Tegra 4 (code name – Wayne) with four cores generation ARM Cortex-A15, and he was named yesterday .

A few days before the new year, we were able to get acquainted with the basic features of the new SoC NVIDIA. The official announcement in this regard did not bring any surprises. What’s worse, NVIDIA did not spoil our comparative performance figures and computer graphics subsystem of the new SoC. Hopefully, this is not due to the fact that there is nothing to show off her especially. Also somewhat alarming that none of the manufacturers has hinted the upcoming release of new devices on the company’s decision.

However, for this there is another event – the profile Congress in Barcelona, ​​which will be held in late February. from published data on Tegra 4 provide an opportunity to support external displays with resolutions up to 4K (3840 x 2160 pixels). For this, as well as improved support for 3D-graphics, as well as for GPGPU-features new items, meets six times increased number of GeForce-pipelines, which are now in the SoC already 72 pieces. By the way, glimpsed in one of the frames in the presentation of the radiator Tegra 4 with its size inspires some fears.

Play games, but it did not overheat on the graphics load. Hopefully, the 28-nm process technology has made ​​adjustments in the energy efficiency of the fourth Tegra. According to NVIDIA, Tegra 4 consumes 45% less than its predecessor. Duration of video playback on the new SoC is now up to 14 hours. However, for now it can meet the core-partner. Presumably, the fifth core shifted from architecture to the Cortex-A7 Cortex-A9.

Tegra 4 in the company realized a snapshot technology with high dynamic range (HDR). Brand name of the technology – computational photography. Its essence lies in the fact that at the time of shooting SoC sensor sends two shots taken with different settings. Both frames are simultaneously processed in a special DSP, the compute cores and cores GPU, followed by a rapid gluing images. The whole procedure rather than a couple of seconds under normal conditions required of a second and the output is a frame with the details in the shadows, and in dark places. Paired with Tegra 4 can be supplied new LTE-modem – Icera i500. Compared with modern modems its footprint is 40% of the area of current solutions. As you can see, NVIDIA decided not to integrate the modem into the SoC-productive assembly.

Finally, something about the comparative performance. According to estimates of the company, an advantage over the competition Tegra 4 is that the new SoC faster opening certain sites. From the practical point of view, such a comparison is not unreasonable, but the repeatability of the test strongly doubt. But NVIDIA «wiped her nose,” 28-nm dual-core processor from Samsung Nexus 10, which, however, does not mean that Tegra 4 will appear in «Nexus 11″.