LAS VEGAS—Nvidia today announced the Tegra X1, a new processor for cars, tablets, and connected devices with the most powerful GPU we've seen in a mobile chip yet.
The X1's graphics processor is so speedy that it provides 1.7 times the performance of Apple's A8x chip, found in the iPad Air 2. Until now, the A8x had the best GPU of any current mobile chipset.
On GFXBenchmark, our favorite graphics benchmark, the X1 scored 54.7fps on the Manhattan test and 65.8fps on the Manhattan Offscreen test. The Google Nexus 9, with Nvidia's previous K1 chip, scored 22.6 and 31.7. The Apple iPhone 6, with the A8 processor, scored 30 and 17.7. (Pay more attention to that second number, as it isn't affected by screen resolution.)
The key is Maxwell, Nvidia's new 256core graphics processor design. Maxwell came out for desktop PCs late last year. The X1 brings it to mobile devices in part by shrinking it to 20nm from the 28nm process we saw in the desktop graphics cards.
But where the GPU in the Tegra X1 has been ramped up, the CPU is surprisingly mundane; the same off-theshelf octocore ARM CortexA57/A53 design seen in the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 810. Nvidia's unique 64-bit "Denver" core, seen in the Google Nexus 9's Tegra K1, is absent.
Matt Wuebbling, Nvidia's mobile business director, explained that the K1 and X1 were developed in tandem, and that Denver isn't yet ready for the X1's 20-nanometer process. Nvidia could get the Maxwell GPU into mobile devices faster by using off-the-shelf cores, he explained.
The 20nm process and new GPU are also very power efficient, Nvidia showed me. With the chip dialed down to the same performance as the A8x, it ran with noticeably less power. Where the Apple chip averaged 2679mW during the GFXBench graphics benchmark, the Tegra chip ran at 1512mW.
Along with dazzling benchmark scores, the X1 is capable of showing 4K video at 60 frames per second with 10bit color, although it still can only record 4K at 30 frames per second. I saw a demo of 4K60 playback, and it's definitely smoother and clearer than 30fps playback; Nvidia said that Netflix and YouTube will both be showing 4K60 content.
There is also "interest" from cable companies in delivering 4K60 sports content, Wuebbling said.
What's It Going to Be In?
Nvidia is primarily pitching the X1 at cars right now, and Wuebbling said it's compatible with Android and QNX, the leading in-car OS. But on a slide about graphics API support, there was a tantalizing hint: "DX12." That's DirectX12, a Microsoft-only API, which may hint that the X1 will be supported by Windows 10.
The previous version of Windows on ARM-compatible chips, the ill-fated Windows RT, ran on Tegra chips, and Nvidia said in 2013 that RT's failure was to blame for poor Tegra sales.
Nvidia has largely backed out of the mainstream smartphone market, and it doesn't have a huge presence in tablets with the failure of Windows RT. The Google Nexus 9 and Nvidia's own Shield tablet use the Tegra K1, but most other current tablets use Qualcomm, Apple, Samsung, or Mediatek processors.
Wuebbling wouldn't comment on whether Windows 10 will support the X1, and said we'll hear more about the Tegra X1's presence in tablets and "high-end smartphones" later this year, maybe even at Mobile World Congress, the big mobile show at the end of February.