Nvidia’s upcoming Tegra K1 SoC – boasting 192 graphics cores – will be bringing Kepler graphics capabilities to smartphones, tablets and hybrids.
Although the chip has yet to officially hit the market, Tom’s Hardware and WCCF Tech managed to run a series of tests on a number of prototypes equipped with the next-gen silicon, including a Tegra Note 7 and Lenovo’s ThinkVision 28 smart display.
According to Liliputing’s Brad Linder, the Tegra K1 outperformed the Apple iPhone 5S with its Apple A7 chip, as well as devices with Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 and Nvidia Tegra 4 chips.
“In fact, WCCF Tech shows the K1 outpacing laptops with Intel Haswell processors and Intel HD 4200 or HD 4400 graphics in at least one test,” Linder explained.
“In other words — notebook-level graphics are on their way to devices with low-power, ARM-based chips. That could include mobile devices such as phones and tablets. And as the Lenovo ThinkVision 28 shows, it could also be a sign that ARM-based chips may be just about powerful enough for notebook and desktop devices.”
However, Linder also emphasized that benchmarks aren’t always representative of real-world performance, as the ThinkVision 28 is equipped with a high-resolution, 3840 x 2160 pixel display.
”While the Tegra K1 chip scores top marks on ‘off-screen’ benchmark tests which run at lower resolutions, it takes a lot of power to pump that many pixels… Frame rates and performance are [somewhat] less impressive when running at the display’s native resolution.”
