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.
![](https://images.assettype.com/tgdaily/2016-09/fe0ea9f6-5753-4b0b-8226-9743510c4316/k1-gfx.jpg)
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.”