Headlines - NVIDIA strikes back: targets Intel Atom with Tegra SoC

[HEXUS]

NVIDIA unveils its Tegra system-on-a-chip at COMPUTEX '08.

Read more.

[Methanoid]

Why so downbeat on the x86 comaptibility. OK so it won't run Winbloat but there are plenty of Linux apps for ARM cpus. I run a Linkstation NAS box which is ARM Linux and there's plenty out there. Even full distros.... sure it could make Netbook PCs..... might be rather good.. if prices are good!

[alsenior]

one thing i noticed is that they claim it will be 10x faster than atom but they use 2 different incompatable Architectures. is there some sort of mythical benchmark that i havent heard about that runs on both x86 and risc and gives a reliable metric?

[buttersideup]

How ironic, you could build a very compelling EEE-style Linux netbook around this device if only Nvidia's general attitude to Linux wasn't "I fart in your general direction". Email NVidia with a request for the register-level datasheets, and see how far you get. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot....

[chrestomanci]

one thing i noticed is that they claim it will be 10x faster than atom but they use 2 different incompatible Architectures. is there some sort of mythical benchmark that i haven't heard about that runs on both x86 and risc and gives a reliable metric?

Thats easy, just use a benchmark that comes with source code, and complie it for each archetecture. In the old days before x86 became dominant, benchmarks like Drystone and Wheatstone where commonly used in this way.

So to benchmark H264 decoding, just take the source code for the reference implementation of the decoder, hack the code so that it decodes and displays frames as fast as possible rather than running at a fixed frame rate, compile for each architecture & measure the frame rate. If you are concerned that the decoder might take shortcuts with quality then you save the bitmap of each frame and check they are all correct.

Any benchmark with the source code available such as POVRay, Prime95 and games like Quake can be run in this way, and people generally trust the results. The main problem is that to be truly trusted, the source code of the libraries needs to be available as well, and that tends to be a bit of a sore point when it comes to nVidia graphics drivers.

[aidanjt]

one thing i noticed is that they claim it will be 10x faster than atom but they use 2 different incompatable Architectures. is there some sort of mythical benchmark that i havent heard about that runs on both x86 and risc and gives a reliable metric?

Yes, use Linux, and run `time jobname' on both archs. And assuming nV starts taking Linux seriously, this would make for one hell of an ultra-portable, maybe even revolutionary change in industry accepted architecture.

[Methanoid]

Saw some YouTube videos of Tegra in action last night and thought "Eee-clone" myself. Linux and Tegra would be a great combo. They had Quake 3 running 35FPS in WXGA - that's pretty good in my book and using 1.2W compared to Atom system using 12W. Impressive numbers.

Since its not x86 it will have to be Linux really....

[Methanoid]

The FAQ from the horse's mouth says Win CE and Win Mobile only supported. What a bunch of d1cks!

[aidanjt]

Yeah, because everyone wants to play 1080p on their mobile phone and pda on displays that's less than 200 pixels across. And playing games on them is great too, eat your heart out PS3.

Morons.

[aidanjt]

Aghh, I'm still annoyed by the sheer stupidity of this, they just flat out murdered entire ranges of new market opportunities with this chip by shunning Linux, this really could have made nVidia into something special.

[chrestomanci]

The FAQ from the horse's mouth says Win CE and Win Mobile only supported.

I can't see a sensible Windows mobile device based on this. Perhaps a big PDA ish device similar to a Nokia E90, but even that does not have enough pixels to justify such a powerfull GPU.

A windows CE device could make sense if it was in the same segment as an the EEE PC, or similar.

A few years back (around Y2K) there was such a device called an NEC mobile Pro. It looked like a very small laptop, but it ran windows CE instead of linux. Because of the windows CE and only had solid state memory (no HDD), it was very thin and light, have an amazing battery life, booted in about a second, but cost much much less than a comparable windows ultraportable. (But still the thick end of a grand). A number of internet journolists, raved about the thing because they could type copy anywhere, and because it was so tough. I imagine it would also be usefull for business travellers who did a lot of flying. Ultimately it was not very expensive, probably because it was not compatible with normal windows, and was to expensive for most business users to buy with their own cash.

In theory the nVidia Tegra could be at the heart of a similar device in this area and compete with the EEE PC, but I think it would fail for the same reasons that the Mobile Pro did, especially seeing as Linux is a much more obvious choice of OS, but with a lower licencing cost, and compatibility with more applications.