4/09/2012 06:25:00 PM
dannzfay
NVIDIA may have been all but locked out of the motherboard chipset and entry-level graphics market, but it is essentially compensating for that by coming up with more and more advanced mobile platforms.
And by compensate we mean to say it is developing a tablet and phone platform to trounce all platforms.
We've known about the incoming Tegra 4 for a while, how it will utilize the 4-PLUS-1 chip layout (like its predecessor) and how it will be used in superphones and the like.
Alas, this may be a case of “too much of a good thing”, where the “good thing” is performance.
Simply put, the Tegra 4 might be too powerful, as in needlessly mighty for the sort of devices that the industry will offer when the chip comes out.
Not only does it use newer ARM cores than the Tegra 3 (Cortex A15), but it also boasts four of them, clocked at up to 2 GHz no less.
It is said that three variants are in the making, one of which, the T40, has the A15 cores working at 1.8 GHz. It will power 10-inch tablets and has Q1, 2013 as the ETA (estimated time of arrival)
The second version of Tegra 4, T43, will target the same products, but will operate at 2 GHz. ETA is Q3.
The third chip, AP40, is, shall we say, the tamer of the lot, with a clock of 1.2 GHz to 1.4 GHz. Again, it should be ready by the third quarter of next year.
Clearly, the Santa Clara, California-based company is envisioning tablets and flagship smartphones that will leave existing ones in the dust.
Alas, it is unlikely, or at best uncertain, that carriers and mobile device makers will see much of a need for such a leap in ability. There is also the issue of A15 being a bit too hot and it's unclear how the company is dealing with this problem.
NVIDIA is aware of it at least, as its product range will presumably include a fourth product, the Sp3X, which sticks to A9 cores but still sports a 4-PLUS-1 configuration. It will still have a high performance though, and will integrate an LTE and HSPA+ modem too.
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