Nvidia is one reputed company which has gained the admiration of people due to its graphic card series. In 2015 the company has achieved yet another milestone by launching an amazing mobile processor, the Tegra X1, which is considered as a next super thing in the sphere of mobile computing. Even though NVIDIA was doing very good with Kepler based KI processor, KI failed to have its space in a lot of mobile devices. However Tegra XI is expected to cross the horizon of just mobile computing and have its place in the entire space of automation.
What’s special about NvidiaTegra XI mobile chip?
Exceptional Hardware
Nvidia has used the Maxwell GPU architecture in Tegra XI mobile chip which is twice as fast as the Tegra K1 which was launched in the year of 2014 and was built around Kepler. It is of the size of your thumbnail and uses the power as little as 10 watts. It has a 256 core graphics processing unit and 2 quad core central processing unit (4x ARM Cortex A57 + 4x ARM Cortex A53). It also supports 1.3 gigapixel of camera throughput. Hence, because of this it can easily support 4k video playback at around 60 frames per seconds (H.265, H.264, VP9).Tegra XI supports almost all the major graphics standards such as Unreal Engine 4. CUDA®, OpenGL ES 3.1 and the Android Extension Pack. Also, the chip is expected to exceed 1 teraflop of processing speed which in itself is a milestone in area of mobile computing. All these features combined in one small chip make NvidiaTegra XI as the powerhouse of computing performance.
Features of Tegra XI in a Nutshell
- 8 CPU cores (4x ARM Cortex A57 + 4x ARM Cortex A53) 64/32-bit CPU architecture
- 256-core Maxwell GPU having support for FP16
- Memory: Maximum limit is of 4 GB LPDDR3, LPDDR4-1600, 64-bit (25.6 GB/s)
- Storage: e-MMC 5.1 (HS533), CMD Queuing
- End-to-end 4K 60 fps with an exceptional performance of 4K experience with support for 10 bit color, 4K, 60 fps decode of both H.265 (HEVC) as well as VP9 streams.
- It also supports 2 concurrent display controllers, HDMI 2.0, HDCP 2.2, 4K 60 fps
- Dual ISP, 1.3 gigapixel per second of camera throughput, 4096 focus points, the support of 100 MP Sensor and the maximum of 6 camera inputs
- It is constructed around the TSMC 20nm (20SoC) process
Further the use of Maxwell GPU architecture has made this chip the favourite of one and all. Hardcore NVIDIA fans swear by Maxwell as it answers most of the visual computing problems such as lighting and lifelike graphic problems. It supports several new technologies such as high end resolution display, delta colour compression etc.
Tegra XI is expected to be used in mobile devices, automotive devices and other automated devices and is expected to hit the market somewhere in middle of 2015. It will appear in NVIDIA Drive which is an auto pilot digital interface that can produce videos from as many as twelve cameras to provide a surround view of the car.
Must Faster than usual Supercomputer
NvidiaTegra XI is very much faster than ASCI Red which was the first system to be around 1 teraflop of processing speed. However it used somewhere around 500,000 watts of power and occupied a huge space of around 1700 square feet. NvidiaTegra XI on the other hand uses only 10 watts of power and is much compact.
Much better than Apple A8x
NvidiaTegra XI is twice as good in the terms of performance when compared to Apple A8x where as it consumes almost similar power. With the arrival of Tegra XI, the tech gurus are expecting that tablet will deliver similar performance and experience as the regular desktop computer. In a recent demo arranged by Nvidia, Tegra XI was seen giving a good fight to Apple A8x.