GPGPU and Chimera 2 Image Processing
Another feature of Kepler that gets carried over to the Tegra K1 SoC is support for various GPGPU compute languages. Because the K1 GPU is a full Kepler core, users and software will get the benefits of 8 years of NVIDIA’s GPGPU knowledge including CUDA, OpenCL, Renderscript, and more.
Specifically, the Tegra K1 includes a 256KB Register File, 64KB of configurable shared L1 cache and it is 100% ISA compatible (as long as the operating system is). These GPU compute capabilities can be applied to applications like live video and photo editing, focus stacking photographs, and even facial recognition with better SoC efficiency than using the Cortex-A15 cores.
For those curious, the double precision compute performance of the Tegra K1 is at a 1/24 ratio; the same that desktop GPUs run at from NVIDIA in the GeForce line (minus TITAN of course).
Chimera 2 – Dual ISPs
During last year’s CES press conference, NVIDIA’s CEO made a big deal about the computational camera features of Tegra 4. Tegra K1 does better by tightly integrating the GPGPU functionality with the improved camera pipeline and image processors. Using a set of two separate processors, Tegra K1 will support 1.2 Gigapixels per second of throughput (600 Mpx per ISP) with a total of 4096 focal points available. The ISPs can support cameras with up to 100 Megapixel resolution as well as 14-bit input.
While there are no 100 Mpx cameras on the market today for consumers, NVIDIA’s Brian Cabral, VP of Computational Imaging, impressed upon us that the company was planning for a near future where the phone and tablet are truly the high end camera options. Having support for 4096 focus points allows the engine to track moving objects more easily and point grouping for more course needs.
The new ISP moves to a 60 db processing pipeline to help the SoC produce crisper images with lower noise and higher quality downscaling.
If you aren’t a camera specialist, this simply means that more features will be available in real time (or at least faster) than ever before including 30 FPS live local tone mapping, video stabilization or panoramic imaging.
Image processing is also a key feature for automotive computer vision. Technologies on the rise like pedestrian detection, lane departure warnings and traffic sign recognition could all see benefits from the NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor. Other facets of auto computing include the visual aspects that Kepler could thrive at; heads up displays, infotainment systems, and digital clusters all top the list.
The Tegra K1 Platform – More to Come
While I don’t have full details about the base platform for the Tegra K1, we do have some basic specifications. The K1 supports PCI Express connections, a set of two USB 3.0 ports while the memory controller is built out of a pair of 32-bit interfaces supporting both LPDDR3 and DDR3L up to 1866 MHz.
Well with Nvidia GPU joining
Well with Nvidia GPU joining their previously separate GPU technology between mobile ad the desktop, and entering the exclusive Top Tier ARM ISA custom design club, with Apple and others, it should not be to difficult to estimate what Maxwell will bring to the table. This merging the desktop GPU with some on die CPU cores, and maybe a large on die RAM, should begin the move towards less reliance on the moatherboard CPU. Gaming engines and other latency/bandwith constrained code will now run, and hopefully reside in a large on die RAM, to reduce these latency/bandwith issues between gaming engine code and the GPU. This puts the relevance on the motherbard CPU into question, with repect to descrete GPUs possessing their own complete gaming system ability.
I don’t think you’ll be
I don’t think you’ll be seeing the x86 CPU going the way to the dodo bird anytime soon….at least not for awhile.
For sure x86 will never
For sure x86 will never completely go away, AMD will be doing the very same thing with its own ARM based APUs as Nvidia’s K1, but AMD will also be taking the x86 ISA on board with the descrete GPUs for some CPU/GPU accelerated complete gaming platform capable descrete GPUs, via AMD’s already deveoped for the gaming consoles x86 based technology! Both Nvidia’s descrete Maxwell GPUs and AMD’s future descrete GPUs will merge the CPU with the GPU, and by themselves, become complete gaming platforms on a PCI card.
In the paragraph at the end
In the paragraph at the end of the page on GPU-Specifications, you misuse V where you mean W.
Shield 2 or 3
Shield 2 or 3
I feel like this could make
I feel like this could make for a perfect Steam OS box.
SteamOS is developed for
SteamOS is developed for x86(-64) and its games will be, too. It could be a good FirefoxOS console (or whatever).
Can`t wait !
Can`t wait !
Tegra 4 repeat ?
Samsung &
Tegra 4 repeat ?
Samsung & Qualcomm already announced their 64bit chips will be coming out for the new Phone/Tablet season last month. Both have already been leaked to be in phones already by Spring.
Unless Nvidia sells K1 32bit cheap to make it attractive I don’t see how it can gain traction much like Tegra 4 was overpriced and its modem wasn’t certified so it was a no go for phones or tablets that used cell service.
Did you read the article at
Did you read the article at all? Any of it? These new SoCs will have powerful graphics embedded, and it seems that the graphics are powerful enough to be on par with PS3/Xbox 360. Potentially this could lead to being on par with the Xbox 1 & PS4 within a few years. Now that is exciting.
Cant believe you never
Cant believe you never mentioned once Tegra K1 will lack native on-chip support for LTE.
Its also doesn’t support
Its also doesn’t support CDMA.
So it won’t work on Verizon nor Sprint networks in the U.S.
This is pretty compelling
This is pretty compelling stuff. As you say, it all depends on if they get any design wins. But for my 2 cents, I’d probably buy a phone or tablet with the Tegra K1, assuming it comes out before it gets leapfrogged by the next Adreno or Apple A8.
PCI Express capability is interesting. Does that mean this chip could potentially run Thunderbolt? Might do interesting things for accessory connectivity.
I like the comparison in raw compute power with last gen consoles. At the rate things are going, we’re going to catch up with current gen consoles before next gen consoles come out.
One of the other big things stopping developers from coming out with real, true-to-life console quality games for mobile chips is the lack of a standard controller. Bluetooth HID controllers, you can have a very different set of buttons on each one, so there is a barrier to entry–both to the developer who would have to try and make their game configurable enough that a wide variety of controllers is usable, and to the user who has to go and do that setup and may end up failing to get a good, workable configuration. Consoles have a single defined set of buttons, a single set of hardware, and that means the developer knows exactly what to design for.
So, even if Tegra K1 takes off, we may still have yet to see a lot of heavy hitting games put onto mobile platforms, unless someone comes along and makes a big push for a single controller definition. Apple, as a matter of fact, did this for iOS, so maybe that style of controller will become the controller for iOS, and spill over into the rest of the world, so that maybe there’s one big one that all the game developers design for, and the rest of the controllers can either follow suit or fall behind.
The rumor mill is already
The rumor mill is already placing the Apple A8 in some sort of sub-macbook air form factor with a full keyboard and running OS X and iOS. I’m looking for a poor man’s version of those expensive professional graphics tablets, running the Nvidia K1 Denver cores, with at least a 10-12 inch HD screen, and running Linux Mint, for my Gimp graphics and Light Blender 3d mesh modeling. I wish Nvidia could have done some HI polygon mesh modeling demos on the K1, that they had with with the A15 Cortex cores! Full OpenGL should work with Blender and Gimp, as well as other OpenSource software.
Can`t wait…AWESOME…thanks
Can`t wait…AWESOME…thanks PCPER for the info.
This is such a remarkable
This is such a remarkable advance that I can’t wait to see K1-powered hardware hit the market. There was a rumor last week that Microsoft’s next Windows RT tablet (presumably the Surface III) will be built around the Tegra K1. Has there been any confirmation of this?
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