Tegra 2 debuts, four times faster than predecessor

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Nvidia has finally officially unveiled its Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip (SoC). The 40nm ARM-based chip reportedly consumes less power than Intel's Atom, and even Qualcomm's Snapdragon, whilst being brawny enough to pump HD video. Tegra 2 offers "uncompromised graphics" capable of delivering over 16 hours of HD video or 140 hours of music on a single charge.

It features eight independent processors, including dual ARM Cortex A9 cores, and is up to four times faster than the previous generation Tegra. According to Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeny, the SoC's specs are comparable to both current high-end game consoles and high-end gaming PCs from two to four years ago. As proof, the chip was demonstrated running Unreal Engine 3, the engine that powers games like BioShock, Mass Effect and Gears of War.

Tegra 2 is currently in production, and a developer kit is available for those interested in creating applications for Tegra-powered devices.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/37528-tegra-2-debuts-four-times-faster-than-predecessor.html

 

[Burty117]

Thats Insane! portable Gears of war! and if it has that power and considering the low res of a mobile screen, imagine playing full half-life 2 on an android powered HTC phone with this chip under the hood! Insane! and the power required is equally mental!

 

[oldikes]

so, um what is it? a CPU or a GPU? could i replace the atom in my aspire one with it?

 

[thatguyandrew92]

Tegra 2 is a CPU, GPU, northbridge, southbridge and memory controller. So it CAN replace the Atom. But im 99% sure u cant replace YOUR atom since your motherboard isn't designed for the Tegra. And I believe this device isn't for computers, it's just like Phones, iPODs etc. Laptops use Ion.

 

[oldikes]

ok so its a different socket/format. damn. i got excited for a minute lol

 

[Jinto]

Holy ****! Just imagine a thing like this in the next Sony or Nintendo handheld.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

Even if they were comparable, (which they are not) the atom processor is not socketed but soldered in place. Still a very impressive chip.

 

[Wendig0]

This story just makes me happy! I look forward to seeing this come to fruition in the near future.

 

[compdata]

Curious to see what devices this comes out in.

 

[Guest]

Nintendo will use this in the DS2.

 

[Vrmithrax]

Might be interesting to see what kind of small HTPC type of system they could whip together with one of these as the heart... I could see this in a small VESA mounted unit that would attach behind your HDTV

 

[Guest]

PSP2 anyone?

 

[Guest]

Um no they wont...
Nintendo dedicates to family gamers. All their recent systems have extremely bad graphics and for a pc gamer like myself's standards terrible gameplay. Nintendo also dedicates to the people too poor to get a pc. This wont power any nintendo handheld because the price would go too high.


*****......

 

[Puiu]

i guess the age in which we'll have a supercomputer in our pockets is very near.

 

[saintbodhisatva]

awesome!

 

[Vrmithrax]

Guest said:
Um no they wont...
Nintendo dedicates to family gamers. All their recent systems have extremely bad graphics and for a pc gamer like myself's standards terrible gameplay. Nintendo also dedicates to the people too poor to get a pc. This wont power any nintendo handheld because the price would go too high.

*****......

And all of the industry buzz and official reports that nVidia won the bid for powering the next gen Nintento DS seem to indicate that YOU are the ***** here. It appears that it will be, at the very least, a Tegra v1 that will power the DS, more likely this next-gen version of the Tegra though.

Always find it humorous when dipwads wander in under the guise of anonymous "guest" posts to spout of about things they have no clue about.

 

[Guest]

And just to make it clear guys, its a ARM unit, meaning no windows. And this equals no desktop. More or less at least. I dont think any hw manufacturer will risk to develop a desktop-like system without a OS that 99% of population prefers. And this suck. But its true. Remember the Cell that was suppose to kick x86 ***?

Maybe someone will have balls to make it a mini mini HTPC with linux or android?....=) you can always dream..=P
/J

 

[Guest]

this thing is supposed 2 b in the next ds so it will be the awesome

 

[vangrat]

OMFG the days of mobile gaming are finally catching up to personal computing this is absolutly nuts, I cannot wait to see how this changes the pocket pc market O.O

 

[Guest]

Supposedly the netbook-powered Chrome OS will run in this type of hardware...Looking foward to it...

 

[Guest]

While i love the idea behind this chip, saying it could be on the same level as the 360 or the ps3 is bs and quite frankly, laughtable. Im refering to the words of he epic guy. Of course he might be trying to build some hype to boost the sales of their u3 engine, but still theres no need to go that far. i guess i could believe this SoC could be at a xbox 1 or game cube level, but matching a 7800gtx or the 360 gpu, which roughly compares in raw power to the quite new, 40nm nv gts 220? So magically nvidia has learnt to do in a sub 1w power envelope what usually takes well over 50w on the desktop, and thats considering the graphics section of the die only. Gimme a break Epic. oh, and sorry for commenting on this very ancient article, i just couldn't resist.