The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet Review
by Joshua Ho on July 29, 2014 9:00 AM ESTCPU Performance
As the first Tegra K1 device the Shield tablet is especially interesting. For those unfamiliar with the Tegra K1, NVIDIA integrated four ARM Cortex A15r3 variant cores along with a fifth companion A15r3. While on the surface it seems the CPU configuration it’s largely similar to the Tegra 4, there are some substantial differences. On the process tech side, the move to 28HPm adds SiGe source and drains for PMOS transistors, which dramatically improves drive current and makes it possible to bump clocks up to 2.2GHz for the CPU cores. The new revision of Cortex A15 also means that there’s better power management which should help with power efficiency (and thus battery life). The result is that peak CPU voltage drops from 1.4 volts in Tegra 4 to 1.2V in Tegra K1, and peak clocks are higher in the K1 as well.
Of course, the truly interesting aspect are benchmarks, as those will really show the differences between Tegra 4 and Tegra K1. It will also help to establish how Tegra K1 fares against the competition.
Despite the largely similar clock speeds compared to the Snapdragon 800 we see that the Tegra K1 is generally a step above in performance. Outside of Apple’s A7 SoC and x86 SoCs, NVIDIA is generally solidly ahead of the competition. Of course, as a gaming tablet there’s a strong need for GPU performance, so we'll look at that next.
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fivefeet8 - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
Maybe if Nvidia made a gamepad that was attachable to the Tablet and with good weight distribution. But then the Tablet is much larger though.tipoo - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
I'm very curious to see the K1 version with two Denver CPU cores instead of four Cortex A15s.MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
"There are still frame drops involved in scrolling through lists and similar areas where Android has traditionally struggled to stay smooth, but Android L should fix this issue for the most part."I chuckled when I read this. How many versions of Android have promised smooth UI frame rates? Since 4.1?
MS could get Tegra3 to smooth-scroll Windows!
CharonPDX - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
Wow. When your "final words" section begins with "If I’m honest, it’s hard for me to review tablets... ... I’ve never really found a use for them." then I have to ask, why are you reviewing it?Shouldn't someone else at Anand be doing this review?
DarkStryke - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
You hit it around here. Many of the non-Anand reviews the last while have been pretty average at best.bigstrudel - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
Qualcomm has met its match here. That's what they get for leaning on Krait so long.fivefeet8 - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
Qualcomm makes good SOC's but unfortunately their drivers suck in comparison. Hopefully they've increased investment on that part with their new Adreno 420.kgh00007 - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
It's a pity that the review wasn't done by somebody who actually likes tablets or uses one daily to give a more subjective opinion, based on the fact that they actually use a tablet.For me I use one every day, mainly for reading articles like this on the web, the nexus 7 2013 is a perfect device for that sort of useage.
It's also a pity that the screen does not match up to the nexus 7 2013, I don't want to buy a tablet with a lesser screen regardless of specs!
Thanks for the review though!
name99 - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
Why do you need a camera for "Twitch streaming"? Isn't the whole point of twitch streaming that you see what's happening on the TABLET?Is there something I'm missing here?
fivefeet8 - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
It does both at the same time. It records what's on the Tablet and has a Pic-n-Pic of the camera video.