NVIDIA Shield Review: At the Crossroads of PC and Mobile Gaming
by Brian Klug on July 31, 2013 12:14 AM ESTCPU Performance
Tegra 4 features the fastest ARM CPU configuration of any device we've ever tested. There are four Cortex A15 cores inside running at up to 1.9GHz. Note that 1.9GHz is the max CPU frequency even with all four cores active. Tegra 4 is an absolute beast. Do keep in mind that the Tegra 4 is actively cooled via a fan inside Shield, which does give it a bit more thermal flexibility than what we'd normally find in an Android tablet.
CPU-Z incorrectly identifies Tegra 4 as Tegra 2, the cores and frequencies are accurate though
Looking at even our limited CPU performance suite, the combination of ARM's first 3-issue out-of-order architecture, incredibly high clock speeds and a big chassis to dissipate heat is extremely evident. SunSpider performance is in downright low-frequency Core territory, and it just blows away anything else we've seen from any device running Android or iOS. The comparison in Google's Octane benchmark is still strong, although the Nexus 10 comes very close. Finally, we see great performance in Kraken as well. It's a shame we haven't seen Tegra 4 used in more places, because honestly this thing could make for a killer Windows RT device.
I threw in some of our early Snapdragon 800 performance data, and it looks like Tegra 4 still pulls away with a win in that comparison as well. ARM's Cortex A15 is just insanely quick. Again, there is a fan in Shield - that definitely helps make this possible.
For what it's worth, there's no funny CPU clock boosting going on upon launching any of these tests.
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DesktopMan - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Do you really need 1080p in a gaming device at this size? I'd prefer not to gimp performance. I agree that it should have been larger though, since there is space for it.Cohaagen - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
I agree. I'm even happy with the 960x544 resolution of the PS Vita, so I have no problem with the 1280x720 resolution for the same screen size.JNo - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
I agree. I'm amazed Brian is still gunning for 1080p. I can't imagine it would stream well at all wirelessly, especially games where laglass performance is a deal breaker. Most people can't get 1080p movies to stream over wireless N without significant issues.And it would shove the cost up significantly on what is already a non-impulse purchase.
Sorry Brian, obviously 1080 would be beautiful but it has to work and make economic sense. I'm really surprised you don't/didn't see this. Not trying to sound rude because I really love your writing.
nathanddrews - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Getting 1080p 1:1 Blu-ray (48Mbps) to stream over N is difficult without excellent conditions, but something compressed down to a Netflix-sh 8-10Mbit stream with 5.1 audio is more than realistic, even over G. Double the rate to reduce artifacts and you're golden.Sertis - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Most PC games don't scale up their fonts and fine details for higher PPI screens. If you can't see the pixels at a comfortable playing distance, you probably can't read the 12 point text. 1080p on a 7" screen might work, but that's pushing it.damianrobertjones - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
"5-inch 1280x720 "Retinal" Display"Retinal display? Is that a 'Retina display' but not quite?
A5 - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
"Retina Display" is an Apple trademark, iirc.jjj - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Interesting review , i don't think it will sell ,the hardware seems nice but the concept is problematic.Maybe for this one you should have included some loading time tests, the NAND perf doesn't seem all that good and made me wonder how much it impacts loading times.
Hope you guys will have a T4 tablet review soon, the Toshibas and the HP are in retail.
R3MF - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
"I said in the Nexus 7 review that I wished whatever happened to Tegra 4 that delayed it hadn't, so we could see it in more devices."I glad Tegra couldn't be included in the Nexus7 update, that would have meant no OpenGL ES 3.0 and no OpenCL.
Arbee - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
This thing, far more than the CPU-gimped Ouya, is the ultimate emulation machine. It's one of the first ARM devices with enough CPU grunt to do some really impressive things in that space, and Nvidia isn't blind to that market; they've been seeding beta units to emulation programmers. There's a new version of MAME4Droid with explicit support for it out already, for instance.