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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Dug - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
Thanks for the review. I think the ability to stream computer games to this is a huge draw for me.Most of the time I need to be in the "family room" and I can't bring all of my computer gear out there. That way I can still casually play games and interact with the rest of the family. I really dislike a big gaming laptop.
I hope you can follow up with more games being played from the PC.
I also run MAME on my main computer. I wonder if you could stream that to the sheild.
The other option I'm looking at is the PS4 as they say you can stream games from that to the VITA.
fivefeet8 - Thursday, August 8, 2013 - link
You can run MAME natively on the Shield using Retroarch. It's on the play store. Also, Nintendo DS emulation runs fantastic on the device with Drastic(also on the playstore). ;)ToothSlayer - Saturday, August 3, 2013 - link
Looks like it would be good for GBA/NDS Emulation.dabotsonline - Monday, August 5, 2013 - link
"Here we see Tegra 4 in Shield outperforming all of the shipping players on Android, and virtually tying with Adreno 330 in Qualcomm's upcoming MSM8974 (Snapdragon 800 platform)."Isn't the MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 already shipping in the Galaxy S4 LTE-A SHV-E330S for SK Telecom in South Korea?