NVIDIA Shield Review: At the Crossroads of PC and Mobile Gaming
by Brian Klug on July 31, 2013 12:14 AM ESTGFXBench 2.7.0
While GFXBench 2.7 (formerly GLBenchmark 2.7) doesn't yet take advantage of OpenGL ES 3.0 (GLB 3.0 will deliver that), it does significantly update the tests to recalibrate performance given the advances in modern hardware. Version 2.7 ditches classic, keeps Egypt HD and adds a new test, T-Rex HD, featuring a dinosaur in pursuit of a girl on a dirt bike.
Scene complexity goes up tremendously with the T-Rex HD benchmark. GLBenchmark has historically been more computationally bound than limited by memory bandwidth. The transition to T-Rex HD as the new flagship test continues the trend. While we see scaling in average geometry complexity, depth complexity and average memory bandwidth requirements, it's really in the shader instruction count that we see the biggest increase in complexity.
The fill rate tests put Shield significantly behind the iPad 4 and about on par with the Nexus 10. Looking at Triangle throughput we see Apple hold onto an advantage there as well, although Tegra 4 does show impressive gains over Tegra 3.
It's really in the pixel shader bound tests that Tegra 4 really excels:
As promised, Tegra 4's GPU manages to outperform the iPad 4's PowerVR SGX 554MP4 in GFXBench 2.7. The 50% performance advantage is appreciable, and should be very nice on a high res display. It's a shame Shield is stuck with a 720p panel. Note that we're also half way to the performance of Intel's HD 4000 here. The Adreno 330 comparison is, once again, extremely close. Qualcomm pulls ahead by 8% and that's without a fan in a tablet chassis.
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Wixman666 - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Half a kilo isn't that heavy, unless you're a kid, even after hours.Revdarian - Wednesday, August 7, 2013 - link
Being a mobile gaming device, yes i was asking for a kid, but it is honestly too bulky to consider, and for a kid a standard 3ds//vita would be better game library wise.But hey, cheers to all the enraged manly men who confused the random troll with my questions and had to share their weight lifting stories, "cool stories bros" /facepalm.
420baller - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
"over half a kilo".. you mean a pound?
boozed - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
No, a pound is under half a kilogram.BryanDobbins - Saturday, August 17, 2013 - link
my neighbor's mom makes $72/hour on the internet. She has been unemployed for 7 months but last month her pay check was $19114 just working on the internet for a few hours. Read more on this web site... http://goo.gl/qHdAQ4Rontalk - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
What a crap!silverblue - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
It's actually very impressive. Regardless of whether you've been reading the same review or not, you could at least say more than three words on the subject. Please let us know your thoughts.I have to admit that NVIDIA have done rather well here for a first stab, and as software is the main issue, this can be improved upon quite quickly and easily. Who will buy Shield, though?
Rontalk - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Just any time a little thin laptop over it, which far more powerful and can be used for everything and do not look like an alien. It seems not even my 6 years old kid excited...connor4312 - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
So I suppose you think that every mobile phone, every mini computer (Rasp Pi, etc), and every tablet, is also crap, because laptops are more powerful?Rontalk - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Where did I say that? But yeah, even a tablet or a phone are can be used for many things (for games too), they can look very well and to be thin. But this shield, I just do not get it. Maybe for dedo kids, but than should not cost more than $50... At this price level, I'll pay anytime the extra $100 for Ipad 5 tablets...