NVIDIA Shield Review: At the Crossroads of PC and Mobile Gaming
by Brian Klug on July 31, 2013 12:14 AM ESTGPU Performance - 3DMark
The GPU performance story is finally a competitive one for NVIDIA. Although Tegra 4 lacks full OpenGL ES 3.0 compliance, it does finally dedicate enough SoC die area to GPU performance to compete with the likes of Apple and the iPad with Retina Display. We'll start with 3DMark, which is Android and Windows only at this point.
3DMark for Android features the Ice Storm benchmark and uses OpenGL ES 2.0. Ice Storm is divided into two graphics tests and a physics test. The first graphics test is geometry heavy while the second test is more pixel shader intensive. The physics test, as you might guess, is CPU bound and multithreaded. The overall score takes into account both graphics and physics tests. The benchmark is rendered to an offscreen buffer at 720p/1080p and then scaled up to the native resolution of the device being tested. This is a very similar approach we've seen by game developers to avoid rendering at native resolution on some of the ultra high resolution tablets. The beauty of 3DMark's approach here is the fact that all results are comparable, regardless of a device's native resolution. The downside is we don't get a good idea of how some of the ultra high resolution tablets would behave with these workloads running at their native (> 1080p) resolutions.
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). Tegra 4's GPU performance is still no where near even Intel's HD 4000, but we're seeing massive improvements in raw FP throughput in ultra mobile GPUs. I'm very eager to see what's possible once Kepler makes its way into NVIDIA's mobile SoCs next year with Logan.
The 3DMark Physics test is also worth looking at as it shows a 36% increase in performance over four Krait 300 cores running at 1.5GHz. There are faster Krait 300s out there, but another 13% isn't enough to make up this gap. The Krait 400 comparison is much closer, but the Krait 400s have to be clocked at 2.3GHz to equal the performance of the 1.9GHz Cortex A15s. It remains to be seen which combination is ultimately lower power.
Basemark X
Basemark X is a new addition to our mobile GPU benchmark suite. There are no low level tests here, just some game simulation tests run at both onscreen (device resolution) and offscreen (1080p, no vsync) settings. The scene complexity is far closer to GLBenchmark 2.7 than the new 3DMark Ice Storm benchmark, so frame rates are pretty low.
In both tests, NVIDIA posts big gains over anything presently shipping from the Android camp. Adreno 330 pulls ahead on a level playing field, holding a 24% performance advantage over Tegra 4.
I would've loved to have seen this sort of competition from NVIDIA back when the iPad 4 launched, but it's at least good to see NVIDIA move from being a value player with Tegra 3 to a high performance contender with Tegra 4.
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darkich - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
..-there is hundreds of thousands of them.
- there are many full pc game ports already
- as far as shooters(genre with the greatest benefit of analog controls) are concerned, the iOS/Gplay library is VASTY superior, with at least ten super cheap titles that are at the same time better than ANY shooter on the DS/Vita.
Get out of that reality distorted prism and open your eyes already, please.
nikon133 - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
So... do you get heavy hitters on Shield (and in general for Android/iOS), games like:Rayman Origins
LittleBigPlanet
Mortal Combat
Metal Gear Solid HD collection
Uncharted
Dead or Alive 5
Street Fighter X Tekken
NFS: Most Wanted
Wipeout 2048
Ninja Gaiden
Jak and Daxter Collection
I have noticed some AAA titles in Android Market Place / Apple AppStore, but many of them seem to be dumbed down versions of console/PC counterparts, sometimes not much more than same name. On Vita, most above mentioned games are very close to originals from big consoles.
Yes they are much more expensive, but there really is reason for that. I do have Android tablet and iPhone, and had iPad for a while as well... but no, I failed to find many - if any - games of same overall quality you can get on PSP, let alone Vita.
darkich - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
Unbelievable short sightness..The uncharted and (ridiculously overrated) fighter games ate pretty much only titles I give to you, in that list.
And you missed the Assasin's creed title, while at it.
iOS/Android?
The crazy thing is, those libraries are so superior there really cannot be a comparison even.
There are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF GAMES ON MOBILE, more titles being released in a day than what comes out in a month on Vita.
Picking up individual ("casual") titles that have amazed millions of players would take ages, but alright, I'll just try to pick up some of the "highest production quality" ones.
I dare you to find Vita counterparts to.these:
- Infinity blade
- Galaxy on fire
- Max Payne
-GTA
-Deus Ex: The Fall
- Order and Chaos
- The Bard's Tale
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old.Republic
- Bastion
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- Six Guns
- Modern Combat (4)
- N.O.V.A. (3)
- Real Racing (3)
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Sentinel III
- Shadowgun: Dead Zone
- Battle Bears
- Blitz Brigade
- Sky Gamblers(personal favorite)
- NBA 2k 13
- Chaos Rings
..
And I could go on, and on.
I hope you realize you've been beaten in your own game now.
Overall, iOS and Android game libraries are simply beyond comparison superior, offering hundred times more quantity, at a bargain price.
The reason why it seems the Nintendo and Vita have more quality is because the libraries are tiny and don't get flooded and burried up with thousands upon thousands of casual titles
darkich - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
..oh, and last and the most important..the FUTURE TRENDS.Android and iOS gaming will only grow-in fact, it is yet to enter the real revolution, with major studios tasting serious profits on the freemium model and taking mobile seriously (EA, for example, will release frostbite games on Android and iOS next year), and mobile GPU's far outperforming the PS3 console in a less than a year.
Otoh, Vita and Nintendo DS will simply fade into complete irrelevance.
nikon133 - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
Uncharted and fighting games only..?I will respectfully disagree. MGS Collection, Ninja Gaiden, Jak and Daxter are all premium titles. As well as LittleBigPlanet, one of most original franchises in recent years.
I didn't compile list of best games, I just listed bunch of games I recall that were well reviewed. Beside Assassin Creed, I also missed
Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
MLB 13: The Show
Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Muramasa Rebirth
Velocity Ultra
Dragon's Crown
Guacamelee!
Soul Sacrifice
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
Persona 4 Golden
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward
Doruko
FIFA 13
FIFA 14
Final Fantasy X
Gravity Rush
Madden NFL 13
...
... and I could go on and on.
True, Vita and GB are missing variety of cheap casual titles, so if one's preference in gaming is tossing birds and piggies across the screen, then it is simple choice.
But for premium, PC/console-quality titles? No. Not yet, at least. Those are still too few for Android/iOS. And of those that do exist, many are riddled with poor control schemes or poor execution in general.
darkich - Friday, August 2, 2013 - link
Which games from my list have you played, and on what device?5150Joker - Tuesday, August 6, 2013 - link
NVIDIA: Thanks for the review! The check is in the mail! :DSeriously, who in their right mind would buy this oversized piece of junk?
Jumangi - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Yea and the vast majority of them are that cheap for a reason.Jumangi - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
Those 2 inches matter allot to people. The form factor matters allot to people(bulky controller with flip screen and a fan going vs a sleek tablet like the new Nexus 7) The Nexus gets great battery life too. The power means nothing if it can't be used and I doubt much their will ever be and real support for the thing.Its has no future.
Someguyperson - Wednesday, July 31, 2013 - link
I'm really torn whether to get this, or the new Nexus 7. I feel that half my time using a portable device is reading online articles and the other half playing emulators, but I might be leaning towards this guy. $300 isn't cheap enough for an impulse buy though.