The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet Review
by Joshua Ho on July 29, 2014 9:00 AM ESTGPU Benchmarks
On the GPU side, the Tegra K1's GPU is derived from the same Kepler GPU architecture we've seen in notebooks and desktops - albeit in a single SMX configuration. There are some power focused changes to mobile Kepler, and I’d reference our initial article on Tegra K1’s architecture for those interested in learning more. In this device, the GPU can run anywhere between 72 MHz to 852 MHz.
I included Surface Pro in a couple of the tests below just to show how far NVIDIA's Shield Tablet and Tegra K1 get in terms of pushing the envelope in gaming performance. Tegra K1 can deliver better GPU performance than the original Surface Pro, and given its price and thermal constraints isn't too far off of the newer Surface Pro tablets as well.
When it comes to GPU performance, there’s really no question: the Tegra K1 is easily the fastest in all of our GPU benchmarks. It handily beats every other ARM SoC, including the newest generation of SoCs such as the recently introduced Snapdragon 805 and its Adreno 420 GPU. It's worth noting that the Snapdragon 805 is likely aimed more at smartphones than tablets, although we are looking at its performance in Qualcomm's tablet development platform here. Until we get a look at Snapdragon 805 power consumption we can't really draw any perf/watt conclusions here. Ultimately, the only thing that can top the Shield Tablet is Surface Pro line, which uses more powerful laptop-class hardware.
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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.