CES 2014: Nvidia Unveils Tegra K1 Processor With The Power Of 192 Cores

Chip manufacturer Nvidia has revealed the latest edition of its mobile System-on-a-Chip (SoC), the Tegra K1, at its Consumer Electronics Show press conference.

The successor to the popular Tegra 4, launched at last year’s CES, Nvidia claims that the Tegra K1 can compete with the Playstation 4 and Xbox One in terms of graphical performance and bring next-generation gaming to mobile devices.

This is thanks to the use of 192 cores powered by Nvidia’s CUDA programming technology, which allows developers to create mobile applications with advanced features such as detailed imaging, speech recognition, and video editing.

The Tegra K1 features the same GPU architecture that is behind the company’s renown GeForce hardware, with Nvidia claiming that the processor can outstrip current games consoles such as the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, whilst also offering a major boost in efficiency and performance.

The power in your hands

“Over the past two decades, NVIDIA invented the GPU and has developed more graphics technologies than any other company,” Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, said of the launch.

“With Tegra K1, we’re bringing that heritage to mobile. It bridges the gap for developers, who can now build next-gen games and apps that will run on any device.”

The Tegra K1 will be available in two versions – a 32-bit variety with the quad-core, 4-Plus-1 ARM Cortex A15 CPU, as well as a 64-bit variety which will feature Nvidia’s own dual-core ‘Denver’ Super Core CPU.  The 32-bit version of the Tegra K1 is expected in the first half of 2014, while the 64-bit version should appear by the end of the year.

In a good sign for fans of mobile gaming, leading studios Epic Games announced that it would be partnering with Nvidia to make its Unreal engine available to developers. Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic Games, said “With the introduction of this revolutionary processor, we can take applications that run on PC or console and run it on Tegra.

“From here onward, I think we’re going to see the performance and feature gap between mobile and PC high-end gaming continue to narrow to the point where the difference between the platforms really blurs.”

Nvidia has also stated that the Tegra K1 will be a key part of its move into other areas of technology, announcing an automotive-grade version of the processor that it hopes will spearhead the development of self-driving vehicles. The new processor will allow car manufacturers to include advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning and street sign recognition into their dashboard technology, and can also be used to monitor driver alertness via a dashboard-mounted camera.

Made by aliens? Nvidia made a crop circle in Monterey California as a publicity stunt, suggesting that the chip is so advanced that it could only be the work of aliens.

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