Nvidia shows off Battlefield running on Tegra 5

Nvidia is making a bigger push towards gaming with its next mobile processors. According to VentureBeat, the company compared the graphics of a game running on the latest iPad to that of Battlefield on a prototype device running on the Tegra 5 with the new Kepler architecture. While the graphics are very scaled down, it is still an impressive feat.

The main challenge for Nvidia in developing Tegra 5 came from adapting the desktop-based Kepler architecture and making it suitable to use in smartphones and tablets. The company had to shrink the chip’s size and power consumption from dozens of watts to hundreds of milliwatts. The demonstration of Battlefield 3 running on the Tegra 5 means that the chip may be capable of running DirectX 11 games.

“We want to get multiple years ahead of the competition,” said Nvidia boss Jen-Hsun Huang. “It was worth the sacrifice.”

Comparing Battlefield running on a Tegra 5, Huang called the iPad’s graphics  “vintage 1999”. While the company didn’t exactly compare Battlefield on a Tegra 5 to Real Racing 3 on the iPad, the game that was compared did look like it was from 1999.

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Will the Tegra 5 have a better adoption rate than the Tegra 4?

The company has been busy developing the next line-up of Tegra chips, but it has had a hard time in getting companies to adopt its Tegra 4 chips. Back in February, it was revealed that Asus and Acer, two of the bigger tablet makers in the world, have not yet decided to place orders for Nvidia’s chip. This may be because their focus has shifted from high-end 10-inch tablets to entry-level 7-inch ones. For Asus’ smartphones, it is likely that the company will continue its relationship with Qualcomm and leave Nvidia’s Tegra 4 as a backup option.

Nvidia is considering on reducing the price of the Tegra 3 so that the company can attract entry-level tablet makers. However, Digitimes sources point out that Tegra 3’s price will be too high even after the cut, compared to chips from MediaTek and China-based IC design houses.

Nvidia unveiled the next two generations of the Tegra processors back in March, dubbed Logan and Parker. Logan, which is slated to come out later this year, will use Nvidia’s Kepler GPU, one of the best dedicated GPUs that you can get for a smartphone right now. The chip will also incorporate Nvidia’s GPU programming model CUDA.

Parker is set to be the first chip from Nvidia’s Project Denver. It is going to be capable of full 64-bit capabilities. The GPU in Parker is going to be Nvidia’s next-gen Maxwell GPU, which will have new architecture.