Nvidia @ Computex

source: hardwarezone.com
NVIDIA's Tegra Wows Audience

NVIDIA today unveiled a wide range of products based on their latest Tegra processor. Equipped in a SO-DIMM module no larger than a stick of chewing gum, it promises to deliver rich internet experience with full HD (1080p) playback capabilities at extremely low power consumption.

Together with industry partners, NVIDIA revealed 12 new mobile internet devices (MIDs) powered by the NVIDIA Tegra processor. The devices showed during the launch were from ODMs likee Compal Communications, ICD, Inventec Appliances Corp, Mobinnova, Pegatron and Wistron. Besides those, there are another 20 other designs in progress as well as new devices being developed by OEM partners. We will probably see retail designs for the general market soon, in the months leading to its introduction. NVIDIA expects Tegra-based devices to be available in late 2009, in time for the holiday season.

Prices for Tegra-based mini-notebooks will cost about US$199 from mobile carriers.

For those who do not yet know what the Tegra can deliver, think about it as a multi-purpose processor designed to power low cost, ultra portable MIDs. Inside the Tegra are eight processors with very specific functions that will automatically turn on when required by the application. According to NVIDIA, all processors will remain in the sleep state (means zero power consumption) until it's activated by the system. Besides that, each of the processor consumes very little power and they claim that it consumes lower than 1W during 1080p video playback. This simply means that a device will run longer on a single battery charge using a Tegra-based device over other MIDs.

Inside the Tegra are eight independent processors, each handling a specific task.

Some of the main experience that NVIDIA Tegra promises to deliver includes :-

• Up to 1080p high definition video playback
  
• Full resolution web viewing
  
• Hardware-accelerated Flash support
  
• Always on device with up to days of usage between charges
  
• Wireless connectivity with WiFi, 3G or WiMax
  
• Hardware acceleration for Web 2.0 apps

To give you a better idea of some of its capabilities, here's a short video coverage of the launch event with a live demo too:-



NVIDIA also revealed its plans for Tegra with a product roadmap for the next 2 years. It plans to release a more powerful processor every year, with the Tegra II slated for production in 2010. NVIDIA is targeting its next iteration to be 4X faster than its first generation processor. The Tegra II will feature a dual-cortex A9 CPU, double the memory speed and footprint, supports 1080p HD video encode and enhanced 3D.

NVIDIA promises a healthy roadmap ahead of the Tegra line of processors. The second iteration of the processor slated for next year will run 4x faster.

Currently, Tegra-based devices support operating systems such as Windows CE, Windows Mobile and Google Android. Their demo uses an OpenKODE-based user interface framework which enable window managers to communicate with OpenKODE applications. This is the foundation for window managers to mix and merge (or composite) multiple applications using OpenGL ES 2.0 for advanced transition and effects.

The Tegra runs on Windows CE and not your typical Windows XP, Vista or 7. This is because of the Tegra core which is based on ARM architecture.

Tegra Products Unveiled

Here are some of the Tegra-powered products on NVIDIA's showcase during their launch.

The Compal CN88 mini-notebook based on the NVIDIA Tegra platform.

A tablet implementation using the Tegra processor from ICD Ultra.

Another tablet, this one's from Mobinnova.

The Pegatron Vivid mini-notebook.

Here's Inventec Appliances Corp's mini-notebook using NVIDIA's Tegra too - the Rainbow.

Mobinnova's mini-notebook implementation, the ViewBook N910.

Over here, Mobinnova's Viewbook N910 is being used to showcase the Tegra's video playback capabilities - a 1080p HD video clip in fact.

And the NVIDIA Tegra isn't just limited to mini-notebook class of applications. Here is a pair of mobile phones by Inventec Appliances Corp's S2 on the left and the Yulong N8.

More NVIDIA Ion Systems on the Way

As we all know now, the NVIDIA Ion platform is just the marriage of the handicapped Intel Atom processor with NVIDIA's GeForce 9300 mGPU chipset. This same chipset is so wildly popular that it's the basis for a number of Apple products in their current lineup. While we've all seen what the NVIDIA Ion is capable of from our initial review of the engineering system, it just hasn't seen the same kind of momentum from the vendors until very recently. Here's a handful of new all-in-one desktop systems based on the Ion that could be coming our way soon:-

One of the most stunning of the lot is this ECS Morph-I system with a tilt capable huge display and matching keyboard/mouse combo to boot. With a fairly capable graphics engine thanks to the Ion, a large screen size on a system still running the Intel Atom is quite a reality.

Here's a version from ASUS, the Eee Top ET2002 all-in-one machine. As its name suggests, it has a 20-inch widescreen too. With big players like ASUS and ECS committing to the Ion platform, it's quite a strong signal that that the Ion is definitely a hit.

And here's the Kitchen PC from ICD.

All-in-one PCs aren't the only Ion based systems on the way. Check out the following mini-notebooks that slated to come into retail before the fourth quarter of this year:-

This is the Weibu N10A mini-notebook with a 10-inch screen that's using the Ion platform.

Telecast's TL-1000N is yet another. Notice the Call of Duty 4 game on the machine? Yup, the Ion can handle it well.

And here's the world's first mini-notebook using NVIDIA Ion that was announced just last week - the Lenovo IdeaPad S12. Expect this same Ion-based version to be available sometime in August.

To prove the versatility and power of the NVIDIA Ion platform, NVIDIA got hold of an early unit of the Lenovo IdeaPad S12 and got it running a full 1080p HD clip of the Dark Knight trailer, while it was tasked with a video transcoding process with Badaboom media converter.

Here's a close-up of the screen and the CPU utilization rate. Even when handling such heavy-duty chores that an Intel platform based Atom system would have failed miserably, the NVIDIA Ion really utilizes the integrated GPU's resources with the help of CUDA and is able to tackle these tasks well with the right applications. Bear in mind, the IdeaPad S12 uses a single-core Atom processor, so the results we see here are remarkable.

New Mobile GPUs Move to 40nm Process Technology

That's right folks, a whole range of NVIDIA GPUs are going to be manufactured using a 40nm engineering process technology. What this means is that you can expect cooler running GPUs of the same specs; or you can have a faster GPU of the same design power. A definite win-win situation anyway you look at it.

However, the GPUs themselves aren't any different and will continue be using the G92 graphics architecture and not the GT200 architecture that's seen in the high-end desktop graphics cards of the GeForce GTX 285 and the likes. While this wasn't totally unexpected since the old G92 is plenty adequate in both performance and features, the new 40nm based mobile GPUs will take on newer but confusing naming scheme such as the GTX 260M and GTS 210M - and that something we dreaded since it wasn't even using the newer GT200 architecture to begin with. In any case here's a variety of notebook you can expect in the next few months to sport this new graphics engine.

To help you better associate where these new models stand among the existing mobile GPUs, the GTX 280M is equivalent of the GeForce 9800M series, the GTX 260M is equivalent of the GeForce 9700M series, the GT 240M is somewhat similar to the GeForce 9600M series, while the G210M is slated to be about the equivalent of a low-end GeForce 9300/9400M series.

At the top of the performance chain, we've an Alienware M17x notebook with dual GeForce GTX 280M in SLI mode.

The Packard Bell iPower gaming notebook used something more sane like the GeForce GTX 260M.

Here's an ASUS G60Vx notebook that's also set to use the GeForce GTX 260M.

This is another Packard Bell machine, but this 17.3-inch EasyNote L165 notebook uses a less tamer Core 2 Duo T6600 processor and the GeForce GT 240M.

A new and upcoming Acer Aspire Timeline 5739 uses the GeForce G210M GPU.

Of Motherboards and Graphics Cards

Seen here are two new nForce 980A motherboards from ASUS and MSI - the M4N82Deluxe and the NF980A-G65 respectively. The nForce 980A however is hardly any different from the existing nForce 780A chipsets. So apart for some minor updates, expect this to be more of a marketing refresh than anything else.

An Intel P55 reference motherboard was seen in NVIDIA's suite, but what�s it doing there? Why it's certified for NVIDIA SLI! We expect a similar certification process requirement as with the existing Intel X58 chipsets.

Also seen were a handful of other NVIDIA Ion-based mATX motherboard solutions. This one here is from ECS.

Here's an Ion-platform mATX motherboard from Pegatron.

This is the ASUS version of a NVIDIA Ion compliant motherboard.

NVIDIA 3D Vision Discover

NVIDIA's 3D Vision kit is pretty awesome when it works best with a certain set of games, but what if the price tag of nearly US$500 is too much to belly for both the goggles and the 120Hz screen? Well, that's where NVIDIA steps in with the 3D Vision Discover. As its name implies, it's to get a taste of 3D and it works with any screen and any normal anaglyphic glasses. The experience is back to the most basic form of 3D experience, but then again it's to be expected since this is a no-cost alternative for basic 3D experience (or discover in NVIDIA's terms).

We checked out the 3D Vision Discover experience from this station playing Burnout Paradise. However having experienced the superior solution, the Discover edition feels tacky. But for those who've not yet experienced any form of actual 3D gaming, this is a great stepping stone. (You can't get it any better than free!)

And these are the very basic anaglyphic glasses needed to get you going to Discover 3D Vision. NVIDIA expects to get these glasses in every boxed graphic card since it's a very low cost solution. Games compatibility and experience level listing follow that of the more expensive 3D Vision kit.

Last but not least, NVIDIA had on display two machines set up for video conversion tasks on Windows 7. One was based on the NVIDIA Ion platform, while the other is a standard Intel Atom platform. The purpose was to showcase how Windows 7 and its DirectX Compute support allows it to manage tasks that can be handled on both the CPU and GPU to improve performance by a good degree - versus either relying only on the CPU or GPU.