Tegra K1 is Live in Las Vegas for CES 2014
Last night at CES 2014, Nvidia unveiled their latest fifth generation Tegra mobile processor – Tegra K1, a 192-core super chip that brings their newest Kepler GPU architecture featured in the GTX 780 Ti and in supercomputers, to mobile. 
Tegra K1 is the first mobile chip to bring next-generation DX 11 PC gaming to mobile Android platforms. Nvidia claims that the raw power of the last generation XBox 360 and the PS3 game consoles are exceeded by Tegra T1 – but within an approximately 5W power envelope!
“It’s almost inappropriate to call it Tegra 5, because it’s simply not linear,” Nvidia’s CEO Jensen (Jen-Hsun Huang) said at the PreCES event in Las Vegas. “It’s the most successful architecture we’ve created.” As a contrast, the currently available Tegra 4 which was launched at the last CES only has 72 cores, each of which is quite limited compared to the Kepler cores of the Tegra K1.
More surprising news came with the announcement that the K1 Tegra chip is offered in two versions – a 32-bit quad-core (4-plus-1 ARM Cortex-A15 CPU) and a custom, Nvidia-designed, 64-bit dual Core CPU. This CPU (codenamed “Project Denver”) delivers very high single-thread and multi-thread performance. Project Denver is based on the 64-bit ARMv8 instruction set and was not expected until the next generation of Tegra (Logan/Tegra 6).
Both versions deliver advanced graphics and visual computing capabilities powered by the 192-core Nvidia Kepler K1 GPU. Tegra K1 with the ARM Cortex A15 CPU will be available in the first half of 2014 and Tegra K1 with Denver will be available in the second half. We expect K1 to also power the next generation Shield.
With either Tegra K1, users will experience:
- New Gaming Standards
- Full support for the latest PC-class gaming technologies – including DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.4 and tessellation – enabling it to run the world’s most advanced game engine, Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4
- The same graphics features as next-gen gaming consoles (Xbox One, PS 4) and faster performance vs. current gen consoles (Xbox 360, PS 3)
- New Creative Capabilities
- Advanced computation capabilities to speed applications for computer vision and speech recognition
- Support for Nvidia’s CUDA enabling computer vision, advanced imaging, speech recognition, video editing and more
- New Efficiency Benchmarks
- Breakthrough energy efficiency, more so than any other current mobile GPU at the same power level
- Kepler is the world’s fastest and most energy-efficient GPU architecture, powering all 10 of the world’s most energy-efficient supercomputers
The Tegra K1 specifications are quite impressive – especially considering that it debuts on 28nm.
Tegra K1 Supports Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4
Tegra K1, is able to support one of the world’s most advanced gaming engines, Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4. Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games notes, “We can take absolutely anything that runs on PC or on a console and run it on Tegra. The differences between the platforms is really blurred.” Evidently Mr Sweeney was quite surprised that K1 was 3 or 4 years “early” in his opinion.
During the presentation, the company showed off Tegra K1 including with the just taped out Denver which included demos of nearly photo-realistic scenes, including a very impressive rendering of a human face in real time which is extremely computationally intense.
You can find the blog post with more detail here and the YouTube demo of this technology here.
Nvidia further discussed its future in gaming, calling its GeForce brand the heart and soul of its gaming strategy. Jensen was visibly proud of the the GeForce Experience which allows players to automatically custom-configure their PC with the simplicity of a console for an optimized PC gaming experience. Part of the GeForce Experience includes ShadowPlay which allows a player to game and share real time video directly to 40 million gamers on Twitch without slowing their frame rate like other capture methods do.
G-Sync
Jensen also featured G-Sync, a new and potentially disruptive display technology that helps to increase immersion in gaming.
Jensen detailed Nvidia’s frustration with the fundamental issues with current display technology not synching up properly with the graphics card. Screen tearing, input lag, and stutter are a part of every gamers experience. One must always compromise with the settings – without Vsync, there is tearing; and with, there is input lag and stutter.
Nvidia’s solution is G-Sync, which eliminates screen tearing, VSync input lag, and stutter. By building a G-Sync module into monitors, it allows G-Sync to synchronize the monitor to the output of the GPU, instead of the GPU to the monitor. By using a G-Sync adapted display with a GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost or faster GPU, many frustrations will be eliminated. At least six display technology companies are expected introduce to introduce G-Sync enabled displays including 2560×1440 resolution displays in Q2 of this year.
Tegra K1 moves Supercomputing into Automobiles 
Jensen highlighted the role of Tegra K1 for automotive applications. From camera-based advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to driver alertness via a dashboard-mounted camera, Tegra K1 will help self-driving cars advance from the realm of research into the mass market with its automotive-grade version of the K1.
The Tegra K1 processor will also be used to create photo-real 3D graphics of digital instrument clusters. These clusters along with infotainment systems can be customized with a wide range of virtual materials, from copper, titanium and brushed aluminum, to stitched leather and carbon fiber. Car owners will be able to customize their gauges, controls and dials to suit their tastes.
“Crop Circle” explained
Last week, an unexplained crop circle was reported in an obscure barley field in California’s Salinas Valley. It quickly became an international story.
Jensen proudly admitted that Nvidia’s marketing team was behind the construction of the unique crop circle, which depicts the Tegra K1 chip.
As news of the crop circle went viral, experts decoded a hidden braille message in the design – “192.” That corresponds to the number of cores found in Tegra K1’s Kepler GPU.
For more information about Nvidia’s press event at CES 2014 including the Nvidia crop circle, check out the following links:
Blog Post: The Story Behind Project 192: How a Salinas, Calif., Crop Circle Became a Worldwide Puzzle
Video: Salinas Valley Crop Circle Behind-the-Scenes
You can find the official press release here.
We are looking forward to 2014 and Tegra K1 – especially in Shield II.
Happy Gaming!
Make sure you check out ABT forum for the best tech discussions anywhere and stay tuned for an Ivy Bridge vs. Haswell face-off. Did we reach 4.6GHz with our i7-4770K with our ECS “Golden” board?
