nvidia

Nvidia announces own 'Shield' gaming device at CES

LAS VEGAS--Who says you can't teach an old chipmaker new tricks? Not Nvidia. At CES, the company announced its own gaming device, Nvidia Shield, which will bear its brand name as well as its quad-core Tegra 4 processor.

Project Shield is small -- smaller than a Wii U controller. Fittingly, it looks like a portable Xbox controller with a small flip-up screen. It's got analog joysticks, buttons, and controllers. Nvidia promises between 5 and 10 hours of gameplay on Shield.

Still a prototype, the final name and design could change before the product goes to market, as soon … Read more

Nvidia unveils muscular Tegra 4 quad-core chipset

LAS VEGAS--Chipmaker Nvidia has just ratcheted up the quad-core pressure.

At its CES press conference tonight, Nvidia announced Tegra 4, its next-generation quad-core processor for tablets and smartphones.

Following rumors, Nvidia based Tegra 4 on ARM's latest Cortex-A15 architecture, which means that its processing power will be dramatically faster than the current Tegra 3 quad-core chipset, which is based on ARM Cortex A-9.

In addition to the new architecture, Nvidia's Tegra 4 system-on-a-chip contains a whopping 72 graphics cores -- six times what's built into in Tegra 3. It also includes Nvidia's first 4G LTE modem.… Read more

Nvidia Grid pushes gaming to the cloud

LAS VEGAS--Nvidia took the wraps off Nvidia Grid, the company's first fully integrated system to enable customers to access their games via the cloud.

Launched tonight at CES, Nvidia Grid pushes the limits of cloud gaming in a server stack that's designed to optimize computer graphics. In the works for five years, the stacks, which are packed full of GPUs, or graphics processing units, enable 3D gaming that can render graphics directly to the cloud.

The upshot is that you'll be able to start playing a game on one device, like a tablet, and pick it up … Read more

Nvidia's GeForce Experience auto-optimizes gameplay

LAS VEGAS--Nvidia tonight launched GeForce Experience, a tool that detects your PC settings and automatically adjusts gaming settings to offer the best graphical video game play experience without you having to manually adjust settings.

GeForce Experience, which comes bundled with the drivers, is an opt-in client.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang described GeForce Experience, or GFE, as a game console experience on a high-performance PC.

The new tool underscores the importance of gaming for Nvidia. The company has been pushing into mobile, supercomputing, and other areas, but selling high-end graphics chips to gaming enthusiasts remains a key money maker for Nvidia. … Read more

Nvidia at 2013 CES: Join us Sunday, 8 p.m. PT (live blog)

Nvidia starts the 2013 International CES early with a press conference at 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET) on Sunday, Jan. 6, and CNET will be there to cover it live. We'll have a live video stream, along with a blog full of news and analysis, as it happens.

You can tune into the blog and video stream here:

CNET's live coverage of Nvidia's 2013 CES press conference

Nvidia has been pretty quiet about any possible announcements at CES, but the graphics chipmaker is likely to talk up Tegra, its processor for mobile devices. The … Read more

How Microsoft became a control freak with tablet makers

Microsoft wasn't taking chances.

The company was about to introduce one of its biggest operating system releases, and it needed its hardware partners to develop products that could genuinely rival the iPad and Android tablets.

Microsoft took control of partners working with the new Windows RT software that ran on low-power chips normally used for cell phones. It held regular meetings with the small group of companies in its development program and dictated to a large extent what the devices looked like. Details were everything. Microsoft even told one company to move the location of its Windows home key, … Read more

Alleged leak of Nvidia's Tegra 4 shows 72 graphics cores

Nvidia's mobile future might have been leaked yesterday on a Chinese forum site.

A user going by the name "Xenomorph" yesterday republished an image shared on China's Twitter equivalent Weibo, detailing what could be the mobile processor that Nvidia launches to replace the Tegra 3. And for now, it's being called "Wayne."

According to the image, Wayne, which might eventually be renamed Tegra 4, comes with Nvidia's 4-Plus-1 technology, meaning the chipset will have four regular cores and another low-power core designed to save battery life. That CPU is described as a &… Read more

MediaTek joins Samsung, Nvidia quad-core club

MediaTek will take on Samsung and Nvidia in the emerging market for mobile quad-core chips.

The Hsinchu, Taiwan-based company today announced the MT6589, a quad-core system-on-a-chip (SoC) that integrates a modem supporting HSPA+ and other international standards.

Integration of a modem into a quad-core chip is a first, the company says.

The processor is based on ARM's Cortex-A7 design, the same technology used in Qualcomm's upcoming quad-core S4 processors.

But that Qualcomm chip won't be available commercially until well into next year. The MediaTek chip, on the other hand, will appear in smartphones that are expected to … Read more

Beyond quad-core: What's next for mobile processing power

Remember when a quad-core processor was the ultimate indicator of a super-smartphone? Well its 15 minutes are almost up.

Just as the current run of super-smartphones are destined for the bargain bin in a few months, so too will the novelty and obsession with the number of cores powering a phone begin to fade. Sure, smartphones with the latest quad-core chips still rule now, but companies are already preparing to change the conversation.

In its place, expect chip companies, handset manufacturers, and wireless carriers to shift their marketing away from an emphasis cores and more toward tangible benefits such as … Read more