Hilo oficial de la guerra PC vs Consolas

Menstruator dijo:

Me he comprado este juego para PS3 y.... ¿Qué puedo decir? Es huevonudo.

[YOUTUBE]cKlEjPMXC1I[/YOUTUBE]
Hitman Absolution Trailer - Saints - YouTube

Hacer clic para expandir...

Tegra 4 GPU Specs Disappoint, Nvidia in Defensive Mode
1/9/2013 by: Theo Valich

Nvidia caused a lot of waves with their Sunday announcement of Tegra 4 SoC, Project Shield mobile gaming console and GeForce GRID cloud gaming platform. However, for the second time in a row, some analysts and embed customers are not impressed. For that, we need to look into several answers we got from Nvidia.

Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia co-founder and CEO unveils the Tegra 4 with optional i500 soft 4G LTE Data and Voice modem

According to the company, these are the key antiestéticatures on a Tegra 4:

• GeForce GPU with 72 custom cores
• Quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU, plus a 2nd Generation Battery Saver Core
• Computational Photography Architecture
• LTE capability with optional Icera i500 chipset
• 4K ultra-high-def video support

The Tegra 4 "Wayne" chip seems to be "Tegra 3 on Stereoids", with the 4-plus-1 CPU concept now upgraded from five Cortex-A9 to five Cortex-A15 cores, graphics subsystem beefed from 12 to 72 GPU cores etc. All of this is paired with an 8-core i500 Soft Radio chip (SDR), which supports all the modern radio bands (4G LTE on both data and voice) the company needed to compete for superphone, phablet and tablet design wins. The company takes a lot of pride in the fat that the i500 die size is around 40% the size of competing modems from Intel (ex-Infineon), Qualcomm, Broadcom and the like.

Furthermore, one of most important aspects is the reduced power consumption. By moving from 40nm (Kal-El, Tegra 3) to 28nm process (Wayne), Nvidia reduced power consumption by as much as 45%, while achieving significant performance improvements.

However, after all is said and done, Tegra 4 might have an Achilee's heel in the making. While the company representatives often stated that Tegra 3 competitiveness was stifled by the lack of 4G LTE supporting hardware (HTC One X+ 4G LTE smartphone combines Tegra 3 and Intel/ex-Infineon baseband chip), Tegra 4 might be suffering from another issue: lack of API support. Back in 2010, when Nvidia disclosed its roadmap for the future, it was stated that the desktop architectures will move inside Tegra as well, and that future parts such as Wayne (T40, Tegra 4) and Logan ("Wolverine", T50, Tegra 5) will offer computational capabilities.

We asked Nvidia what APIs (Application Programming Interface) are supported, since their competition from Qualcomm (Adreno 300 Series), ARM (Mali-T600) now supports DirectX 11.0, OpenCL, latest OpenGL, latest OpenGL ES etc. The response we got from Nvidia's Tegra 4 team was underwhelming:

Kepler isn't in Tegra 4, but Tegra 4's GPU leverages multiple GeForce architectures and elements - including Kepler and others."

"Tegra 4 uses our most advanced mobile GPU ever. It adds amazing antiestéticatures like true HDR rendering and supports ultra-efficient computation, like what is done for the computational photography architecture and the first "Always On" HDR camera. It is our fifth generation mobile GPU and 6x the power of Tegra 3's GPU - a major leap in capability (for reference Tegra 3 was 1.5x the horsepower compared to Tegra 2)."

Hacer clic para expandir...

In order to understand this answer, you have to understand that original GeForce ULP used on Tegra 2 and Tegra 3 was based on the NV4X architecture (GeForce 6/7 Series), launched in 2004. This is the GPU architecture that powers all PlayStation 3 consoles (RSX is a 2005 GeForce 7800 GTX "NV47" chip with a 128-bit memory controller and continuously updated manufacturing process).

"Tegra 4 has 6x the number of GPU shader cores in Tegra 3 (72 vs. 12), and includes various cache and pipeline optimizations. In actual game testing -- with other factors at play, such as game code efficiencies, driver stacks, CPU processing, memory subsystem operations - users should see about 3x - 4x delivered performance improvements for graphics-based benchmarks."

Hacer clic para expandir...

While it is great to see HDR capabilities going from specialized hardware such as RED Epic and Scarlet cameras to commodity hardware such as Tegra 4 (naturally, capabilities widely differ, but the concept is the same), the troublesome part was lack of any tonalidad on API support, as it is obvious that Always On HDR was an Nvidia antiestéticature and not exactly exposed to 3rd party developers. The last part of answer brought an answer to our question:

"Today's mobile apps do not take advantage of OCL (OpenCL), CUDA or Advanced OGL (OpenGL), nor are these APIs exposed in any OS. Tegra 4's GPU is very powerful and dedicates its resources toward improving real end user experiences."

Hacer clic para expandir...

To put this answer in perspective, Nvidia - a company almost always known for innovation in the desktop and mobile computing space - does not consider that API's such as OpenCL and its own CUDA are important for ultra-efficient computing. This attitude already resulted in a substantial design win turn sour, as the company was thrown out of BMW Group, a year and a few quarters after it triumphantly pushed Intel out of BMW's structure.

While the company is embedded with the Volkswagen AG group and will probably end up shipping Tegras in each of the VAG brands (Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Ducati, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen), it was Freescale than won the new-new BMW deal for next-gen hardware because of one small thing - Vivante's GPU antiestéticatureset.

Vivante is not a new player in the field, but the low profile firm has a GPU which supports OpenCL, which was listed on BMW's corporate "RFQ" (Request For Quote). According to our contacts close to heart of the matter, OpenCL was the reason why Nvidia "is out".

Witnessing that the company does not believe in CUDA (currently), does not believe in OpenCL (currently) and furthermore, has an issue with believing in success of Windows RT / Windows 8 as it does not support DirectX higher than 9. This will probably end up being painfully exposed through next-generation cross-platform benchmarks from Futuremark (next-gen 3DMark is cross-platform: WinRT/8, Android, iOS) and Rightware (Basemark X), all coming out in the upcoming weeks.

Will the company change the tune with Logan (T50, Tegra 5) or Stark (T60, Tegra 6), future chips based on Project Denver, a custom 64-bit ARM core in which the company invested lot of resources (and credibility) and a Maxwell GPU core, or are we going to see "a backup version" with 64-bit Cortex-A57 and 1xx-core GPU based on combination of architectures? Only time will tell.

Too bad for Nvidia, as Tegra 4 could have been a 1-2-3 punch for its competitors, tired of Qualcomm's inability to deliver functional Windows RT drivers (just ask HP and others how they feel about their Qualcomm-based RT tablets and the R&D money blown on getting that hardware/software to work). Furthermore, Intel failed to make their 2012 target in terms of smartphone Atom units shipped as Google-owned Motorola, the only Tier 1 that adopted the design - dropped off the Top 10 smartphone vendors ranking.

From the looks of it, Tegra 4 looks to be a great design product for Google Android smartphones and tablets. Windows RT and automotive/embedded markets on the other hand... obviously the company will have to limit damage there. The "sweet-pill" is codenamed Gray, a Tegra 3 with integrated baseband (think of the part as a general trial run before T50 integrates LTE/SDR on a single die). Will that be enough, time will tell.

Hacer clic para expandir...

Razer Edge gaming tablet tras*forms into PC, console and mobile console

Is this your everything machine?

By Robert Purchese Published Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Behold Razer Edge, a Windows 8 tablet powerful enough to play all current PC games and boasting a nifty array of peripherals capable of tras*forming it from tablet into home console, mobile console and desktop PC.

With nothing attached it looks and behaves like a tablet; with a keyboard dock it behaves like a PC; with two cylindrical rumbling controllers attached either side it behaves like a mobile console; and with a docking station it behaves like a console.

It's "the world's first tablet designed for PC gamers", if you listen to Razer, and "the most powerful tablet in the world". It was also known as Project Fiona last year.

There are two Razer Edge models: the Edge and the Edge Pro. Prices start at £650 for the Edge, and Pro prices go up to £1000. They're due Q1 2013, but only in the US.

Digital Foundry's motherboard Richard Leadbetter had this to say:

"What separates the Razer Edge from other high-end Windows tablets - aside from its various peripheral add-ons - is the inclusion of the Nvidia Kepler graphics core. We've seen a similar combination of Intel ultra-low voltage CPU and GeForce GPU before in the Acer Aspire Ultra M3, where we witnessed some surprisingly strong performance: Battlefield 3 ran well at medium settings, Crysis 2 played nicely at very high while Skyrim was smooth even on the high graphical preset.

"However, while the Acer antiestéticatures the standard GeForce 640M, the Razer has the 640M LE, which sees clock speed diminish by 20 per cent, which will undoubtedly impact performance significantly. This should be a worthwhile games machine and the base $999 price-point sounds pretty reasonable, but future PC releases may struggle to run well on it."

Gizmodo had a go on the Edge Pro at CES. First impressions: it's a bit fat but it's shaped and built well and feels light. Of the accessories, the two "mobile console" controllers added "a good bit of heft" and the keyboard (not out until Q3) had keys that felt a bit small. No mention of the dock.

Performance wasn't bombastic; Rift was running on low settings although Dishonored was "flawless" and Dirt Showdown "totally fine". But apparently performance "totally blew away" that of the Dell Ultrabook and MacBook Air.

Steam's Big Picture worked "flawlessly".

But more importantly, Gizmodo thought the Razer Edge Pro had enough quality - with the keyboard - to be considered as "your everything machine".
[YOUTUBE]nTjBqiFr1Q4[/YOUTUBE]
Razer Edge Pro specs:

Processor: Intel Core i7 Dual core w/ Hyper Threading Base 1.9GHz / Turbo 3.0GHz
Memory: 8GB DDR3 (2x4GB 1600MHz)
Video: Intel HD4000 (DX11), NVIDIA GT 640M LE (2GB DDR3, Optimus Technology)
Display: 10.1" (IPS, 1366x768), 10-point capacitive touch
Operating System: Windows 8
Storage: 128/256GB SSD (SATA-III)
Network: Intel WLAN (802.11b/g/n + BT4)
Others: Stereo speakers, Codec supports 7.1 (via HDMI), HD Webcam (front-facing, 2MP), Array microphones, Dolby Home Theater v4, USB 3.0 x1 (green, SuperSpeed), Audio jack (3.5mm, 4-pole, stereo out / mic in)

Razer Edge specs:

Processor: Intel Core i5 Dual core w/ Hyper Threading Base 1.7GHz / Turbo 2.6GHz
Memory: 4GB DDR3 (2x2GB 1600MHz)
Video: Intel HD4000 (DX11), NVIDIA GT 640M LE (1GB DDR3, Optimus Technology)
Storage: 64GB SSD (SATA-III)
All the other stuff is the same as the Edge Pro

Hacer clic para expandir...