Mobile computing platforms had an unbelievable growth in past few years. Its way faster than the growth of desktop computers and even gaming consoles. Thanks to that we can enjoy super speedy multimedia and gaming experience in Smartphone and tablets.
The magic of this growth is in SoC (System on Chip) architecture. It wraps up all the important components in a mobile device in to one integrated circuit.
There are several popular companies manufacturing mobile SoCs. Apple has their A series, Samsung has Exynos, Nvidia has Tegra and Qualcomm has Snapdragon. Out of all these Ax and Exynos are used only in manufacturer’s own devices. But Snapdragon and Tegra platforms are used by many other device manufactures. So Qualcomm and Nvidia is in a cold war in SoC market to gain more territory.
Bit of History
Nvidia introduced their very first Tegra chipset back in Q1 2008 and it was Tegra APX 2500. It had 600 MHz CPU, image processor and DDR memory access. Then they came a long way through Tegra 2, Tegra 3 – the most popular one and in CES 2013 they introduced Tegra 4 with the tag line “World’s fastest mobile processor”.
The story of Snapdragon processor goes back to 2007 with Snapdeagon S1 MSM7225 chipset. It had 528 MHz CPU, software rendered graphics and DDR memory access. Then they came through Snapdragon S2, S3, and the most popular Snapdragon S4. In CES 2013 they also introduced new versions of chipset called Snapdragon 600 and the most powerful Snapdragon 800.
Nvidia Tegra 3 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro
In the year 2012 the war was between Snapdrgaon S4 Pro and Tegra 3. Lets go and take a look at benchmark results.
Snapdragon S4 Pro
CPU: 1.5 GHz // Quad Core // Krait
GPU: Adreno 320
RAM: 2 GB DDR3
Quadrant: ~7600
An Tu Tu: ~13800
GL Benchmark (Egypt, Off-screen): 132 fps
Tegra 3
CPU: 1.5 GHz // Quad Core // Cortex A9
GPU: GeForce (12 Core)
RAM: 1 GB DDR3
Quadrant: ~3500
An Tu Tu: ~8900
GL Benchmark (Egypt, Off-screen): 63 fps
Yeah! That is a huge difference and Snapdragon S4 Pro won with colors.
But what is the reason for this difference. Both the devices have pretty similar hardware configuration. The secret is Krait CPU architecture invented by Qualcomm. This results show that it’s way better than Cortex A9 architecture.
Nvidia Tegra 4 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 600
In 2013 they meet again with latest and greatest inventions. This time the war is between Snapdragon 600 and Tegra 4. Here are the benchmark results.
Snapdragon 600
CPU: 1.7 GHz // Quad Core // Krait 300
GPU: Adreno 320
RAM: 2 GB DDR3
Quadrant: ~12500
An Tu Tu: ~24600
GL Benchmark (Egypt HD, Off-screen, 1080p): 34 fps
Tegra 4
CPU: 1.9 GHz // Quad Core // Cortex A15
GPU: GeForce (72 Core)
RAM: 2 GB DDR3
Quadrant: ~16500
An Tu Tu: ~36300
GL Benchmark (Egypt HD, Off-screen, 1080p): 57 fps
Ohh yeah this time Tegra 4 wins over Snapdragon 600. But game is not over yet. Snapdragon 800’s benchmark is yet to come and it’s expected to be 40% faster than Snapdragon 600. So they have a good chance of beating Tegra 4.
The game is on! In 2012 Qualcomm won and so far in 2013 Nvidia holds the crown. Let’s sit back and enjoy this SoC cold war. I’m pretty sure we will be able to see more cool stuff from both sides.
Tags: #Nvidia #Qualcomm