Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Results: HTML5 And JavaScript Benchmarks

Nvidia Shield Tablet And Shield Controller Review
By

The tests on this page are JavaScript- and HTML5-heavy selections from our Web Browser Grand Prix series. Such tests are extremely meaningful to mobile devices because so much of the in-app content is served via the platform's native Web browser. These tests not only offer a view of each device's Web browsing performance, but since these tasks are traditionally so CPU-dependent, browser benchmarks (especially JavaScript-heavy tests) are a great way to measure SoC performance among devices using the same platform and browser.

JSBench

Unlike most JavaScript performance benchmarks, JSBench could almost be considered real-world, since it utilizes actual snippets of JavaScript from Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo.

JSBench doesn’t take advantage of more than two cores and seems insensitive to CPU clock rate, its performance primarily dependent on CPU architecture. Apple’s A7 posts the best time followed by the three SoCs with -A15 cores. Krait doesn’t handle this benchmark well, posting the two worst times.

The one anomaly is Tegra K1, completing the benchmark 20% faster than both the Tegra 4 and Exynos 5 Octa. It’s tempting to ascribe this result to K1’s frequency advantage, which is about the same percent difference. However, none of the other SoCs sharing the same CPU architecture see any benefit from frequency scaling or additional memory bandwidth. All three SoCs also use the same 2MB L2 cache. Tegra K1 does use the newer revision -A15 cores (r3p3), but looking through the ARM revision history only reveals “engineering errata fixes” and some additional clock gating features introduced in r3p0. There's nothing that would explain a 20% performance improvement.

Peacekeeper 2.0

Peacekeeper is a synthetic JavaScript performance benchmark from Futuremark.

We see nearly the exact same trend in Peacekeeper. The iPad Air holds a 24% advantage over the Shield Tablet, which is 23% faster than the other two SoCs with -A15 cores.

WebXPRT 2013

Principled Technologies' WebXPRT 2013 is an HTML5-based benchmark that simulates common productivity tasks traditionally handled by locally-installed applications, including photo editing, financial charting and offline note-taking.

Tegra K1 isn’t able to break the A7s dominance in our browser benchmarks, only achieving 81% of its high score. The Exynos 5 Octa matches Tegra K1s performance, but Tegra 4 trails behind. Curiously, Qualcomm’s highest-clocked Snapdragon, the 805, comes in last, trailing the lower-clocked Snapdragon 800 in the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE.

Add a comment
Ask a Category Expert
React To This Article

Create a new thread in the Reviews comments forum about this subject

Example: Notebook, Android, SSD hard drive

Display all 23 comments.
  • 0 Hide
    blubbey , October 3, 2014 12:40 PM
    Those GPGPU benchmarks are ridiculous in comparison. It looks like a great bit of kit from what I've seen so far. A die shrunk Maxwell should be fantastic. Maybe even a lower clocked version just for power consumption? It'll still perform as well, if not better than the K1 at 750MHz (assuming 2 SMMs) I'd assume.
  • 1 Hide
    Memnarchon , October 3, 2014 12:41 PM
    "Based on these results, Tegra K1 must be “a neural net processor; a learning computer” sent back through time to destroy all of the other SoCs that could lead a rebellion in the post-apocalyptic future."

    Lol this is epic! xD
    Anyway, great and unique review. Especially for the so many GPGPU benchmarks.

    Nvidia tablet at $299 seems to be a great buy.
  • 1 Hide
    aberkae , October 3, 2014 12:52 PM
    If maxwell brings double the performance per watt on the same node the next tegra chip on 20 nm node should be a home run for the company
  • 1 Hide
    HardyHarHar , October 3, 2014 1:23 PM
    I am blown away by this tablet.
  • 1 Hide
    deftonian , October 3, 2014 2:43 PM
    Impressive, but I feel it's still missing that "umph" to get me to buy this and carry it around as an added device, next to my phone (Note 3). Maybe I just don't game enough on the android market or steam. Either way, I think it is impressive for a mobile gaming device and all the things it offers. I think they've started a great line and hope it grows into a successful tablet/gaming brand.
  • 1 Hide
    TheMentalist , October 3, 2014 2:48 PM
    Holy....that tablet is a beast!
  • 0 Hide
    aberkae , October 3, 2014 5:23 PM
    If maxwell brings double the performance per watt on the same node the next tegra chip on 20 nm node should be a home run for the company
  • 0 Hide
    gio2vanni86 , October 4, 2014 12:41 AM
    The streaming a game while i'm at my friends house using my PC at home is what has me very interested. Plug into his TV and play amazing games he can only dream of. I'm in.
  • 1 Hide
    iknowhowtofixit , October 4, 2014 9:09 AM
    Wow, nVidia will literally sell HUNDREDS of these tablets until the battery life can catch up to the performance. Why bother with a tablet when you are forced to be constantly tethered to a power source.

    I know people are excited about the raw performance of this tablet. But, other than raw GPU power, EVERYTHING else is compromised.
  • 0 Hide
    eklipz330 , October 4, 2014 11:11 AM
    this is great, there aren't many good 8" android tablets.
  • 0 Hide
    CRITICALThinker , October 4, 2014 5:50 PM
    When was a HDMI to mini HDMI cable included? mine never came with one.
  • 0 Hide
    vithrell , October 6, 2014 4:24 AM
    Just wait for Intel's Core M. It wont match the price (CPU alone will cost $300), but in fanless tablet form factor it wont have worthy competitor. Early GPU benchmarks give Core M 55k graphics score in Ice Storm, so more than 1.5x more power than Tegra K1. AND you can run full Windows on it. I wish Nvidia took x86 path with its cpu cores.
  • 0 Hide
    Niva , October 6, 2014 8:02 AM
    Only thing I'm worried about with this tab is Android L and what their software/OS refresh capabilities will be. Has nVidia made any statements about that? Getting this and being stuck with kitkat would bite.
  • 0 Hide
    matt64 , October 6, 2014 10:27 AM
    I asked Nvidia about updating the Shield devices to Android L. Nvidia will update to the new Android version soon after it's officially released by Google, though Nvidia couldn't provide an exact date at this time.

    -matt64
  • 1 Hide
    matt64 , October 6, 2014 10:30 AM
    "When was a HDMI to mini HDMI cable included? mine never came with one."

    After clarifying this with Nvidia, only the press kits included the cable. The retail boxes do NOT include the HDMI cable. I'm sorry for the confusion and we'll update the article to correct this.

    -matt64
  • -1 Hide
    Roger Rogers , October 7, 2014 6:15 PM
    I have a Great product concept for the K1 gaming tablet. Vastly increase sales. But who to take it to...
  • 0 Hide
    Iriman , October 9, 2014 5:28 AM
    Typing from my shield now. I love this decide. As a gaming tablet, its unmatched. As a media device, its extremely hard to beat. Its responsive and I find myself using it more then my moto x and my computer combined. It has plenty of oomph to handle anything I throw at it. WiFi isnt the best out of all the devices I've played with, but in no way is it nearly as bad as the transformer prime was back when it was released. Fantastic device. Gaming is unmatched!
  • 0 Hide
    Roger Rogers , October 14, 2014 6:10 PM
    It has a serious design flaw as far as gaming is concerned from my PoV (which would only be easier for you to understand if you knew the specifics of my PoV [design issue that affects every user and potential user]).

    P.S.
    How is the heat on the thing after a few hours in warm weather?
  • 0 Hide
    CRITICALThinker , October 14, 2014 7:15 PM
    it does have some heat to it, though throttling should be minimal, I am only having a few issues with the lock screen freezing and requiring a manual reboot.
  • 0 Hide
    lookanlearn , October 15, 2014 8:54 AM
    Quote:
    it does have some heat to it, though throttling should be minimal, I am only having a few issues with the lock screen freezing and requiring a manual reboot.


    Heat can cause lock ups (as you will know); but maybe its a software thing that will be ironed out.

    I was hoping it would be smoothe and excellent; but I knew it would get hot. Too slim you see. Look at the PS Vita as comparrison. Chunky and cool.
    The heat was not an issue I was thinking about when I mentioned a design flaw for gaming (I have a neat solution for).
    Although the heat issue did give me the idea for a slot on the back of the unit (maybe magnetic) to put 6mm thick (30mm diameter) frozen metal wafers in located on the back near the CPU/GPU housing, so that it can drop the heat off a bit during an hours play. You get a kit of two or three or somthing; keep one in the freezer and swop them.
    Nobody plays them all day do they?
    For general browsing, should not be required; but when you start pushing the graphics, they be pretty handy on a hot day.

    My Terga 4 smartphone has automatically shut itself down due to overheating itself a hundred times in summers in the Far East..

    10,000 ideas.
    nice.



Display more comments
React To This Article