Nvidia Demonstrates Quad-core Kal-El Chip

By Marcus Yam
published

Gaming on tablets could take off with this muscle.

Dual-core Tegra 2 chips are the brains and brawn behind the top performing Android smartphones and tablets, but Nvidia is already promising a quad-core version it calls Kal-El (the birth name of Superman) for later this year.

Nvidia has just revealed a tech demo/game called Glowball that shows off what the quad-core CPU and its 12-core GPU can do when it comes to dynamic lighting and real-time physics. Nvidia says that this marks the first time that this type of lighting is possible on  a mobile device.

The Glowball demo runs smoothly on the early Kal-El silicon, but when Nvidia disables two of the cores to make it effectively a dual-core affair, performance chugs noticeably – helping to prove Nvidia's push for more cores.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
31 Comments Comment from the forums
  • milktea
    Amazing what smart-phone graphics have come to.
    Reply
  • christop
    Nice.
    Reply
  • back_by_demand
    Now allow us to run Windows on the tablet so we can install Crysis
    Reply
  • All I can say is wow...Nvidia was getting too pinched in the desktop market, but with all their GPU experience they are pushing the limits in mobile devices...I think home computers days are now really numbered....peace.

    SEADRIVE
    Reply
  • Parsian
    This is practically PS3/XBX360 graphics but at full HD 1080p judging from native size of the video. Unbelievable.
    Reply
  • Parsian
    back_by_demandNow allow us to run Windows on the tablet so we can install Crysis
    Current generation of Windows cannot run on ARM because it is designed for X86 platform. The new version Windows 8 does support ARM as well but in ARM mode, it wont be able to run legacy windows softwares including Crysis. Assuming the hardware matches the requirement to run Crysis, the game needs to be redesigned so it can run on Windows 8 in ARM mode.
    Reply
  • hixbot
    Nvidia need to release an Android handheld gaming device with dual analog sticks. The PSP2 offers something but it's another closed console platform. We need the equivalent of PC gaming on handheld, and until Windows runs on ARM (or x86 goes mobile), Android could make a decent gaming platform. Current android smartphones can game, but input sucks, we need proper dual sticks with shoulder buttons for shooters. Nvidia have the GPU muscle and combined with quad core ARM, it could make for an excellent gaming platform.
    I say drop cell support to get prices down, and boom, an affordable handheld gaming "PC. With mobile hardware advancing so fast it would make PSP2 and 3DS obsolete in no time.
    Reply
  • rohitbaran
    Good
    Reply
  • kenyee
    Damned cool demo :-O
    Reply
  • the_krasno
    Isn't Kal-El a copyright of DC Comics?
    Reply