GRAPHICS GIANT nVidia has jumped into the chip business with a processor family called Tegra that will compete primarily against Intel's Canteens Atom chips, released in April. Tegra and Atom are designed to power mobile Internet devicespocket-size computers suitable for Web browsing and other activities.
"This is a complete computer on a chip. It has CPU, graphics, GPU-all the imaging and all the peripherals necessary to build a mobile Internet device," says Michael Rayfield, general manager of nVidia's Mobile Business group. Devices that require ultralong battery life, strong Web browsing, and high-quality video are likely candidates to use the chips, according to Rayfield.
Members of the Tegra line include the 800-MHz Tegra 650, the 700-MHz Tegra 600, and the APX 2500 for cell phones and smart phones.
The heart of a Tegra chip is its Arml 1 processor core. The chip also contains a GeForce graphics core, a highdefinition video decoder, and other components, so it can perform functions normally carried out by several different chips.
THE TINY TEGRA will compete with Atom chips from Intel
Since a single chip has all of these capabilities, system makers can produce smaller devices that use less power, for longer battery life.
To illustrate Tegra's spacesaving virtues, nVidia demonstrated an Asus Eec PC with its motherboard removed and replaced with a Tegra based board measuring 43 millimeters squire. The only other component that the computer needed to be fully functional was a battery.
'The Arm processor core relies on a different set of instructions than do Intel x86 processors, so software written for a PC or laptop can't run an Arm-based Computer. But Arm processors have long been used in mobile devices (including Apple's iPod Touch and Nokia's N800) and generally consume far less power than x86 processors, making them ideal for small, portable devices.
"This is a complete computer on a chip. It has CPU, graphics, GPU-all the imaging and all the peripherals necessary to build a mobile Internet device," says Michael Rayfield, general manager of nVidia's Mobile Business group. Devices that require ultralong battery life, strong Web browsing, and high-quality video are likely candidates to use the chips, according to Rayfield.
Members of the Tegra line include the 800-MHz Tegra 650, the 700-MHz Tegra 600, and the APX 2500 for cell phones and smart phones.
The heart of a Tegra chip is its Arml 1 processor core. The chip also contains a GeForce graphics core, a highdefinition video decoder, and other components, so it can perform functions normally carried out by several different chips.
THE TINY TEGRA will compete with Atom chips from IntelSince a single chip has all of these capabilities, system makers can produce smaller devices that use less power, for longer battery life.
To illustrate Tegra's spacesaving virtues, nVidia demonstrated an Asus Eec PC with its motherboard removed and replaced with a Tegra based board measuring 43 millimeters squire. The only other component that the computer needed to be fully functional was a battery.
'The Arm processor core relies on a different set of instructions than do Intel x86 processors, so software written for a PC or laptop can't run an Arm-based Computer. But Arm processors have long been used in mobile devices (including Apple's iPod Touch and Nokia's N800) and generally consume far less power than x86 processors, making them ideal for small, portable devices.
