Published in PC Hardware

Report claims Tegra 4 will outpace Snapdragon 800

by on12 March 2013



But it’s based solely on Nvidia benchmarks

A new analysis compiled by Microprocessors Report is raising quite a few eyebrows, as it claims Nvidia’s upcoming Tegra 4 processor will be faster than Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 800.

Barrons that the report based its assumptions on benchmark figures published at MWC a couple of weeks ago, but there’s a big caveat to consider. The bench figures came directly from Nvidia, and since Tegra 4 devices are still a couple of months away they cannot be independently confirmed.

Microprocessors Report estimates that Qualcomm’s series 800 chips will not be able to keep up with Nvidia, although they should feature faster memory. However, the report also notes that Snapdragon 800 was designed for efficiency, whereas the Tegra 4 is geared towards delivering maximum performance at maximum power. Coupled with the lack of integrated LTE, this means Tegra 4 will probably be better suited to tablets, while the Snapdragon 800 should do better in phones.

However, the report sounds a tad too optimistic. According to the same bench figures, Tegra 4 ends up about 25 percent faster than the Snapdragon 600. The Snapdragon 800 will feature significantly higher clocks, but more importantly it is based on Qualcomm’s custom Krait 400 core, so it should end up quite a bit faster than the 600 even at the same clock.

The first Tegra 4 and Snapdragon 800 devices should appear in a couple of months, possibly within weeks of each other. Making any conclusions without independent real life benches seems like a stretch to say the least.

Rate this item
(0 votes)