Nvidia unveiled the Tegra 3 processor, its latest chip for smartphones and tablets. The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime tablet will be the first device to use the quad-core processor. The Tegra 3 processor provides up to three times the graphics performance of Tegra 2 and up to 61 percent lower power consumption, Nvidia said. This translates into up to 12 hours of battery life for HD video playback. Based on the ARM Cortex A9, the Tegra 3 implements a new, patent-pending technology known as Variable Symmetric Multiprocessing (vSMP). vSMP includes a fifth CPU "companion," specifically designed for work requiring little power. The four main cores are specifically designed for work requiring high performance, and generally consume less power than dual-core processors. During tasks that require less power consumption -- like listening to music, playing back video or updating background data -- the Tegra 3 processor completely shuts down its four performance-tuned cores and, instead, uses its companion core. For high-performance tasks -- like web browsing, multitasking and gaming -- the Tegra 3 processor disables the companion. The Tegra 3 quad-core CPUs are complemented with a new 12-core Nvidia GeForce GPU. Nvidia said it expects 40 games to be available to run on the Tegra 3 by the end of 2011, and over 15 Tegra 3 games are under development for Tegra Zone, its free Android Market app. The Tegra 3 processor is already in production, and developers can order the Tegra 3 Developer Kit to create applications for devices with Tegra.
