News
News Categories

Tegra K1 Available in Two Variants - 32-bit Quad-Core A15 + 64-bit Dual-Core Denver

By Vijay Anand - on 6 Jan 2014, 2:10pm

Tegra K1 to Come in 2 Variants - 32-bit and 64-bit

Hot on the heels of just announcing NVIDIA's most revolutionary mobile processor with the NVIDIA Tegra K1, NVIDIA's CEO just shared that the Tegra K1 would be available in not just a 32-bit version, but also as a 64-bit variant, thanks to Project Denver!

To ensure that this isn't just a Powerpoint launch, NVIDIA demoed a working prototype of it at the NVIDIA CES 2014 press conference where the dual-core 64-bit Denver CPU based Tegra K1 was shown running the Android OS successfully.

First mentioned at NVIDIA's CES 2011 press conference, Project Denver is a full custom 64-bit ARM CPU that's targeted to address high performance needs with all the benefits of an ARM processor architecture for devices beyond the handheld segment. In the wake of Apple's 64-bit A7 processor that's featured on latest iPhone and iPad devices, this announcement couldn't have come sooner, and it was topped off with a working prototype for show.

However NVIDIA wanted to reinforce that Project Denver was five years in the marking and it's based on an ARMv8-A 64-bit processor architecture. It's designed for high performance single-thread and multi-threaded performance.

While we believe the 32-bit Tegra K1 is what will matter to most end-users at this point of time, getting a high performance 64-bit edition up and running simultaneously definitely works to the company advantage in getting this new ecosystem tested and ready for mass uptake by the next iteration. Speaking about mobile processor versions, the 64-bit Denver CPU infused Tegra K1 is indeed a stepping stone and a bridging product between today's Logan debut (the Tegra K1) and the next revision, Parker. The "Parker" Tegra SoC was initially slated to receive the Denver CPU first, along with the next-gen Maxwell GPU and manufactured using FinFET transistor architecture.

Last but not least, as noted in the slide shown above, the 32-bit Tegra K1 and 64-bit Tegra K1 are pin-compatible drop-in versions for OEM's to implement. While the 32-bit version is expected in devices in the first half of 2014, the 64-bit version is expected in devices in the second half of the year.

A die shot of the 64-bit Project Denver CPU infused Tegra K1. Unlike the 32-bit quad-core variant, the 64-bit version will feature dual main processing cores. Both editions will still sport the 192-core Kepler GPU though.

Join HWZ's Telegram channel here and catch all the latest tech news!
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.