Battle For CPU Supremacy: NVIDIA Calls Out Apple on Speed Claims of A5X vs. Tegra 3

[dgstorm]

Unless you were living under a rock, or simply trying to avoid it, the big news yesterday was the launch of Apple's new "The New iPad" (what were they thinking on that non-name name?). During their press event, Apple made a big fuss about how much faster their A5X chip is than the NVIDIA Tegra 3. They even claimed that the quad-core GPU in their A5X was 4 times faster than the Tegra 3 solution. Of course, NVIDIA has come forward and called out Apple on these outlandish claims. Ken Brown, a spokesman for NVIDIA, called them to task. He indicated that it was “certainly flattering" that Apple made the comparison, but called their data "sketchy" at best. He elaborated,

“We don’t have the benchmark information. We have to understand what the application was that was used. Was it one, or a variety of applications? What drivers were used? There are so many issues to get into with benchmark. At some point it will become more clear what the performance really is. For now, Apple has a really generic statement.”

It seems that Apple's statements may have ignited a benchmark war. We will soon see the "proof in the pudding" when the new iPad hits store shelves and some actual benchmark comparisons are made. What do you guys think? Could Apple's claims be true, or are they blowing smoke?

Source: Android.net via TalkAndroid

 

[Rhino413]

My Assumption would be that their claims are close to truth every apple device so far has been or has set the bar for performance in graphics.
and do we really care??? if the A5X is better then good on them as this will push the competition to new heights. And we only benefit from this in the long run
hate or love apple (and I don't really care one way or another) they make good products if they didn't they wouldn't sell. I'm very happy with my Acer A100 tablet, my Droid X and X2, my acer-one laptop, my Macbook pro 13", and my work Iphone. all of these products do what they need to do. Good on Apple if they just raised the tech bar again and here is to the chase. Huzzah i love technology ALL OF IT.

 

[Bigaliensexmachine3000]

I wouldn't doubt if the claims are true either, probably just rounded to the nearest whole number. The GPU in the iphone 4s is still king of the hill even tho it came out last year. So of course it would make sense that a quad core version is going to perform much better. We'll just have to wait for anandtech to post benchmarks so see the exact numbers.

 

[jntdroid]

If it ain't optimized for the OS (or vice versa I guess) it doesn't really matter.

 

[SquireSCA]

I am always skeptical of Apple's claims, as in the past they have outright lied in the PC market, to the extent that some countries made them pull their ads for "false advertising"...

They used to claim that they had the fastest PC on earth. But only if you ran specially optimized code and compilers on the Apple computer and ran outdated non-optimized code on the PC, and it was always in some very obscure application that almost nobody even used...

But hey, lets be honest... owning an Apple product has NEVER been about performance. It's about owning an Apple product and making sure that everyone knows that you have an Apple product...

 

[czerdrill]

As droid-life has already pointed out, Anandtech did plenty of comparisons between Tegra3 and the A5 and the A5 destroyed Tegra3, so it's most probably true that A5X does too. There's no reason to think Apple would just lie about their performance, unless of course you also subscribe to the Apple users are sheep, Apple is a cult, and Apple is evil theories, in which case you probably have other more pressing problems to worry about then benchmarks.

Or maybe Apple paid Anandtech, because as we all know Apple pays judges, courts, countries, companies, blogs and everyone else to lie for them....:blink:

 

[SquireSCA]

As droid-life has already pointed out, Anandtech did plenty of comparisons between Tegra3 and the A5 and the A5 destroyed Tegra3, so it's most probably true that A5X does too. There's no reason to think Apple would just lie about their performance, unless of course you also subscribe to the Apple users are sheep, Apple is a cult, and Apple is evil theories, in which case you probably have other more pressing problems to worry about then benchmarks.

Or maybe Apple paid Anandtech, because as we all know Apple pays judges, courts, countries, companies, blogs and everyone else to lie for them....:blink:

But they have gotten caught lying in the past, that's the point, so I always take their claims with a grain of salt.

 

[czerdrill]

But they have gotten caught lying in the past, that's the point, so I always take their claims with a grain of salt.

They have? When?

 

[zomnomnombie]

They have? When?

This.

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

 

[dgstorm]

As droid-life has already pointed out, Anandtech did plenty of comparisons between Tegra3 and the A5 and the A5 destroyed Tegra3, so it's most probably true that A5X does too. There's no reason to think Apple would just lie about their performance, unless of course you also subscribe to the Apple users are sheep, Apple is a cult, and Apple is evil theories, in which case you probably have other more pressing problems to worry about then benchmarks.

Or maybe Apple paid Anandtech, because as we all know Apple pays judges, courts, countries, companies, blogs and everyone else to lie for them....:blink:

I am not disagreeing with you, nor do I dispute your statements, but could you please send us some links showing Anandtech benchmarks where the A5 (a dual-core chip) "destroyed" Tegra3 (a quad-core chip). I just went to Anandtech, and while I admittedly only did a perfunctory search, I could not find any evidence of a benchmark where the A5 "destroyed," or was even compared, to the Tegra 3. I could have missed it, so I am perfectly willing to concede that it is true. It would be nice to see your statement backed up with a link.

 

[czerdrill]

I am not disagreeing with you, nor do I dispute your statements, but could you please send us some links showing Anandtech benchmarks where the A5 (a single core chip) "destroyed" Tegra3 (a quad-core chip). I just went to Anandtech, and while I admittedly only did a perfunctory search, I could not find any evidence of a benchmark where the A5 "destroyed" or was even compared to the Tegra 3. I could have missed it, so I am perfectly willing to concede that it is true. It would be nice to see your statement backed up with a link.

No problem, I apologize for not showing the link: AnandTech - ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime & NVIDIA Tegra 3 Review

 

[SquireSCA]

This.

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

About 10 years ago, so finding a link today might not be as easy as it sounds, but the UK made them pull the ads. It was at that time that Dell took one of their PC's and ran the benchmarks with equivalent code and pounded Apple into the ground.

Apple has a habit of making claims that don't always live up to the hype. Be it them inventing the slide to lock that another company already had, or them claiming to "be faster" when the test was obscure and skewed with optimized code on one side and non-optimized code on the other, to claiming that the iPhone3 was faster at browsing the web and again having the UK make them pull their ads... Like I said, Apple and Apple fans like to say a lot of things, and they are not always accurate.

It isn't like my stating the obvious is ground-breaking or anything...

 

[dgstorm]

No problem, I apologize for not showing the link: AnandTech - ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime & NVIDIA Tegra 3 Review

Awesome! Thanks for the head-up. Those are some pretty impressive numbers, and completely back up your statements. While I now have no doubt that the A5X will certainly be faster than the Tegra 3, (based upon results), I still find it suspect that it would be 4x faster. We will have to wait and see once the New iPad is in the hands of reviewers. Regardless, it is an impressive chipset.

On a separate note, not all Android fans hate Apple, and not all people that do not like Apple automatically assume the worst about the company. It's probably wise not to over-generalize when making those kind of comparisons, because when you do, you commit the same error of prejudice that the overzealous Android fans you are decrying also make. Anytime, we lump an entire section of people into a category by over-generalizing we commit an act of prejudice. Just food for thought...

 

[combatmedic870]

No problem, I apologize for not showing the link: AnandTech - ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime & NVIDIA Tegra 3 Review

yikes... well hopefully the adreno 305 will do better.

The thing about ois is, they need a super fast gpu to run the OS. OIS uses the gpu to run it vs the cpu.

 

[VirtualCLD]

They have? When?

This.

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

There was no link in your post, but I believe you are referring to: Apple accused of cheating over G5 benchmarks ? The Register. While it's possible they may have gamed the system to their advantage, czerdrill anandtech link shows that the A5 performs better than the Tegra3 and so should the A5X. However, it's always in how one develops the software that can make a world of difference in addition to the hardware.