Mobile Graphics > 360/PS3 in 2014

[Alladaskill17]

NVIDIA: Mobile Graphics Will Beat Consoles in 2014

Big words from one of the leading mobile chip providers, but NVIDIA estimates that the graphical power of smartphones and tablets will meet and surpass consoles in the next two years.

The Tegra manufacturer provided AnandTech with a slide comparing the graphical trends and performance of the different gaming platforms since the turn of the century, ultimately pointing out that a mobile system on a chip (SoC) would be at the same level of home consoles in 2013, and surpassing them the year after.

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[hooko22]

NVIDIA: Mobile Graphics Will Beat Consoles in 2014

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Wow so phones are going to be console sized in 2014. Damn I though samsung note was big! ;)

[Blackhearted]

As if it's really hard to exceed the power of what will be 9 year old hardware by then..

[hooko22]

As if it's really hard to exceed the power of what will be 9 year old hardware by then..

Doesn't he mean the consoles of the future then? Although I aint no expert I just find it hard to see how it could surpass them. Almost like saying laptops will surpass desktops.

[Mockingbird]

Doesn't he mean the consoles of the future then? Although I aint no expert I just find it hard to see how it could surpass them. Almost like saying laptops will surpass desktops.

Nope. Flat line shows the current console.

[Tamatea]

So Computer disapeared in 2010 ?

[Shane Ekanayake]

they better discover a way to power those energy hungry chips

[Phouchg]

Better bring some more battery life instead of Angry Turds HD, mkay?

[hooko22]

Nope. Flat line shows the current console.

Ah ok. Then I must agree with blackhearted. Although it's quite fascinating thinking about having the same graphic performance in such a small device. That probably wont be as fascinating as it happens though. ;)

[Miuku.]

Hold on, I'm building my portal fission reactor to power the next cell phone.

[hooko22]

Oh and won't we have new consoles by then. Would think so.

[Ci7]

and in 2014 we would have new consoles which are at least X4 times more powerful

tough luck junkies!

[Jose_49]

I don't care if it has better graphics or not. It's as the previous neowin editorial. You get a visually appealing game, and since it has very clumsy controls, it isn't enjoyable at all.

[Salutary7]

Some arbitrary synthetic performance metric doesn't mean a whole lot.

[Alladaskill17]

So Computer disapeared in 2010 ?

Well considering this discussion is only for console vs mobile... and that PC is clearly the most powerful and up to date platform...gg troll.

[compl3x]

I don't care if it has better graphics or not. It's as the previous neowin editorial. You get a visually appealing game, and since it has very clumsy controls, it isn't enjoyable at all.

Bingo. Inputs on touch screens aren't conducive to good gameplay. It's fine for simple games, anything else is, as you said, clumsy.

If you need an example just look at the Max Payne port for iOS. Virtual, on screen controls are terrible.

[satukoro]

This graph makes the assumption that new consoles won't be released with improved graphics processing prior to 2014. Point made though, mobile devices are becoming qutie powerful as far as graphics go.

[Emn1ty]

This graph makes the assumption that new consoles won't be released with improved graphics processing prior to 2014. Point made though, mobile devices are becoming qutie powerful as far as graphics go.

Actually, they have an averaged charting of where PC's and Consoles would be with the dotted lines. And if you look, the consoles are still ahead with that curve assuming another console with a similar technology leap is released.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Only so much you can do with better graphics if the input system can't improve.

Maybe I'm one in a thousand, but I'm more interested in PS Vita like platforms reaching console graphics, yet maintaining decent battery life. As the Vita seems to produce some decent graphics, what I'd like to see next is battery tech getting better, not so much mobile phones catching up to dedicated handhelds/'consoles' in the graphics department.

Smartphone batteries are bad enough at times as it is, I don't want to be playing cutting edge graphical experiences on my phone on the train in the morning for the battery to die by lunch.

Simple mobile games do it for me (especially puzzle), for anything else, I'd as I mentioned at the start of this post always prefer dedicated.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

Nothing magical here at all. The console will improve in its next iteration and PCs have been improving constantly so the mobile platform will lag behind the current technology level of its day. It will improve iteratively though and have increasingly better performance over time.

The growth in console graphics performance isn't all that amazing really. The only thing this graph really proves is that there was no real demand for mobile gaming quality graphics until recently. It will be interesting to see what the sustained growth in graphics power for mobile platforms are over a longer period, such as the scale used to compare it here to consoles and PCs.

[rajputwarrior]

you guys are missing the point... they are going to have hardware faster then a ps3 in a tiny tiny little box. that's pretty crazy....

[Emn1ty]

you guys are missing the point... they are going to have hardware faster then a ps3 in a tiny tiny little box. that's pretty crazy....

The issue I have is: why? I don't get what a mobile platform could possibly use that power for besides improving the visuals of the games which really isn't their primary function anyways. I know people pretty much pay for the latest and greatest anyways but they could simply optimize the current platform rather than upgrade the hardware (such as improving battery life). I'd rather have a phone that needs a charge once a week than one that can run Mass Effect 3 but dies at the end of the day.

[rajputwarrior]

The issue I have is: why? I don't get what a mobile platform could possibly use that power for besides improving the visuals of the games which really isn't their primary function anyways. I know people pretty much pay for the latest and greatest anyways but they could simply optimize the current platform rather than upgrade the hardware (such as improving battery life). I'd rather have a phone that needs a charge once a week than one that can run Mass Effect 3 but dies at the end of the day.

oh i agree with you and everyone else about the battery issue. but to me, mobile cpus/gpus/apus/*whatever*us have come a long way pretty quickly.

[Anthony Tosie Veteran]

The issue I have is: why? I don't get what a mobile platform could possibly use that power for besides improving the visuals of the games which really isn't their primary function anyways. I know people pretty much pay for the latest and greatest anyways but they could simply optimize the current platform rather than upgrade the hardware (such as improving battery life). I'd rather have a phone that needs a charge once a week than one that can run Mass Effect 3 but dies at the end of the day.

Mobile gaming isn't the primary function of tablets, but PC gaming isn't the primary function of PCs either. Battery life has been steadily improving along with graphical power, so it's not like they're ignoring that issue.

[Emn1ty]

oh i agree with you and everyone else about the battery issue. but to me, mobile cpus/gpus/apus/*whatever*us have come a long way pretty quickly.

I agree. I just hate that they've jumped into the gaming hardware bandwagon rather than pushing a more obvious form of optimization. My old phones would last days before needing a charge. New phones last around 10-16 hours. That's a huge step backward in terms of their actual purpose. There is so much technology available these days, phones with similar power to what they had 4 years ago could be streamlined to generate less heat and use less power.

Mobile gaming isn't the primary function of tablets, but PC gaming isn't the primary function of PCs either. Battery life has been steadily improving along with graphical power, so it's not like they're ignoring that issue.

PC's can be built with that as a primary function. Phones and other mobile platforms cannot (at least not yet). A computer does what you make it to do. A phone/tablet is what it is and the fact that the manufacturers are blurring their purpose means that they are going to become riddled with features and stuff they don't need, driving up their price and preventing the consumer from seeing productive improvements and price drops as quickly as we should.

I'm not saying that they haven't improved anything, they certainly have. But today's smart phones could be a lot simpler and have a much, much longer battery life than they currently do if the focus was to minimize power consumption in the hardware/software rather than to beef up the power.