David Tucker
04-14-2009, 08:27 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.liveside.net/main/archive/2009/04/12/what-in-the-world-is-tegra.aspx' target='_blank'>http://www.liveside.net/main/archiv...d-is-tegra.aspx</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Tegra is Nvidia's 1st foray into the mobile computing realm. Nvidia is the company that makes the awesome video cards for your desktops and laptops. Most higher end machines use some type of powerful GPU made by ether Nvidia or ATI. For instance, my Gateway FX laptop uses a GeForce 8800 GTS & my desktop uses a 9800 GTX. Why are GPU’s good for computing? Once again take a look at the laptop. In most laptops the CPU does the heavy lifting for the GPU also, this is called "integrated graphics". In the Gateway FX, a GPU handles the task of blasting pixels to the screen, allowing the CPU focus on more important stuff, like processing and cruching non visual data. A setup like this is called "discreet graphics"."</em></p><p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/_p69T3cWHBs&hl=en&fs=1" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_p69T3cWHBs&hl=en&fs=1" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></p><p>You have to watch the videos to truly appreciate what this card can do but a device powered by this card would be very impressive. Obviously if I'm writing about it here then it must mean something for the Zune, right? I can't really be sure about that but according to the <a href="http://www.liveside.net/main/archive/2009/04/12/what-in-the-world-is-tegra.aspx" target="_blank">LiveSide blog</a>, the Tegra is slated to launch in "mid 2009" and Microsoft is a featured partner. There's only one mobile device that Microsoft makes that I can think of. With all of the rumors of the Zune HD we've been hearing about now, could this be powering it?</p><p>I really hope so because that would solve one of my biggest complaints with the Zune. I hate that it only has 16 bit color depth. On such a small screen the resolution isn't as important to me as the color depth since color dithering just really stands out to me in videos. With a powerhouse like this as the GPU then hopefully 32 bit color will soon be a reality!</p>