Nvidia claims new Tegra K1 mobile chip outperforms Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

Nvidia has unveiled its next-generation mobile processor, the Tegra K1, at a CES 2014 press conference, with the chipmaker boasting performance that can outperform the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The K1 is based on Nvidia's Kepler architecture, the same architecture used in its latest series of desktop GeForce graphics cards. The K1 features 192 CUDA cores and supports DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.4. It will be available in either a quad-core 32-bit A15 ARM CPU or a proprietary Nvidia 64-bit CPU based on its upcoming Denver CPU architecture.

The company added that the 32-bit version is due to be released in the first half of 2014, with the 64-bit one arriving in the second half of the year. Pricing was not mentioned for either model.

In demonstrating the new technology, Nvidia showed videos of the chip's ability to perform whizzy technical effects such as HDR lighting, particles, rim lighting, and the ability to run Unreal Engine 4. "We can take applications that run on PC or console and run it on Tegra," said Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney in a statement.

"From here onward, I think we're going to see the performance and feature gap between mobile and PC high-end gaming continue to narrow to the point where the difference between the platforms really blurs."

Sweeney, who is admittedly speaking as part of the Nvidia publicity machine, added that he didn't think mobile technology would reach this point for another 3 or 4 years.

No specific devices making use of the Tegra K1 have yet been announced, but Nvidia said it expects to see the chip incorporated into tablets, smartphones, and Android consoles.