New NVIDIA SHIELD Portable Coming Soon (Tegra X1 Inside)

It was recently found that NVIDIA has had a new "SHIELD Portable" go through both WiFi and Bluetooth certification.

From what we know, the new device will have Bluetooth 4.1 and WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac dual-band 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz (this will be helpful when using the GRID streaming service). The current Shield Portable only has Bluetooth 4.0 LE and WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual-band 2.4 GHz / 5 GHz.

The SoC is currently unknown, but I could guess it will come with a lower clocked version of NVIDIA's 2015 SoC, Tegra X1, which is also being used in the SHIELD Console.

EDIT:

To clear up any confusion, I am NOT talking about the SHIELD Tablet. For reference, this is the 1st generation SHIELD Portable:

EDIT 2:

Based on a search result on Zauba, a device by the name of "Loki", that has the same model number "P2523", is using a T210 (Tegra X1).

Is it going to be an overpriced mobile piece of poo too?

dude my internet goes daily at night during my gaming periods

sometimes i get spikes, i get disconnected

i can't deal with that shit during a game session

with netflix okay my movie stops for 10 mins im right back into

with ag ame im fucked i have to like what it didn't save it or something na nvidia this is not the time to stream games its just not the time

nobody wants this and just your not wanted here nvidia we don't want you doing this go back to making graphics cards or whatever you do the gamers dont want this

like i said before netflix my movie goes out for a minute i pickup where i left off

if a game freezes or lags out i can't get back in im screwed im outa luck no i dont want to game like that i never will aan ill never game on touch screen mobile phone either

i cant click touchpad 5000 times during a core gamer

i need a controller i just can't do it im sorry nvidia and apple just no

Id like something handheld that allows me to access my steam catalog. Now that I see how sexy it is with my vita to share games between platforms I want handheld for all platforms.... Damn it.

@Blabadon

No word on the price, but I would expect it to be between $200 and $300 (assuming it has Tegra X1).

If it does use Tegra X1 (even at a lower clock) it will support numerous native to Android titles such as the following (even Borderlands 2 is on that list):

It will also offer support for NVIDIA's GRID service (internet connection and service fee required), which will give you access to these titles (and more) running at their highest settings off of a GRID server powered by GTX 980's:

As usual, you can also stream all of your Steam titles to the device on a local WiFi via a PC using an NVIDIA GeForce GPU.

@ProtossX

Are you okay?

Do you have any clue, what so ever, what you're talking about? Do you even know what the device in question is? Based on everything in your post, the answer to those questions is NO.

They never really did anything with the Shield portable. I remember using a demo model at Eurogamer, I asked the Nvidia rep there when they were coming out over here but he didn't know. I don't think they even released it here.

That was definitely one of the major problems with the original SHIELD portable, distribution. Of course, the lack of games and GRID had also been a setback.

Fortunately for NVIDIA, they seem to be addressing the lack of native games, and the addition of GRID is also a plus. We'll have to see how they handle marketing and distribution this time around.

Does this mean they sold well the first time or they failed and they are trying again?

The old one was apparently great, so I do want to see what they do with the new one as well. Maybe they can fix up then ergonomics a little.

It was a very niche device targeted at a highly small section of the market- within those parameters, it sold well enough.

But will it have 4GBs of GDDR5 ?

I am actually really interested in this.. Though I am not sure if I would rather have this or the tablet version which I think would be more easy to use for multi-function stuff.. IN fact i was eyeing on getting the gaming tablet because of the amazing deal they have for it right now.. $400 for the 32gb LTE version with the controller, cover and 3 games for free...

I'm more curious as to why nVidia hasn't pursued a cellular version of the Shield.

this will fail. western audiences want to play AAA games on a big screen.

u havent posted here in awhile so ill fill u in....ignore him as much as possible

If it uses Tegra X1, anything from 2 to 4 GBs of LPDDR4 ram could be possible.

I'm not sure what the SoC will be in the upcoming SHIELD Portable, but if it's Tegra X1, the performance gap will be considerable (~2x) over the Tegra K1 powered SHIELD Tablet. Of course the additional functionality of the tablet form factor is a nice plus.

NVIDIA's push towards the automotive market has caused them to focus on higher performance while using a greater amount of power. To attain the levels of performance put out by Tegra K1 (28 nm Kepler) or Tegra X1 (20 nm Maxwell), a tablet form factor is about as small as you can go. The last NVIDIA SoC to make it into a production phone was Tegra 4 in the Tegra version of the Xiaomi Mi3. Compared to main rivals such as Qualcomm, NVIDIA's SoC's came at a higher price and lacked an integrated modem.

It is worth mentioning that there is a Tegra K1 module being worked on for Google's modular smartphone, Project Ara (link). So there still might be a chance you'll see a small niche for NVIDIA in the smartphone SoC market.

That would really depend on what NVIDIA considers to be a success.

Figured as much.

It is also worth noting that the device in question is running Android 5.0 Lollipop (the original SHIELD Portable is still on Android 4.4 Kit-Kat).

@NVIDIATI said:

It is also worth noting that the device in question is running Android 5.0 Lollipop (the original SHIELD Portable is still on Android 4.4 Kit-Kat).

Any idea on the release date of the device?

why you care so much about this shit that has no future and it's gonna die right out of the gate?

.. If that was the case Nvidia wouldn't be investing in a THIRD iteration of the said product as well as releasing a home console version of it.. Especially with the internet stream update of the said products.. In which you can find youtube video's demonstrating people using the computer streaming technology over a 4g lte network over 100 miles away from the said computer with no noticeable lag!

nividia just but hurt about 3.5g of RAM and consoles being made with AMD

I tend to think the fate of this device will indeed be DOA.

......... Why would they release a third iteration to a supposedly failed product?

I thought these things were for android titles, emu, and streaming. If that's the case how will it fail?

Are you asking rhetorically, or are you preparing information to make a case for the past success of this particular product line? To my knowledge it hasn't had any noticeable affect on anything.

@sSubZerOo: spend money to make money.

Anyway, the $200 console is a slap in the face to all PC gamers who spent $1500-$2000 on their rig.

Nividia's prices are just random:

• $600 for a shitty portable that plays PC games on a small ass screen
• $800-$1000 for a useless titan
• $500 for GTX 980
• $200 for a "high end cloud gaming console" that can play all games at 1080p 60 fps, 4k, and Witcher 3/ Crysis 3 on Max PC settings.

Last bullet like really and they charge so much for their other crap.

.. That completely depends on expectations and what not.. To my knowledge the shield was always marketed as a NICHE product to begin with..

Do you have one?

@musicalmac: nope, though I have been thinking about getting one..

Why didn't you get one of the previous two?

didn't own a nvidia card until recently which I bought a 970... That and they just released their grid streaming service only like 4 months ago to boot.. Before that it was really only marketed towards people with a high end nvidia card in their desktop. They also have come a long way in streaming technology in the past year from what I have seen. The shield at it's inception could only do a stream from your pc and it was only through the same wireless.. We are now seeing crazy videos of people streaming their games flawlessly over wireless and or 4g hundreds of miles away from their system... This has possibilities.

I was looking to get one actually. Hard to find as it is an older machine, now. Glad to hear there's a newer one on the way. What stopped me from getting the old one was lag in a certain area.

Hopefully it is not overly large.

...As an Android portable it will be trash. For other things it will be great.

UPDATE - New SHIELD Portable will be using Tegra X1.

It appears the device has crossed through Zauba under the name "Loki":

ENG, P2523 SKU0030 LOKI T210 LPDDR4 USA GAMING SYSTEM AND/OR PARTS THEREOF, 945-12523-E030-RC2

T210 is Tegra X1. You can also note the mention of the LPDDR4 RAM.

I had a Nvidia SHIELD Portable, it's a fantastic little streaming device. I only sold it due to the lack of wifi hotspot through my carrier and the older built-in hardware. I was about to buy the tablet but I'm glad I held off to see this coming out. I will also be getting a SHIELD Console for my entertainment center in my new house. At $200 it would be silly not to! Netflix Hulu AND streaming my PC. As for the argument that their pricing is messed up, I assure the reason why titles run so well on SHIELD console can be summed up in a few points:

A. Nvidia most certainly had the games completely overhauled for maximum performance on their hardware.

B. It is running Android, more basically Linux, so most of these games are already Linux optimized. And the Linux optimized games generally have different parameters and some things locked to lower settings that you can't even see.

C. I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia is using a different low-level API with the console allowing better performance.

D. Computer hardware is made on a profit margin, each card makes them money. I'm sure Nvidia makes a game console on a loss just like Sony and Microsoft did on their last generation. They'll take the hit and make up their money through game sales and GRID subscriptions as well as gain traction for later hardware releases. On top of that, Nvidia doesn't make much of their graphics cards their board partners do so ultimately they get paid differently on that rather than selling their in house products.

I could list a few other things but those are the main things. Also, arguing that Nvidia is upset about AMD getting consoles is silly, Nvidia makes way more on their services and selling their high end cards to workstation and scientific usage. Their gaming market is there as well and they can demand a premium due to the superior performance so putting some chips into consoles won't hurt them much. Besides, this console just proves that Nvidia would rather take on the console market rather than sell to them.

@ProtossX: Most of us actually has decent internet and I want this since I just got a new PC which is ready for game streaming

Thanks for sharing!

I really wish we'd get to handheld PCs already! (Intel + NV or AMD APU).

Where's mah SteamBoy!?

Also, I hope they do a throttling test soon (how long the device runs at high clocks).

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