KitGuru KitGuru.net – Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards
Nvidia has expanded its Shield lineup with a new Android TV console featuring the new Tegra X1 processor. The new set-top box was revealed at the Game Developers Conference over night and like the rest of the Shield lineup, its primary purpose is to stream games.
You will be able to use Nvidia Game Stream to run games borrowing the power of your main PC over a local network. Alternatively, you can use the GRID cloud gaming service, which we took a look at in detail, HERE.
The Shield TV console uses the new Tegra X1 processor, which promises superior performance to the Tegra K1 found on the Shield tablet thanks to a 256-core Maxwell on-board GPU and 3GB of VRAM. You will be able to hook up a surround sound system, there is now support for 802.11ac wireless and there is 16GB of internal storage should you want to download any Android titles.
There are also ports for Ethernet should you prefer a wired connection and even HDMI 2.0, allowing for 4K 60Hz as long as your TV supports it, that said, 4K game streaming is not supported.
The Shield starts at $199 with the controller included and will launch for the US in May. The UK shall be getting it during the second half of the year.
While GRID is free right now, it will soon turn in to a subscription service and bring new triple A titles to the mix, notable additions coming include Batman: Arkham Knight and even The Witcher 3, which really is excellent value- particularly when you consider the existing library as well. You can check out our previous testing to see how the GRID performs in certain titles.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: Nvidia's Shield TV console will take on offerings from the likes of Razer and NZXT. Nvidia's in-home streaming solution has often performed very well and may be a selling point for this device to many. What do you guys think of Nvidia's new console? Have any of you tried out cloud gaming with GRID yet?
I tried to use grid but was informed by my tablet that my router was cr*p, even just locally streaming is hit and miss 🙁
For it’s price, it’s really quite powerful, it can even run crysis 3 at 30 fps. With lots of built in power, good game streaming services, and a low price tag, this may actually have a chance to tackle consoles
I think it’s too early. They should have waited for Pascal. ARM Mali and PowerVR want to release GPU’s with 512 Shader Cores in 2016 with 16nm finfet+. Nvidia could do the same and release their Pascal GPU with unified virtual memory. They could use 3d memory or lpddr4 2400 with quadchannel, the new cortex a72. Amdroid M, Vulkan API would also be ready. This would have given Nvidia up to 1280 Gflops (1,28 tflop) with their product. There would have been a lot of good ps3/xbox360 ports, even some which are remade for the xbox one and ps4. It would have been a standalone console nearly as powerful as the Xbox One.
And after two years an Update in 2018 with nextgen CPU’s and Nvidia Volta GPU’s in 10nm finfet with 768-1024 Shader Cores with 2,5-3 tflops. with ports from PS4 and Xbox One and even games especially made for the Shield X (the Shield 2) and the rest to be playable over Grid.