Windows RT Still Not Taking Advantage Of Nvidia Tegra 3's Full Potential

Reading time icon 2 min. read


Readers help support MSPoweruser. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Tooltip Icon

Read the affiliate disclosure page to find out how can you help MSPoweruser effortlessly and without spending any money. Read more

Windows RT, the new version of Windows that runs on ARM processors has started shipping to consumers via new tablets such as Microsoft Surface, Asus VivoTab RT, etc,. So far, Nvidia Tegra is the only ARM processor that Windows RT ships on. Some reviews of the devices like Microsoft Surface pointed out to the performance hiccups in Windows RT. This may be because of Windows RT is not yet fully optimized for Nvidia Tegra 3 processor.

Microsoft is still working on fully taking advantage of Tegra 3 processor in Windows RT. It is evident from the Nvdia’s own page that Windows RT is not taking advantage of Tegra 3’s key innovation 4-PLUS-1™ Quad-Core with a 5th Battery Saver Core.

4-PLUS-1™ Quad-Core with a 5th Battery Saver Core** – Four plus one refers to Tegra 3’s four CPU cores, plus the fifth, battery-saver CPU core. This Variable SMP architecture enables four performance cores to be used for max burst, when needed, with each core independently and automatically enabled and disabled based on workload. The single battery-saver core (or companion core) handles low-power tasks like active standby, music, and video, and is transparent to the OS and applications.

Also the Tegra3 CPUs are clocked lower on Windows RT than Android. Last week, Microsoft released firmware and OS update that improved Surface performance and I hope they will release many such updates until they fully optimize the OS for the Tegra 3 processor.

via: Mobiletechworld

More about the topics: microsoft, nvidia, Surface, windows rt