NVIDIA Shield Releases July(ish?)... For $299

[Aikouka]

NVIDIA announced that the Shield will be up for pre-order on 5/20 with a release in late June. The tidbit I think most people will be interested in is... the price. It's $349. Probably not that palatable if you aren't interested in the streaming or can't do it because you don't have a compatible NVIDIA graphics card (GTX 650 or above).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6950/nvidia-shield-up-for-preorder-may-20-for-349-ships-in-june

I'm interested given that I don't have an Android device and I have a compatible NVIDIA graphics card. I'm still not sure if it's worth the price tag though.

 

[Ravynmagi]

It's cheaper than I expected. I was fearing $400 or even $500. Though at $350 it's still definitely not cheap.

I just pre-ordered mine earlier today from Nvidia (hope they don't have any shipping fiascos like Google does).

I'm very excited about this, mainly for the PC game streaming (which will apparently still be in beta when it ships). I have a GTX 680, so my PC is ready.

 

[Aikouka]

I just pre-ordered mine earlier today from Nvidia (hope they don't have any shipping fiascos like Google does).

I think I might pre-order it from Gamestop B&M. Then I can go get it before I go to work, and show it off to all my nerdy coworkers who will proceed to wonder why I even got it. :biggrin:

 

[darkewaffle]

It's not something I'm really interested in, but I feel like $350 is a really good price for such a niche product, I expected far higher. I could almost see myself picking one up to keep tabs on the auction house or do menial 'safe' tasks in games while I'm not at my PC.

 

[lothar]

Okay price, but I don't give a crap about Shield.
Where are my Tegra 4 phones and tablets?

 

[VulgarDisplay]

If the comments on the various release articles are anything to go by, as well as my own perception of this product in the mobile market, the Shield is going to flop spectacularly. Probably worse than the Wii U.

 

[sontin]

Shield can not flopping. nVidia is not depending on the success of Shield. It's a halo product to get their own SoC much faster to the market and provide more support for the android gaming world.

R&D was only $10 millions.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Probably worse than the Wii U.

Unlike the Wii U, it looks like Tegra 4 is actually as powerful as your average 360/PS3.

 

[sontin]

Not really, but it's on par with the Wii.

 

[bigrash]

Looks nice. I'm not spending that much though. Maybe if the price drops to $250

 

[lopri]

I have no use for this but even for those who are interested I would advise a caution. Chance of being a guinea pig and not getting the money's worth is moderate/high to my eyes.


Posted from Anandtech.com App for Android

 

[Red Storm]

I'm going to pass on being a guinea pig this time around but I cannot wait for the whole local streaming thing to take off. It will be so nice to only have to have one beefy rig rather than several in our house. Local streaming should have much lower latency issues than OnLive does. Can't wait to game on my super thin Ultrabook!

 

[Wildman107]

I'm much more excited about Nexus 7 2.0 for my mobile gaming needs.

With all the enhancements coming to the gaming community through Android 4.3 (achievements, in-game chat, matchmaking, cloud save syncing, and leaderboards), and the incredible price points that the Nexus lines are offered, it's hard to argue in favor of SHIELD.

And if Nexus 7 2.0 comes with an HDMI out, you can forget about SHIELD. Not when I can easily sync my bluetooth controller and play NOVA 3 or Modern Combat 4 on any big screen I find myself in front of.

However I will say to each their own. At $200 I would have bought a SHIELD myself, but I can justify the purchase at $350. Not with Nexus 7 2.0 around the corner.

 

[Red Storm]

I'm much more excited about Nexus 7 2.0 for my mobile gaming needs.

With all the enhancements coming to the gaming community through Android 4.3 (achievements, in-game chat, matchmaking, cloud save syncing, and leaderboards), and the incredible price points that the Nexus lines are offered, it's hard to argue in favor of SHIELD.

And if Nexus 7 2.0 comes with an HDMI out, you can forget about SHIELD. Not when I can easily sync my bluetooth controller and play NOVA 3 or Modern Combat 4 on any big screen I find myself in front of.

However I will say to each their own. At $200 I would have bought a SHIELD myself, but I can justify the purchase at $350. Not with Nexus 7 2.0 around the corner.

I don't really see how they compete though. In my view the biggest feature of Shield is the PC game streaming. If all you care about is Android then yeah it does not make sense to buy this.

 

[zerocool84]

I don't really see how they compete though. In my view the biggest feature of Shield is the PC game streaming. If all you care about is Android then yeah it does not make sense to buy this.

The PC gaming is really limited, same wifi network and it has to be a MIMO router. Plus only certain games support it and have to own an Nvidia card as well. Too many limitations.

 

[Imouto]

Glad to see Nvidia having somewhere to dump their unsold Tegra 4 chips. At least we will have some benches to look at after that load of void claims.

 

[dagamer34]

Glad to see Nvidia having somewhere to dump their unsold Tegra 4 chips. At least we will have some benches to look at after that load of void claims.

Unsold? They weren't ready until the end of this quarter. Also, I'm pretty sure they're competing more with the Snapdragon 800 than the 600.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Never was interested in the Shield and the price doesn't change that.

Haven't we learned from the past that price dominates the success rate of portable gaming devices?

 

[Imouto]

No design wins = Unsold chip

Anyway looks like that those claims were void indeed.

http://gfxbench.com/compare.jsp?D1=NVidia+Shield&D2=Samsung+GT-I9505+Galaxy+S4&cols=2

Nvidia Shield barely faster than an Adreno 320 in a phone. The Adreno 330 packed on the Snapdragon 800 will beat it badly.

 

[poofyhairguy]

No design wins = Unsold chip

Anyway looks like that those claims were void indeed.

http://gfxbench.com/compare.jsp?D1=NVidia+Shield&D2=Samsung+GT-I9505+Galaxy+S4&cols=2

Nvidia Shield barely faster than an Adreno 320 in a phone. The Adreno 330 packed on the Snapdragon 800 will beat it badly.

Wow, that makes me want to hug my S4.

 

[ViRGE]

As a Vita owner I like the hardware for Shield. However the software situation looks even more dire than the Vita's; the Android market isn't known for having very many deep, AAA games, which is what I'd be using this console for.

 

[ams23]

http://gfxbench.com/compare.jsp?D1=NVidia+Shield&D2=Samsung+GT-I9505+Galaxy+S4&cols=2

Nvidia Shield barely faster than an Adreno 320 in a phone. The Adreno 330 packed on the Snapdragon 800 will beat it badly.

The GFXBench 2.7 Offscreen results are largely academic because no current or near future ultra mobile SoC is able to provide anything close to smooth and playable framerates at 1080p resolution. That said, do note that at native [Onscreen] resolution, Tegra 4 in Shield is 1.69x faster (!) than Adreno 320 in SGS4. Shield is also quite a bit faster in GFXBench 2.5, both Offscreen and Onscreen. Shield should have an even bigger advantage with graphically intensive games played at relatively long and continuous durations. Smartphone SoC's tend to heat up and throttle frequencies to fit the power envelope required in their chassis, but Shield doesn't have the same limitations in it's chassis. And let's not forget that Shield should provide 3-4x longer battery life (and hence 3-4x longer gameplay on one charge) than most smartphones due to the much higher battery capacity in Shield relative to a smartphone, all without draining the battery on one's primary communication device.

 

[ams23]

As a Vita owner I like the hardware for Shield. However the software situation looks even more dire than the Vita's; the Android market isn't known for having very many deep, AAA games, which is what I'd be using this console for.

Shield is not a gaming console. It is a pure Android device that is geared towards gaming, and can do essentially the same things that any other pure Android WiFi device can do. In general, the Android ecosystem and Android marketplace have grown and evolved tremendously over time, and Shield is just one platform to help in the growth of Android gaming (with the side benefit of having PC game streaming available with certain GTX-equipped systems).

 

[ChronoReverse]

Tegra 4 in Shield is 1.69x faster (!) than Adreno 320 in SGS4. Shield is also quite a bit faster in GFXBench 2.5, both Offscreen and Onscreen. Shield should have an even bigger advantage with graphically intensive games

Kinda ridiculous to say these things because the speed bonuses at lower resolutions apply to Adreno (and any other GPU) as well.

The second statement also doesn't make much sense considering 2.5 is a less intensive game showing Adreno caught up when the game is more intensive (that is, having a speed advantage when you're near 60FPS isn't as important as a scenario where you need every bit you can get to hit 30FPS).


Besides, the point isn't that Tegra4 isn't faster, just that for something that came out half a year later, it sure isn't much of an upgrade. There's no way you can spin that away.

Finally, stop conflating SHIELD with the comments about Tegra4. "It won't overheat because it's in SHIELD" is not a pro of the the Tegra4.

 

[ams23]

Kinda ridiculous to say these things because the speed bonuses at lower resolutions apply to Adreno (and any other GPU) as well.

Any Android game that targets native resolution (such as Riptide GP2) will run quite a bit faster on Shield than on a 1080p smartphone, even without taking thermal throttling into account.

The second statement also doesn't make much sense considering 2.5 is a less intensive game showing Adreno caught up when the game is more intensive (that is, having a speed advantage when you're near 60FPS isn't as important as a scenario where you need every bit you can get to hit 30FPS).

Current and near future "high end" SoC's are struggling to achieve 15-20fps average fps on GFXBench 2.7 (including T4, S800, and A6X), which is nowhere near playable and nowhere close to 30fps. That said, GFXBench is just one benchmark and is still not the same thing as a real game engine such as UE3 where NVIDIA may have some advantages with their software and hardware support.

Besides, the point isn't that Tegra4 isn't faster, just that for something that came out half a year later, it sure isn't much of an upgrade. There's no way you can spin that away.

The SGS4 and HTC One just recently came out. Yes, Tegra 4 will come to market at least six months later than ipad 4 (note that T4 was delayed by about three months), but the GPU performance is a bit better, the CPU performance is much better, and the price point is lower too. The mobile space moves so fast that there is always something better right around the corner. Case in point is Tegra 5, which will be sampling this year and will be in production early next year.