An Nvidia handheld PC gaming chip is reportedly within the works proper now, which might give some critical competitors to the AMD chip used within the Steam Deck. In keeping with this newest rumor, Nvidia is working with Taiwanese semiconductor agency Mediatek on the brand new handheld gaming chip, which is more likely to be way more highly effective than the Nvidia chip within the Nintendo Change 2.
Solely the most effective handheld gaming PC gadgets on our information at the moment makes use of Nvidia silicon, and that’s the Razer Edge, which is basically a cloud gaming system. The issue for Nvidia right here is that, not like AMD, it doesn’t have an x86 license, and all the massive PC video games for Home windows are designed to run on the x86 instruction set. Until Nvidia plans to purchase up a agency with an x86 license, this alleged new chip’s CPU cores will probably be based mostly on the Arm structure.
This newest rumor comes from tech leaker XpeaGPU in a submit on X (previously Twitter). “Mediatek can also be engaged on [a] gaming dealt with [sic] SoC with [an] Nvidia GPU,” the submit says. The rationale, based on XpeaGPU, is that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang “is annoyed by Nintendo and he sees an excellent market potential.”
Though the Nvidia Nintendo Change 2 GPU is formally nonetheless underneath wraps, the silicon-on-chip (SoC) within the new handheld is broadly rumored to be based mostly on a personalized model of Nvidia’s T234 Tegra chip from 2021, which has eight Arm CPU cores and a GPU based mostly on Nvidia’s last-gen Ampere structure.
That will probably be tremendous for Nintendo’s wants, bringing ray tracing and DLSS Tremendous Decision to the Change platform for the primary time, however Nvidia clearly has the potential to make a way more highly effective SoC for handheld PC gaming gadgets with its newest GPU and CPU tech, utilizing its newest Ada structure. In keeping with a current report by Financial Day by day in China, Nvidia can also be already working with Mediatek on an AI CPU for PCs, which it says will probably be produced by TSMC on its 3nm course of and will even be launched within the first half of 2025.
Arm could be an excellent match for a handheld system by way of warmth and energy effectivity, and is arguably a extra acceptable CPU structure to be used on a transportable video games console. The barrier for Nvidia will probably be getting sufficient of the PC’s big x86 video games again catalog ported over to Arm machine code. That received’t be simple, however it’s not not possible for an organization with Nvidia’s wealth and technical sources.
This isn’t the primary time we’ve heard whispers about an Nvidia Steam Deck rival, and it’s an apparent space the place Nvidia may have a bonus over AMD and Intel if it will possibly construct the momentum behind an Arm-based PC gaming platform.
The truth is, there’s no motive why a future Steam Deck couldn’t be based mostly on Nvidia silicon. Within the meantime, if you happen to can’t wait to pay money for a PC gaming handheld, take a look at our Steam Deck OLED assessment, as that is the present king of the crop.
