Nvidia had promised to launch the Kal-el platform by end of this year and well, here it is, toting the official Tegra 3 moniker. Tegra 3 features a quad-core CPU and 12-core GeForce GPU that touts to bring PC-like performance in mobile devices and also improve battery life.

In perspective, Tegra 3 provides 3x the graphical performance of Tegra 2 and up to 61 percent lower power consumption. Another unique feature of Tegra 3 is the fifth companion CPU that is designed to carry out less-performance intensive tasks like playing music, reading documents etc. The fifth CPU effectively enhances the battery life further.

Additionally, Tegra 3 supports 3D via HDMI 1.4, improved HTML5 and WebGL support, optimized Javascript engine and more.

The first device to be powered by Tegra 3 will be Asus’ Transformer Prime.

Looks like Nvidia is making Tegra 3 ready for primetime. An official looking Tegra 3 promo has made it out on the web. Tegra 3 code-named Kal-El is Nvidia’s next-generation mobile SoC that boasts a powerful quad-core processor.

The video basically highlights Kal-El’s abilities like better multi-tasking, improved graphics, improved handling of Adobe Flash and full HD video playback.

[Via Ndevil]

Nvidia has announced its renowned GeForce LAN Gaming Tournament for Indian gamers. Professional and part-time gamers can enroll in the tournament for free to battle it out to be the “Ultimate Gamer.” Unlike the international GeForce LAN tournament that allows gamers to bring their own PC (BYOC), the India-specific GeForce LAN is equipped with PCs running Nvidia GeForce GTX GPUs.

GeForce LAN games include Counter Strike 1.6, Call of Duty 4, FIFA, NFS and interestingly, NFS and GTA for girls.

The tournament will be held in Mumbai with up to Rs. 10,00,000 (1 million) in prizes up for grabs.

Register Here

Nvidia has been touting Kal-el System-on-Chip to have four CPU cores however, an official whitepaper from Nvidia confirms that Kal-el has a fifth core that was not disclosed previously. The fifth core known as the Companion core works the same way as other processing cores but the only difference is that it is meant for low-processing tasks.

The Companion core will be used in instances of active standby where email, social network accounts etc. have to be synced in the background. In short, the device will use Kal-el’s powerful quad-core CPU for any resource-intensify task but will switch to the Companion core when low resource is needed due to its capped processing speed of up to 500MHz.

Nvidia says the fifth core is OS transparent, which means the operating system won’t be able to detect it but it will “automatically take advantage of it.”

You can read the official whitepaper with more information here [PDF].

[Via Nvidia Blog]

Nvidia has introduced a new tool for broadcasters and professionals to deliver better quality and improved on-air graphics with very low latency. The GPUDirect for Video announced at IBC last week takes allows industry-standard video I/O devices to communicate with the Quadro or Tesla GPUs at ultra-low latency.

The result is that the GPUDirect for Video makes the video reach to the GPU faster for processing, syncing the video I/O card with the GPU and reducing lag by up to 10 frames .

Nvidia says GPUDirect can be beneficial for those who want to import and export video as soon as possible like consumers in the broadcasting industry, medical imaging as well as defense industries.

Nvidia will make the tool available for free to I/O manufacturers, proprietary hardware providers, and video switcher manufacturers whereas Video I/O hardware devs can request the access to the SDK via an email.

Commercial solutions supporting GPUDirect for Video will be available by end of this year.

Nvidia has launched their Tegra Zone website to complement its Tegra Zone Android app. The website now makes it easier for consumers to learn about the platform, Tegra-optimized games and enable Tegra device owners to purchase content. The site in short, brings all the Tegra Zone app goodness on the computer, plus allowing to interact with other members in the forums and a chance to win Tegra devices via regular sweepstakes.

To celebrate the launch of the website, Nvidia is also giving away five Acer Iconia Tab A100 tablets for the first month.

Tegra Zone Website

Asus’ next-generation Transformer 2 will apparently be the first device to be powered Nvidia’s Kal El aka Tegra 3 platform. This piece of news comes via Fudzilla’s “multiple sources” who say Transformer’s successor will be the first one to sport the quad-core SoC before a barrage of devices come in 2012.

Kal El or simply Tegra 3 is packed with features and is expectedly, superior than Tegra 2. Kal El features a powerful quad-core CPU and 12-core Nvidia GPUs, which is 5X better than the Tegra 2.

Nvidia was supposed to release Kal El this month but has been delayed by couple of months.

Nvidia has announced new 3D glasses that promises to give the 3D goodness at an affordable price. The wired 3D Vision glasses are priced at just $99 and features the same active shutter technology, making it compatible with more than 65 different 3D Vision-enabled products and more than 525 3D games, movies etc.

The wired 3D Vision glasses come with a 10-foot long cable and since it connects to the USB 2.0 port of the 3D Vision-enabled product, there’s no need for a battery to power the glasses.

Consumers will be able to buy the glasses from late June from various retailers as well as Nvidia Store.

Nvidia today announced that its Tegra 2 System-on-chip has received the Best Choice Award from Taipei Computer Association who handles the Computex expo. The Tegra 2 chip was selected amongst 400 products from electronics product category and marks a third straight year for winning this award.

Nvidia had previously won the Best Choice award for its ION chipset in 2009 and GeForce GTX 480 GPU in 2010.

Tegra 2 is a dual-core processor that is used in many new smartphones and tablets like the LG Optimus 2X, Motorola Atrix 4G, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 etc.

Nvidia is also working on the next-gen Tegra chip codenamed as Kal-El, which will have a quad-core CPU.

Nvidia has expanded its GeForce range in the Indian market with the GTX 560 GPU, which is based on Nvidia’s Fermi architecture. The graphics card supports number of technologies like Nvidia PhysX, 3D Vision, SLI and Surround and sits well along its GTX 560 Ti sibling.

Priced from Rs.12,399, the GPU comes with a GB of GDDR5 memory and boasts full HD support, DirectX 11 with connectivity options of dual link DVI and mini HDMI port.

The card is now available from Nvidia’s leading partners like Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, Zotac etc.