Nvidia provided with more details about the 64-bit version of its Tegra K1 chip, commonly known as Denver, roughly eight months after the 32-bit model was unveiled at CES.
The company, better known for its graphics cards, revealed that it will use its "own custom-designed 64-bit, dual core" CPU with its 192-core Kepler architecture-based GPU to deliver a fully ARMv8 architecture that's also pin compatible with the K1.
This means, Nvidia says, that the 64-bit version of the Tegra K1 "is the first 64-bit ARM processor for Android" although both Mediatek, Qualcomm and AMD might thoroughly dispute that claim.
Denver can handle up to seven concurrent micro-ops per clock and includes a 128KB 4-way L1 instruction cache, a 64KB 4-way L1 data cache, and a 2MB 16-way L2 cache shared between the two cores.
Expect Denver to be clocked at up to 2.5GHz and to run on Android L when it launches later this year. It is interesting to see that Nvidia implemented a two-core solution rather than four or eight, a sign perhaps that Nvidia doesn't want a core-count race in the 64-bit arena.
Nvidia also claims that Denver will "will rival some mainstream PC-class CPUs at significantly reduced power consumption" which is a bold but interesting claim given that the Tegra K1 made its way into a Chromebook, Acer's Chromebook 13, which is essentially a laptop.
