You know that ViewSonic gTablet that’s on sale for $280 today? The one with the 10 inch display and 1 GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual core processor? How would you like it if that was a 1.4GHz chip instead of 1 GHz? Because it turns out that’s how fast one hacker managed to get the tablet to run by using a custom ROM, custom kernel, and overclocking software.
Actually, you can overclock the chip to 1.6 GHz, but it will only run at 1.4 GHz.
That’s still fast enough for the tablet to achieve some of the highest benchmark scores of any Android device available. That’s not bad for a $280 tablet.
Of course, overclocking an Android tablet will likely take a toll on battery life. But it’s nice to have the option.
via xda-developers
It sounds very tempting but overclocking that much will cost overheating and crash while playing a game. Even with a normal use, if the device gets more than 95F crashing would likely to happen.
p.s.
still waiting for someone to do a bechmarks comparing between Apple A5 and Tegra 2.
Tegra 2 is rated for up to 1.2GHz. So a more modest over clock should be more stable.
Some benchmarks have already been done to compare the A5 with the Tegra 2 but it’s hard to isolate the CPU performance from the graphics with existing benchmark tools for clear comparison.
Overall though it appears the A5 gets just over 50% boost, with some operations actually reaching Apple’s 2x claim, from the older A4, along with double the RAM. Basically on par for what you would expect from moving from single core to dual core.
Graphically though the benchmarks shows the iPad2 gets 2x-5x Tegra 2, depending on the type of benchmark used.
So basically the Tegra 2 has a small CPU advantage over the A5 but is blown away from the iPad2’s graphic chip, which is the same one Sony is planning on using in the upcoming PSP2 and stated to rival PS3 graphics.
Tegra 3 is due out sometime after August though and will then rival those graphical performance and top CPU performance with quad core and higher clock speed. The quad core design also means the Tegra 3 can potentially have a much better power efficiency and still offer better CPU performance.
Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz Snapdragon is due out even sooner and will offer 3x Tegra 2 graphics and at 1.5GHz should easily exceed the A5’s performance. Though power efficiency is still a question with a dual core design and so the higher clock may cost some run time.
So the iPad2 will have one of the best graphics but it’s CPU performance will soon be over shadowed… at least as far as hardware goes. Since apps and the OS are a different issue and is where Apple is strongest.