NVIDIA: Yo Apple, We’d Love to Hear Exactly How You Decided that Your A5X was 4 Times Faster than the Tegra 3

During yesterday’s iPad event, Apple’s new A5X processor was one of the big topics. With it’s quad-core GPU, Apple is so confident in it that they felt the need to toss out a slide comparing it to NVIDIA’s new 12-core GPU in the Tegra 3. Some how some way, they came to a conclusion that their A5X is 4 times faster than the Tegra 3. There was no footnote, detailed explanation as to how they came to that conclusion, nothing. Not that this should surprise us since Apple spouts out unsupported numbers in every press conference that they do, but it was strange enough to get people to ask some questions.

The folks from NVIDIA spoke with ZDNet about the slide, and while flattered that they were mentioned, cannot wait to get a hold of the new iPad next week to run some real benchmarks and then decide. They aren’t guaranteeing that it will destroy the A5X by any means, because they aren’t about to head down the road of Apple’s off-handed claims. Instead, a company spokesperson had this to say:

 “We have to understand what the application was that was used. Was it one or a variety of applications? What drivers were used? There are so many issues to get into with benchmark.”

The new iPad will arrive next Thursday, so we should know the true tale then. 12-core GPU vs. 4-core GPU? Fun, times.

Update:  A reader has pointed out that Anandtech compared the Tegra 3 to the A5 in the iPad 2, and the GPU in the A5 (not the new A5X) ran circles around it. I’m not going to jump to the conclusion that the A5X will also, but wanted to throw this out there for you.

Via:  ZDNet