NVIDIA's Arm-based AI PC Processor Could Leverage Arm Cortex X5 CPU Cores and Blackwell Graphics

[btarunr]

Last week, we got confirmation from the highest levels of Dell and NVIDIA that the latter is making a client PC processor for the Windows on Arm (WoA) AI PC ecosystem that only has one player in it currently, Qualcomm. Michael Dell hinted that this NVIDIA AI PC processor would be ready in 2025. Since then, speculation has been rife about the various IP blocks NVIDIA could use in the development of this chip, the two key areas of debate have been the CPU cores and the process node.

Given that NVIDIA is gunning toward a 2025 launch of its AI PC processor, the company could implement reference Arm IP CPU cores, such as the Arm Cortex X5 "Blackhawk," and not venture out toward developing its own CPU cores on the Arm machine architecture, unlike Apple. Depending on how the market recieves its chips, NVIDIA could eventually develop its own cores. Next up, the company could use the most advanced 3 nm-class foundry node available in 2025 for its chip, such as the TSMC N3P. Given that even Apple and Qualcomm will build their contemporary notebook chips on this node, it would be a logical choice of node for NVIDIA. Then there's graphics and AI acceleration hardware.



It's being speculated that NVIDIA's AI PC processor could integrate an iGPU based on the "Blackwell" graphics architecture. This would give the chip first-rate graphics acceleration capabilities, including for DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan. As for AI acceleration—the whole point behind this chip, we predict that the iGPU with its tensor cores would double up as the AI coprocessor. This would free up silicon real-estate for NVIDIA, the company can simply expose the GPU as an NPU virtual device to Windows, and use a series of translation layers to TensorRT. Given that Microsoft's requirement for an NPU capable of accelerating a local session of Copilot+ is just 45 AI TOPS, this should be easily done for NVIDIA. Lastly, 2025 will see LPDDR6 hit mainstream for mobile applications, such as smartphones, tablets and ultraportable PCs. It's likely that NVIDIA will implement this memory standard.

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[Timbaloo]

So basically it will be some sort of beefed up Tegra with latest µArch.

Depending on how beefy it shall be, I wonder if (LP)DDR6 will be a limiting factor, or how they plan to get around this (fat L3 cache? HBM even?).

 

[Onasi]

Might be the SOC for whatever is the next Nintendo console. The Switch is getting incredibly outdated. Not knocking the console, but it struggles pretty much in anything these days. Borrowed one from a friend to play Fire Emblem Engage and that game really suffers. The lack of decent AA and, seemingly, any AF just butchers the otherwise potentially pretty decent visuals.

 

[kondamin]

Might be the SOC for whatever is the next Nintendo console. The Switch is getting incredibly outdated. Not knocking the console, but it struggles pretty much in anything these days. Borrowed one from a friend to play Fire Emblem Engage and that game really suffers. The lack of decent AA and, seemingly, any AF just butchers the otherwise potentially pretty decent visuals.

No the switch 2 is getting an other ancient soc

 

[Onasi]

No the switch 2 is getting an other ancient soc

Oh, was that leaked somewhere? I admit, I must have missed that.

 

[londiste]

Oh, was that leaked somewhere? I admit, I must have missed that.

Inside Nvidia's new hardware for Switch 2: what is the T239 processor?

What new hardware has Nvidia cooked up for Nintendo? Digital Foundry puts together all available info on the cutting-edge T239 processor.

www.eurogamer.net

ARM A78C and Ampere-based GPU (with some bits from Ada)

 

[Daven]

This rumored SoC is not in the Tegra product branch. It would probably become a new branch aimed at laptops and desktops. Tegra was always meant for low power applications such as smartphones, handhelds, tablets, smart TVs, etc. The Nvidia Shield series is a good example of a Tegra product showcased by Nvidia.

We now have five potential strong CPU and GPU players in the laptop and desktop market: Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, Intel and AMD. Mediatek is there too but I don't think we will see much of them. Still only two (Intel and AMD) are available for the CPU DIY market. Of course we have three in the DIY GPU market (Nvidia, AMD and Intel).

 

[evernessince]

It's rather ironic that a company such as Dell that helped Intel gain it's monopoly over the market and continues to inhibit AMD's penetration into the broader consumer market (even getting them to offer AMD server processors has been like pulling fingers despite AMD's dominance in that space) will herald in Nvidia's ARM on windows play.

If ARM does eventually surmount X86 in the PC market Intel will have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[Noyand]

It's rather ironic that a company such as Dell that helped Intel gain it's monopoly over the market and continues to inhibit AMD's penetration into the broader consumer market (even getting them to offer AMD server processors has been like pulling fingers despite AMD's dominance in that space) will herald in Nvidia's ARM on windows play.

If ARM does eventually surmount X86 in the PC market Intel will have no one to blame but themselves.

Qualcomm found its way into an XPS before AMD

 

[matar]

This is good news been waiting for ever for an Nvidia CPU

 

[wolf]

Very interested to see if this bears fruit, the lower power segment like 2-15w is extremely exciting.

 

[kondamin]

It's rather ironic that a company such as Dell that helped Intel gain it's monopoly over the market and continues to inhibit AMD's penetration into the broader consumer market (even getting them to offer AMD server processors has been like pulling fingers despite AMD's dominance in that space) will herald in Nvidia's ARM on windows play.

If ARM does eventually surmount X86 in the PC market Intel will have no one to blame but themselves.

It’s not really inhibit, amd is limited by the capacity tsmc can offer them and dell now offers a wide range of amd products.

pretty certain all those chip design companies are working hard to get risc v on par with their arm offerings so they can move away from them and their licensing and this will happen before ram pushed out x86 from the pc space.

 

[Minus Infinity]

So we still aren't going to mention AMD's Soundwave ARM SoC coming in 2026! AMD is said to be going all-in on this project. Intel is the only one mocking ARM on PC.

 

[alwayssts]

So basically it will be some sort of beefed up Tegra with latest µArch.

Depending on how beefy it shall be, I wonder if (LP)DDR6 will be a limiting factor, or how they plan to get around this (fat L3 cache? HBM even?).

Maybe (LP)DDR6 and a fat L2, but perhaps DDR5 and a fat cache. L3 is a possibility, just like AMD, but AMD may someday make the L2 bigger and put less strain on L3. IDK for sure, though, just thoughts.

This rumored SoC is not in the Tegra product branch. It would probably become a new branch aimed at laptops and desktops. Tegra was always meant for low power applications such as smartphones, handhelds, tablets, smart TVs, etc. The Nvidia Shield series is a good example of a Tegra product showcased by Nvidia.

We now have five potential strong CPU and GPU players in the laptop and desktop market: Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, Intel and AMD. Mediatek is there too but I don't think we will see much of them. Still only two (Intel and AMD) are available for the CPU DIY market. Of course we have three in the DIY GPU market (Nvidia, AMD and Intel).

Mediatek partners with nVIDIA. The difference being Mediatek generally focuses on less-expensive (cutting-edge) nodes. They go for volume over margin.

That doesn't mean they couldn't make something worthwhile and cheap...only that it might take them a little bit longer (a couple years?), which makes sense given WoA will take a bit to get off the ground.

Very interested to see if this bears fruit, the lower power segment like 2-15w is extremely exciting.

**laughs at the history of Tegra**

---------

FWIW, where's Thor (other than auto) that was supposed to be in the new Tegra? I thought they cancelled a <8nm design that would have made Nintendo's next console suck less by focusing on that.

I could imagine this will use some version of that (but again, just a hunch), although the current iteration of Neoverse only supports DDR5.

I think jumping to the conclusion it will use DDR6 is not one that should be assumed.

 

[wolf]

**laughs at the history of Tegra**

Pretty funny how they sold 141 million and counting to Nintendo Call it fortune or a fluke, it happened.

Overall I'd say it's been a bit all over the place for Tegra, but from my perspective when they've been able to leverage the GPU they shine.

 

[evernessince]

So we still aren't going to mention AMD's Soundwave ARM SoC coming in 2026! AMD is said to be going all-in on this project. Intel is the only one mocking ARM on PC.

Was not aware of this TBH. It will be very interesting to see how efficient Nvidia's and AMD's new chips are and their performance.

 

[remixedcat]

It’s not really inhibit, amd is limited by the capacity tsmc can offer them and dell now offers a wide range of amd products.

pretty certain all those chip design companies are working hard to get risc v on par with their arm offerings so they can move away from them and their licensing and this will happen before ram pushed out x86 from the pc space.

is this the reason why dell doesn't on some systems and has limited amd or is it something else?

 

[alwayssts]

Pretty funny how they sold 141 million and counting to Nintendo Call it fortune or a fluke, it happened.

Overall I'd say it's been a bit all over the place for Tegra, but from my perspective when they've been able to leverage the GPU they shine.

I call it cleaning out their closet and balancing their books; recouping the loss of a failed design intended for mass-adoption in mobile.

Nintendo bought that chip for cheap after nobody wanted to use it for phones/tablets because it drew too much power (almost certainly because of the GPU).

It sat around until Nintendo took it off their hands (and by that time was outdated).

Nintendo can make literally anything work.

I would not call the success of Switch anything to do with the help of nVIDIA other than likely selling them the chip (which was a failure in intention) for cheap, which they down-clocked a whole bunch to make work.

Look, listen, I'm not saying it won't be a good design (because it probably will be), but just let's not romanticize the history of Tegra and that power envelope, especially that chip.

 

[wolf]

Look, listen, I'm not saying it won't be a good design (because it probably will be), but just let's not romanticize the history of Tegra and that power envelope, especially that chip.

The X1 success and Nintendo stuff not withstanding, I'm more enamored with the current and future offerings in this segment than the past, for consuming 15w or less, there are already many chips that are borderline absurdly powerful and capable, and it's only going to get better.

 

[alwayssts]

The X1 success and Nintendo stuff not withstanding, I'm more enamored with the current and future offerings in this segment than the past, for consuming 15w or less, there are already many chips that are borderline absurdly powerful and capable, and it's only going to get better.

I agree. When I look forward to RDNA5+Zen whatever, I think it will be very nice...but again we're likely talking in the current ~24-35w or so segment (you know what I mean; Steamdeck, Ally, etc).

Without the bloat of X86, the future is bright. Considering nVIDIA now designs from the bottom up, not the top down, meaning mobile (and efficiency) first, there is indeed hope for some very nice solutions.
Look man, I'm not trying to argue! I just think using Tegra's current and past (undesirable) adoption in mobile computing is not what should be used to hype expectations.

 

[Minus Infinity]

Was not aware of this TBH. It will be very interesting to see how efficient Nvidia's and AMD's new chips are and their performance.

Plenty of leaks about soundwave in the last month, so not sure why TPU is ignoring them.

Soundwave rumor

 

[Neo_Morpheus]

is this the reason why dell doesn't on some systems and has limited amd or is it something else?

Some say that Dell is still taking bribes from intel even after they were fined:

Intel stuck with $1.45 billion fine in Europe for unfair and damaging practices against AMD

Intel will be paying the full $1.44B fine it owes the EU after losing its bid to overturn the action.

www.extremetech.com

You can find some if their systems with AMD cpus, but the lucrative business lines (Latitude, Optiplex and Precision) are strictly limited to intel.
Yes, they have some if those systems advertised with AMD but good luck getting them. I remember an Optiplex with an AMD cpu that was only available via phone.

About Ngreedia’s push, I would not be surprised of a similar arrangement.

 

[alwayssts]

Some say that Dell is still taking bribes from intel even after they were fined:

Intel stuck with $1.45 billion fine in Europe for unfair and damaging practices against AMD

Intel will be paying the full $1.44B fine it owes the EU after losing its bid to overturn the action.

www.extremetech.com

You can find some if their systems with AMD cpus, but the lucrative business lines (Latitude, Optiplex and Precision) are strictly limited to intel.
Yes, they have some if those systems advertised with AMD but good luck getting them. I remember an Optiplex with an AMD cpu that was only available via phone.

About Ngreedia’s push, I would not be surprised of a similar arrangement.

My favorite "this type of thing" was concerning the Activison/Blizzard/King merger.

Nvidia: 'We think this will be a terrible move for the gaming industry and will oppose it'.

Microsoft: 'We have discussed with nVIDIA the willingness for all MS and ABK titles to be available on Geforce Now.'

(Literally the next day)

Nvidia: 'We see no problems with this merger'.

-----

IDK man...Some people just don't get it. The people that do, and still support them...That's fine, if shitty.

But, to me, it's somewhere between funny and extremely sad bc to think those things don't happen is ignorant, and to know they do but ignore that reality is probably even worse.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

It's rather ironic that a company such as Dell that helped Intel gain it's monopoly over the market and continues to inhibit AMD's penetration into the broader consumer market (even getting them to offer AMD server processors has been like pulling fingers despite AMD's dominance in that space) will herald in Nvidia's ARM on windows play.

If ARM does eventually surmount X86 in the PC market Intel will have no one to blame but themselves.

It's because Nvidia and Intel give Dell bribes...I mean "joint development funds"...there's a reason why court documents revealed that Intel execs had literally referred to Dell as, and I quote, "the best friend money can buy".

In that sense, this partnership seems destined....you have one party who loves anti-competitive practices and using financial power to do so (Nvidia) and you have another party who will gladly engage in such anti-competitive practices so long as the price is right (Dell)...seems like a perfect match.

 

[R0H1T]

Was not aware of this TBH. It will be very interesting to see how efficient Nvidia's and AMD's new chips are and their performance.

It's just a rumor from you know who.

I'm more enamored with the current and future offerings in this segment than the past, for consuming 15w or less, there are already many chips that are borderline absurdly powerful and capable, and it's only going to get better.

Yes & no, while more competition is always welcome heck that's what forced AMD & then Intel into an overdrive especially wrt Apple. The bigger issue IMO is that a lot of the "efficiency" gains are now wasted on BS like AI & what not. You could also argue the displays on some of these devices ~ hey does no one enjoy a 14" OLED 4k screen & consequently some great woeful battery life