Tegra 3

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What Does Tegra 3 Mean?

Tegra 3 is a system-on-chip (SOC) designed by Nvidia and released in 2011 for mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, primarily from the Google Android lineup. The Tegra 3 SOC is also known as a mobile hardware platform, and is main competitor to the A5X platform or SOC, Apple’s version for iOS devices.

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The SOC comes with a Nvidia graphical processing unit (GPU) that supports HD gaming and 1080p video playback. It also comes with Nvidia’s 4-Plus-One technology. This refers to its quad-core CPU and a fifth core: called the battery-saver CPU core. The quad cores run at 1.4 GHz and at 1.5 GHz for single-core usage. Memory support includes up to 2 GB of RAM. The platform is also known for its strong battery life, due to the battery-saver CPU core that handles light tasks.

Techopedia Explains Tegra 3

The Tegra 3 SOC is included in tablets and smartphones operating on Google’s Android OS. Before its official release on November 8, 2011, it was referred to as "Project Kal-El." Nvidia boasts that Tegra 3 offers up to three times the performance of the Tegra 2 in graphics and uses 61 percent less power.

Nvidia GM Mike Rayfield said that Nvidia plans to support 30 different smartphones in 2012 with the Tegra 3.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.