Nvidia N1X officially confirmed to arrive as the RTX Spark

[Redaktion]

Nvidia's first consumer-grade laptop chip, the RTX Spark, is finally here. It is essentially a modified version of the DGX Spark launched last year, but with Windows support.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Nvidia-N1X-officially-confirmed-to-arrive-as-the-RTX-Spark.1312010.0.html

[sus]

Sorry, the quotes are a reply to:

Nvidia has not shown off any performance metrics of the RTX Spark

[Nv]

Nvidia just killed desktop Snapdragon CPUs. Arm architecture with proper GPU performance and support.

[sus]

Alright, let's make it clear:

Nvidia has not shown off any performance metrics of the RTX Spark

Very sus, isn't it? But no problem, the gaming / AI performance talk for this N1X / NV Spark is here: notebookchat.com/index.php?topic=310661.0.

In short, the memory bandwidth determines everything: The prompt processing (pp) (because that's 3D-performance / FPS-based and that, again, is bandwidth-based) and token generation (tg) speeds:

• AMD Strix Halo: 256 GB/s = 256-bit * 8000 MT/s / 8 / 1000.
• NVIDIA Spark (GB10 chip): 273 GB/s = 256-bit * 8533 MT/s / 8 / 1000.

(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwell_(microarchitecture)#Blackwell_dies)

3dmark.com/search - Steel Nomad:

• AMD Strix Halo' Radeon 8060S iGPU: 256 GB/s: "Average score: 2031".
• NVIDIA RTX 4060 (notebook): 224 - 256 GB/s: "Average score: 2262".
• NVIDIA RTX Spark: 6.6% faster than Strix Halo, so.., but let's wait for official, or better, independent benchmarks. The 3 nm TSMC node + 6,144 CUDA cores might show, to a certain degree, that this Spark is faster than what 273 GB/s would suggest. Let's say it's 15-30% faster than that, that's 5060 Laptop ("Average score: 2632") to 5070 Laptop ("Average score: 3005") performance, not bad and it aligns with performance rumors.

If it's 5070 Laptop performance, then it's weird that NV wouldn't talk about it, because that's pretty good. Of course, price determines Spark's success. For proper AI performance, building a simple desktop PC may still give the most AI performance bang for buck.

Nvidia just killed desktop Snapdragon CPUs. Arm architecture with proper GPU performance and support.

IDK, several posts in a span of almost 24h apart in reddit/r/hardware have 0 upvotes, as also the comments suggest.

The Snapdragon X Elite / X2 Elite are 128-bit wide memory bus APUs, while the Spark is a 256-bit wide one, totally different animals and price-points.

[davidm]

This is not a "mac studio killer" since its memory speed is a fraction. It will be interesting if they supports eGPUs. Without an eGPU, its processing for key LLM functions will be a fraction of a dedicated GPU. With an eGPU, it would be a truly interesting local AI solution.

[Picard facepalm]

If it's 5070 Laptop performance, then it's weird that NV wouldn't talk about it, because that's pretty good.

...

"The company also told the site that RTX Spark can offer graphics performance close to a GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop GPU depending on the application."

[Picard facepalm]

Spark is faster than what 273 GB/s would suggest. Let's say it's 15-30% faster than that, that's 5060 Laptop ("Average score: 2632") to 5070 Laptop ("Average score: 3005") performance, not bad and it aligns with performance rumors.

Yes. But why are you moving the goalposts now? Thought this was impossible according to your "bandwidth calculations" that spam in every thread. Don't they determine everything you've said only like 25 times already on this site?

People told you multiple times previously. You never listen.

[GeorgeS]

Sadly this is going to come in VERY overpriced for a "Gaming" platform vs the LLM workload it is priced and intended for.

Currently an AMD or even an Intel APU with or without a Nvidia dGPU still seems to be the more cost effective solution for Gaming.

[Julian M]

It's not a gaming platform, the media and some forum-goers are misreporting this because it's Nvidia and Nvidia likes to play it bigger than life - it's all about stocks and speculation, anyway.

[End of MBA era]

Currently an AMD or even an Intel APU with or without a Nvidia dGPU still seems to be the more cost effective

HP released a x86 business laptop that costs 10,000. Asus and Dell have x86 laptops that cost 6,000-8,000.

Do you honestly believe that they're the cheaper option or that this n1x will be more than that?

Nvidia likes to play it bigger than life

It's big deal news because apparently this isn't a one off opportunity thing. According to rumourmill, Nvidia are committed to this platform and are planning multiple successive generations.

You're right this isn't gaming oriented at all, yet. But maybe perhaps down the line they will eventually release a more gaming oriented or handheld chip.

We also know that Nvidia are the masters of pivoting and are able to somehow make what they perceive into reality every time.

I don't think they would be foolish to see it flop and then give up after spending this much time, money and effort on it. But the first gen like any other product will have its rough edges.

Dr. Ian Cutress made a more measured  video just before CES about his thoughts on it recently on his techtechpotato channel which I thought raised some great points.

youtube.com/watch?v=JdB722MK380