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Any idea how the GPU compares to the Nvidia's Jetson series?

adrian_b 3y ago
It is difficult to find information about the performance of the ARM GPUs that can be compared with that of NVIDIA/AMD/Intel. However it seems that the Mali-G610 MC4 is in about the same range as the cheaper models of the old Jetson Xavier. The newer Jetson Orin models have much faster Ampere GPUs with between 1024 and 2048 FP32 ALUs. Nevertheless, the various Jetson Orin models have a price between 4 times and 13 times higher than a SBC with RK3588 and 16 GB DRAM (especially all the Orin models with more than 8 GB DRAM are very expensive) and the ratio between their prices is much greater than the ratio between their performances. Any small computer with AMD Phoenix offers a much better GPU performance per dollar than any NVIDIA Orin. The use of NVIDIA Orin is justified only when one needs a device that is qualified for an automotive environment.
- raphaelj 3y ago
  Thanks for the answer. > Any small computer with AMD Phoenix offers a much better GPU performance per dollar than any NVIDIA Orin. > The use of NVIDIA Orin is justified only when one needs a device that is qualified for an automotive environment. Nvidia Orin will use significantly less energy though.
  - adrian_b 3y ago
    > Nvidia Orin will use significantly less energy though. Not really. A Ryzen 7 7840U has a GPU with 768 FP32 ALUs @ 2.7 GHz and a NPU that can do 10 TOPS and it has a default TDP of 28 W. The top Jetson AGX Orin models consume up to 60 W or 75 W, but they are so expensive that it does not make sense to compare them with a computer with 7840U and 32 GB of LPDDR5x-7500 that costs 3 times less. A comparison that makes more sense is with a Jetson Orin NX 16GB (still significantly more expensive), which has a GPU with 1024 FP32 ALUs @ 0.918 GHz and it has a default TDP of 25 W. For graphics tasks, Jetson Orin NX would be several times slower than an AMD Phoenix, due to its low GPU clock frequency and much slower CPU cores. The same is true for any programs executed on the CPU cores. On the other hand, for AI inference, Jetson Orin has very fast tensor cores, so it can be many times faster than an AMD GPU or an ARM GPU, i.e. Jetson Orin NX 16 GB is claimed to be able to do 100 TOPS, so if this is the main intended application it can be worthwhile. Nevertheless, the usefulness of the Jetson Orin models for AI inference is diminished by the fact that their price increases very steeply when more memory is desired.

It is difficult to find information about the performance of the ARM GPUs that can be compared with that of NVIDIA/AMD/Intel. However it seems that the Mali-G610 MC4 is in about the same range as the cheaper models of the old Jetson Xavier. The newer Jetson Orin models have much faster Ampere GPUs with between 1024 and 2048 FP32 ALUs. Nevertheless, the various Jetson Orin models have a price between 4 times and 13 times higher than a SBC with RK3588 and 16 GB DRAM (especially all the Orin models with more than 8 GB DRAM are very expensive) and the ratio between their prices is much greater than the ratio between their performances. Any small computer with AMD Phoenix offers a much better GPU performance per dollar than any NVIDIA Orin. The use of NVIDIA Orin is justified only when one needs a device that is qualified for an automotive environment.

raphaelj 3y ago
Thanks for the answer. > Any small computer with AMD Phoenix offers a much better GPU performance per dollar than any NVIDIA Orin. > The use of NVIDIA Orin is justified only when one needs a device that is qualified for an automotive environment. Nvidia Orin will use significantly less energy though.
- adrian_b 3y ago
  > Nvidia Orin will use significantly less energy though. Not really. A Ryzen 7 7840U has a GPU with 768 FP32 ALUs @ 2.7 GHz and a NPU that can do 10 TOPS and it has a default TDP of 28 W. The top Jetson AGX Orin models consume up to 60 W or 75 W, but they are so expensive that it does not make sense to compare them with a computer with 7840U and 32 GB of LPDDR5x-7500 that costs 3 times less. A comparison that makes more sense is with a Jetson Orin NX 16GB (still significantly more expensive), which has a GPU with 1024 FP32 ALUs @ 0.918 GHz and it has a default TDP of 25 W. For graphics tasks, Jetson Orin NX would be several times slower than an AMD Phoenix, due to its low GPU clock frequency and much slower CPU cores. The same is true for any programs executed on the CPU cores. On the other hand, for AI inference, Jetson Orin has very fast tensor cores, so it can be many times faster than an AMD GPU or an ARM GPU, i.e. Jetson Orin NX 16 GB is claimed to be able to do 100 TOPS, so if this is the main intended application it can be worthwhile. Nevertheless, the usefulness of the Jetson Orin models for AI inference is diminished by the fact that their price increases very steeply when more memory is desired.