Nvidia's ARM-based N1X System-on-Chip leaks once more, this time on FurMark—benchmark scores suggest early engineering stage, but affirm Windows testing
Nvidia's N1X SoC, an early engineering sample, has recently made an appearance in benchmark databases such as FurMark and Geekbench. Despite the preliminary nature of these tests, they offer a glimpse into the potential of Nvidia's most ambitious ARM-based SoC to date.
The N1X SoC is expected to debut in 2026, running on a power budget of 120W, and using pre-release drivers like Nvidia driver 590.22. These factors contribute to incomplete software and firmware optimizations, which may account for the relatively low performance observed in the benchmarks.
In the FurMark test, the N1X scored 4,286 points at 720p, averaging 71 FPS. This performance is below expectations considering the SoC's CUDA core count of 6,144—the same as a desktop RTX 5070—and may be due to throttling or protective limitations likely caused by immature drivers or firmware.
The N1X SoC utilizes the ARM Blackwell architecture, featuring 48 Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs), and is coupled with 20 CPU cores (10 Cortex X925 + 10 Cortex A725 cores). It uses LPDDR5X memory instead of discrete GDDR, which limits its bandwidth compared to discrete desktop GPUs.
Despite the lower-than-expected performance in the benchmarks, the N1X's CUDA core count matches that of the RTX 5070. However, due to silicon maturity, power limits, and memory bandwidth constraints inherent to an SoC design, the N1X underperforms significantly compared to the RTX 5070. Early benchmarks place it closer to RTX 2060 or RTX 2050 performance, rather than the RTX 5070 level that would be expected from the CUDA core count alone.
However, it's important to note that the N1X's performance in the benchmarks may not accurately reflect its real-world potential. With a year to go before its release, optimization and tuning are likely to improve the performance of the N1X SoC.
Nvidia is positioning the N1X as a versatile compute platform, targeting AI and workstation workloads. The company has already demonstrated the N1X running on Windows 11, signaling a critical step in software enablement.
As the N1X SoC continues through its development journey, it represents a significant milestone in Nvidia's efforts to bring high-performance ARM-based GPUs to market. Keep an eye on Tom's Hardware for updates on the N1X and other tech news.
References:
- Link to the original Tom's Hardware article
- Link to the FurMark database entry for the N1X SoC
- Link to the Geekbench database entry for the N1X SoC
- Link to the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
- Link to the Tom's Hardware Google News feed
The N1X SoC, a promising ARM-based SoC by Nvidia, is undergoing preliminary tests using data-and-cloud-computing technology, as shown in benchmark databases like FurMark and Geekbench. This technology, paired with the N1X's potential, points to a future of versatile compute platforms from Nvidia, targeting AI and workstation workloads.
