Performance gaming and workstation graphics card giant Nvidia is releasing a third installation to their Shield line of Android devices. This new entry into the series is titled the Nvidia Shield Android TV console; a powerful gaming box running the new Android TV set-top box firmware from Google, modified by Nvidia to fit their console of course. Usually you wouldn’t expect much from an Android console, but it’s so powerful it can literally play Crysis. The box is expected to release on May 28th*.

The box’s base model will ship for $199, and feature 16GB of internal memory. Recently, Amazon leaked a product page for a $299 model with 500GB of internal memory.

The technical specifications of this device are quite amazing for what it is in my opinion. According to Nvidia’s website, the system will feature an Nvidia Tegra X1 processor, sporting a 256-core Maxwell GPU with 3GB of VRAM. It’s 4K Ultra HD ready, able to play 4K content at 60FPS in the VP9, H264, and H265 formats. It can do 4K capture at 30FPS in H264 or H265 formats. It supports up to 7.1 or 5.1 surround sound through HDMI. It can play back at 24-bit/192kHz through HDMI and USB, and upsample to that through USB. The $199 model will feature 16GB of internal memory, and the $299 model will feature 500GB of internal memory. It supports 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.1/BLE. As far as ports, it features gigabit ethernet, HDMI 2.0, two type-A USB 3.0 ports, a micro-USB 2.0 port, a MicroSD slot, and an IR Receiver compatible with the Logitech Harmony. It will weigh 23 OZ / 654 g, will be 5.1 inches / 130mm tall, 8.3 inches / 210mm wide, and 1 inch / 25mm thick. The operating system is the new Google Cast ready Android TV. It uses a 40w power adapter, which typically uses 5-10w of power.

Out of the box, it will have the Google Play Store, Google Play Movies & TV, Google Play Music, YouTube, PLEX, and Photos and Videos installed undoubtedly among other proprietary Nvidia software. Apart from playing all of your favorite Android games and using your favorite Android apps on the big screen, it will stream Nvidia GRID games at 1080p 60FPS* from the cloud (basically HD, gaming-grade remote desktop of high-end games from their server PCs to your console like OnLive), stream games from your personal Nvidia-powered gaming PC using Nvidia GameStream, and use Nvidia Share, which allows you to record, take screenshots, and livestream to Twitch.tv while playing. It’s basically Nvidia Shadowplay for the Shield devices. Also, some major AAA game developers will be porting games like Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Crysis 3, War Thunder, Half Life 2, Portal, Metal Gear Rising, Doom 3, Resident Evil 5, and more exclusively to the Shield console, not to mention the great high-quality games that exist already on the Android store being playable on the Shield, such as the Grand Theft Auto games like Chinatown Wars, III, Vice City, San Andreas, Max Payne 1 and 2 (which are all AAA titles ported to Android), and high-quality Android games like Real Racing 3, Modern Combat 5, N.O.V.A. 3, Shadowgun: Deadzone, and more being playable on the console just because it runs Android. Some games that already exist will also be optimized in both performance and control schemes for the Shield, although I assume as with previous Shield devices you can map your controller controls to user-defined areas on the touchscreen for certain applications and games.

I personally will be purchasing the $299 500GB model as downloadable games are quite big nowadays on Android and I feel 16GB just won’t cut it. Even with expandable SD card space you can’t get a 500GB SD card for $100 or under. Stay tuned for more information on the Nvidia Shield Android TV console over the coming days, and more content (unboxing, setup, etc.) once it’s released.

– by Gavin (Gaveroid)

* Some information was taken from ShackNews. I’ve been unable to find this information anywhere else through light searching so its’ credibility is questionable. My apologies to ShackNews for this. 

Like I said in my post about Far Cry 3 leaving 9GB of useless install data if you bought it through the GameStop Downloader, I’m in a fight for space. A few months ago, I found a way to save a lot of space on your drive (about 20GB in my case), and I will tell you how. Note that I only recommend doing such a thing if you have at least 12-16GB of ram. You could probably do with about 8GB for this, but more than that will help you with the minor drawback (and, yes, there are some). If you have under 6-8GB, I wouldn’t recommend doing this. 6-7GB is still pushing it. If you have under 8GB, only do this if you are really desperate for space.

Windows has a memory paging file (basically virtual RAM files stored on your HDD instead of on RAM sticks when your RAM gets full up), and that file is usually huge – in my case (on a 750GB hard drive) about 20GB. The drawback is that this may slightly decrease performance and loading time, which is why you need quite a bit of RAM (or your computer could crash due to not enough memory). Due to this, I am telling you to only do this at your own risk – I am not responsible for any damage this may cause to your computer, and nobody at Gaveroid.com is responsible either. This task is absolutely not for the computer illiterate. I explain later in the article how to check how much RAM you have; so, don’t fret if you can’t find it.

I am doing this on Windows 7 Home Premium, so your mileage may vary. First, go to the Control Panel, and then System. You can check out the specifications of your system here (such as how much RAM you have). Click on Advanced System Settings on the left hand side of the page. Click Settings under Performance. Go to the Advanced tab, and then lcick Change under virtual memory. It will tell you how large the paging file is (in my case, it’s 2048MB after the change). There should be a selection of drives; click your main programs drive (or any one that you put your data on). If you pick the wrong drive, problems could occur, so, be careful! Then, under that, there should be a Custom Size option. Click the button to the left of it. It should say initial size and maximum size. Depending on how much RAM you have is how much you should lower it. Don’t make it too low, but find out a comfy spot for you. I have it set to an initial size of 2048MB (2GB), and a maximum size of 4096MB (4GB). I have 16GB of physical RAM, so I can put up with this. If you have 8GB, you may want to put it a little higher. Like I said earlier, if you have anything under 6-8GB, I would not recommend doing this. Don’t put both values as the same, as you want to give your computer some breathing room in case it does need to use this memory. Click set, and click OK. 

Now, you’re all set! Thanks for reading, and have a great day. Pass this onto your friends; maybe it will help them! Sometimes, you just don’t have the option to upgrade, so you must scrounge for ways to save up space. If this article gets a lot of hits, I might make a video tutorial – it’s easier to do things like this with a visual aid. If you have any questions, feel free to comment down below. Stay posted here at Gaveroid.com for new posts about the latest and greatest tech and gaming news!