Nvida has officially unveiled its Tegra 3 processor, previously known by its codename Kal-El.

The quad-core processor is based on the ARM7 design and, as previously stated, boasts an extra 'companion' core in order to operate low-power activities such as videos and music playback, and dynamically shift operations in order to reduce power consumption.

What this essentially means is that whilst general speed is much improved over the previous Tegra 2, overall power consumption is considerably lower.

Nvidia has said that no extra coding or alterations will need to be made in order to take advantage of this new technology.

300% boost

Tegra 3's GPU features three times as many cores as the Tegra 2, bringing it up to a total of 12, a factor which Nvidia claims will boost peak graphics performance 300 percent.

The main result of this processing power will be seen in the platform's shader operations, with Nvidia showing before and after comparisons between existing titles Shadowgun and Sprinkle, which had been tinkered with via the new hardware. The former had also some of its levels re-designed to showcase the improvements.

More games controllers will also be supported, including Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC gamepads as well as Nvidia's own PC 3D software, 3D Vision.

The ASUS Transformer Prime tablet will be the first to feature the new Tegra 3 processor, though Nvidia stressed that 'lots' of manufacturers have already signed on to use it in the future.