Promising “visually rich user experiences not previously seen in consumer electronics devices,” ARM has introduced its latest embedded GPU architecture, Mali-T604, at its Technology Conference 2010 in California today. Though we’re unlikely to see it in devices any time soon, the introduction means that the new design is available to ARM licensees — and notably, the company points out that partner Samsung will be the first to get hooked up. Considering Sammy competes in the high-end embedded system-on-chip space already with its ARM-based Hummingbird line of cores, adding in the Mali-T604 is probably the next logical step for them. ARM says that it’s designed “specifically” with the needs of general purpose GPU computing in mind and includes extensive support both for OpenCL and DirectX, so look for some insane number-crunching capabilities on your next-generation phone, tablet, and set-top box. Follow the break for ARM’s press release.
Update: We sat down with ARM’s Jem Davies to get some more details about the new Mali, and discovered it’s only the first of several potential next-gen GPUs to come as part of the Midgard platform — while this particular processor is available with up to four shader cores, successors might have more. The T604 itself is no slouch, though, as it can theoretically deliver two to five times the performance of the company’s existing Mali 400 GPUs core for core and clock for clock — which themselves run circles around the PowerVR SGX 540 competition if you take ARM at its word. Davies told us that not only does the Mali-T604 do DirectX, it supports the game-friendly DirectX11 as well as the always-popular OpenGL ES 2.0, and will appear in an system-on-a-chip together with an ARM Cortex-A15 “Eagle” CPU, when both are eventually baked into silicon several years down the road. Of course, in the eyes of marketers the future is always now, so get a look at conceptual uses (hint: augmented reality) for ARM’s new Mali right after the break.
Only four months after OpenGL 4.0 hit the scene, the next revision of the cross-platform graphics API is here, bearing gifts of fancier math and more cribbed DirectX 11 features. Unless you’re a graphics guru, though, we doubt you’ll be that interested in “64-bit floating-point component vertex shader inputs,” so let’s get to the meat of what you’re after: impressive 3D gaming. OpenGL 4.1 promises to help deliver that to cellphones easier than ever before, by making OpenGL ES (used in iOS and Android, depending on your hardware) completely compatible with the desktop graphics version, and promises “features to improve robustness” in WebGL 3D browser acceleration as well. There’s also support for stencil values in fragment shaders, but we digress — if you understood what we just said, hit up the source and more coverage links for the rest.
Whatever the reason HTC instituted that 30fps cap on the EVO’s graphical output, the issue has just been remedied by — surprise, surprise — coders over at xda-developers. We’ve come across video evidence of the EVO 4G rolling along at a swift 54fps average clip, and another motion picture reel shows the positive effect this has had on the touch-tracking of the handset. Check them both out after the break and hit the source to get educated on how to make this happen on your own EVO. You should be warned that there are still some issues to resolve before the whole thing’s buttery smooth, but hey, it’s still a lot better than waiting for HTC to do it.
When we got some hands-on time with the recently announced Samsung Galaxy S, it was painfully apparent that the thing has some serious power under the hood. Now we have a better idea of just how much power, with reports indicating that it has the graphics oomph (thanks to its PowerVR SGX540 GPU) to push 90 million triangles per second. Compare that to the Snapdragon platform, which manages 22 million polygons, and the iPhone 3GS’s 28 million from the earlier SGX535, and you get a feel for the muscle lurking behind that gorgeous Super AMOLED screen. Of course, polygon counts aren’t everything when it comes to graphical power these days, and 300 million triangles won’t help you if your handset gets laggy after you install every single Bejeweled clone in the Android Market, but forgive us if we’re a little excited about the rapidly brewing mobile GPU war.
This comes off as a touch too incredible to say the least, but Imagination Technologies, who makes the PowerVR chip powering smartphones like the iPhone, Droid, and Pre, states that smartphones will be able to have graphics performance on par with a PlayStation 3 console in about three years.
Gizmodo’schat with the company reveals that future mobile PowerVR graphics cores are in development currently and will not only have much more realistic 3D detail, but will do so at 720p, output via HDMI to a TV. When asked about what would be different about their chips coming in the future, Imagination said that will be more aware of multi-core system processors and will support OpenCL to offload some non-graphics tasks and speed up supporting programs.
Note that all this technology will have to be based on what hardware is going to be available in the phones released at that time. “A lot of this is still based on phone makers like Apple or HTC or Palm or Motorola to make these features available. But since most of the major phone manufacturers are going to have essentially the same chip, it’s in everyone’s self-interest to push as much power out from their phones as possible.”
The word’s on the street that Apple has ambitions to bring improvements down the line to its MacBook Pro model, in terms of handling of its dual graphics chips.
With improved dual graphics, one is able to alternate between integrated and discrete graphics handling on the fly. Nvidia also has plans for something like this, with its Optimus hybrid graphics system, which could very well be seen used in conjunction with Apple’s new technology. AppleInsider reports “This differs from the company’s existing MacBook Pro lineup, which requires users to manually toggle between an integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics core and the more powerful 9600M GT discrete processor by first making a selection in their Mac’s Energy Saver system preference pane, then logging out and back in for the change to take effect”.
Dual switchable graphics is a concept that’s been all the rage recently, especially with the increasing attention on energy-saving, as well as mobile device battery life. In this case, Apple’s MacBook Pro line could well see an enhancement on a major scale; it hasn’t for a long while.
Long ago, in a building far, far away I had a real job. Many of you probably have real jobs right now. You know the type of job I mean, where you have to do what the boss says even if it’s stupid and they make you do horrible things like wear pants and only take an hour for lunch. I think most office workers and geeky types can certainly relate to Dilbert and his woes with coworkers and the Pointy-haired boss.
Dilbert is one of my favorite comics and if you are a fan, you will like these new graphics from the Dilbert strip. The graphics are available in multiple sizes, can be stuck to your laptop for decoration, and can be had in life size wall art format too. The graphics are offered in all characters including Dilbert, Catbert, Dogbert, Wally, Pointy-haired Boss, and the rest of the crew.
The graphics range in price from $14.95 for the laptop size graphics to $149.95 for the 7-foot larger than life-size graphics. These would be great in my office if the wife would go for it. Now that I think about it, I guess I do still have a Pointy-haired Boss, but at least I don’t have to wear pants. Scott Adams describes the graphics best, “They’re way better than coworkers. They won’t borrow your extra chair and they never talk.”
Promising “visually rich user experiences not previously seen in consumer electronics devices,” ARM has introduced its latest embedded GPU architecture, Mali-T604, at its Technology Conference 2010 in California today. Though we’re unlikely to see it in devices any time soon, the introduction means that the new design is available to ARM licensees — and notably, the company points out that partner Samsung will be the first to get hooked up. Considering Sammy competes in the high-end embedded system-on-chip space already with its ARM-based Hummingbird line of cores, adding in the Mali-T604 is probably the next logical step for them. ARM says that it’s designed “specifically” with the needs of general purpose GPU computing in mind and includes extensive support both for OpenCL and DirectX, so look for some insane number-crunching capabilities on your next-generation phone, tablet, and set-top box. Follow the break for ARM’s press release.
