SAN FRANCISCO -- ARM released a new low power GPU for wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT), claiming it offers smartphone-quality graphics. The 32-bit Mali 470 requires half the power of ARMs previous graphics processor generation using the same process geometry. "Every company that contributes IP or components into [IoT] devices needs to do their bit to reduce the amount of power needed by those electronics, ARM Product Manager Dan Wilson told EE Times. Weve made a range of micro-architectural optimizations to power Mali 470, he said. Mali 470 block diagram. Source: ARM ARM targeted three areas to cut power in Mali. The company updated most of the chips processing blocks within the scheduling pipeline to operate on quads, while reducing the frequency of control and state-update operations. ARM also increased the amount of clock gating in areas including LI caches and completed bypassed blocks. Although graphics processors often use floating-point arithmetic, it consumes a lot of power. ARM hopes to use fixed-point arithmetic in Mali 470 wherever possible and where it doesnt hurt performance, Wilson said. ARM scrutinizes every milliwatt across the entire SoC, said Mark Dickinson, vice president and general manager of ARMs multimedia processing group. Tuning efficiency is particularly relevant for devices requiring sophisticated graphics on a low power budget such as wearables, entry-level smartphones and IoT devices, he said. The GPU is optimized for the OpenGL ES 2.0 API and drivers, which Wilson said is very power efficient. The majority of Android, Android Wear, and Tizen devices use the OpenGL ES API, Wilson continued. Mali 470 can replace ARM's previous generation GPU there is no need to re-optimize applications. "Even wearables are going to require an immersive experience, Jim McGregor principal analyst at Tirias Research, said in a release. With greater power efficiency and support for Open GL ES 2.0, the new Mali 470 will enable...the vibrant displays and touch interfaces users have become accustomed to on smartphones," he added. The multi-core configurable Mali 470 can be used with 64-bit and 32-bit CPUs, such as the ARM Cortex-A7 or Cortex-A53 processors. Wilson said the GPU was designed as 32-bit because most wearable and IoT devices dont need to use more than 4 GBytes memory. ARM promises the device will offer optimal energy efficiency for screen resolutions up to 640x640p in single-core configurations and up to 1080p in multi-core configurations. The GPU has attracted yet-unnamed licensees who will likely ship products based on Mali 470 at the end of 2016. — Jessica Lipsky, Associate Editor, EE Times Related posts:
ARM has released a new graphics processor unit ( GPU ) aimed at mobile and IoT devices , where power is at a premium . The 32-bit Mali 470 uses half the power of ARM 's prior offerings , whilst supporting smartphone based applications . The GPU is reportedly already used by some anonymous clients , who are expected to ship products based around the Mail 470 towards the end of 2018 . GPUs concentrate on efficiently rendering the display aspects of a device , allowing the central processing unit ( CPU ) to concentrate on other jobs .