ARM announces its Mali-T604 GPU

CHIP DESIGN HOUSE ARM has announced its Mali-T604 Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) at its Technology Conference 2010 in Santa Clara, California.

Samsung is the lead licensee for the new GPU that is ARM's fourth generation design based on its Midgard architecture, which it claims delivers five times higher performance compared to previous Mali chips.

The UK semiconductor design firm claims that the Mali-T604 will enable mobiles, tablets, digital televisions and set-top boxes to run complex content and have "sophisticated user interfaces while consuming very little power".

ARM says that a key feature of the Mali-T604 is its set of techniques for reducing memory bandwidth consumption by up to 30 per cent to improve system level energy-efficiency. The chip is also specifically designed to meet general purpose GPU needs and the firm says it will extend API support to include full profile Khronos, OpenCL and Microsoft DirectX.

Lance Howarth, ARM media processing division EVP and general manager said, "The tri-pipe architecture in the Mali-T604 provides both market leading compute functionality and high-performance graphics."

The firm has also announced the CoreLink 400 series of AMBA 4 protocol-compliant system technology. The company says it "enables system designers to realise the full potential of the latest high-performance CPU and GPU technology on mobile, consumer and enterprise applications". µ