Vivante GC7000 GPUs Deliver Desktop-Class Graphics to Mobile Devices

SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Vivante Corporation today announced multiple silicon partner integrations of its GC7000 Series GPU IP into SoCs targeting wearables, mobile, automotive, and 4K TV products. GC7000 supports the newly released OpenGL ES 3.1* API and hardware TS/GS/CS (tessellation / geometry / compute shader) extensions for Android. Integrated TS/GS/CS support puts the most advanced desktop 3D features in your hand bringing 4K rendering to the next level by adding even more stunning, fine-grained 3D detail and realism to game play, while lowering power and memory bandwidth.

The technology enhancements in the GC7000 Series build on the market success of the previous generation of Vivante’s Vega architecture. Photorealistic 3D gameplay and dynamic user interfaces are now available in over 200 million mobile and home entertainment devices such as these. GC7000 Series GPU cores come packaged with Vivante’s production proven unified, single driver software stack that supports legacy, current and upcoming GPUs and board support packages (BSP) running Android™ KitKat, Chrome™, Linux, QNX®, Tizen™ and Windows® operating systems.

“The mobile GPU market has reached an inflection point where desktop-class graphics in mobile are a reality and the key differentiator separating legacy devices from the latest must have products,” said Wei-jin Dai, President and CEO of Vivante. “Vivante’s TS/GS/CS raises the bar in mobile by providing GC7000 GPU technology with desktop graphics equivalent features and image quality, increased performance per milliwatt and square millimeter of silicon while significantly reducing power and memory bandwidth.”

The GC7000 takes advantage of new innovations in GPU/GPGPU multi-core processing to allow simultaneous, parallel execution for coherent and distributed graphics, computer vision (CV), and compute contexts. Each core can function independently or in groups with instant, on-demand, task-specific load-balancing and distribution of GPU resources monitored in real-time to maximize performance and minimize context switch overhead. The additions of hardware tessellation and geometry shading with the use of advanced compute shaders brings realistic 3D desktop rendering to the forefront of mobile and media SoCs, while cutting internal and off-chip bandwidth to reduce power, thermal power, and memory footprint. Additional GC7000 improvements also focus on improved gameplay so that AAA 3D games play smooth, responsive and crisp in 4K resolution. With hardware support for additions like game physics and hybrid ray tracing, exposed through the latest Unreal Engine 4, Unity 4 and the upcoming Unity 5 SDKs, users can have a truly ubiquitous gaming experience across all their screens, and game developers can leverage the existing gaming ecosystem that spans mobile, PC, and game consoles.

Smaller-Faster-Cooler benefits of the GC7000 Series include:

  • True GPU Scalability from power efficient wearables and high end mobile to TVs and luxury cars: GC7000 Series products support big ideas in limited silicon area to match form factor and market requirements. Products can snap to grid starting at 3.0 mm2 (28 nm) for the smallest single GPU GC7000 instance and grow in simple modular fashion for high end implementations to achieve the industry’s best PPA (power/performance/area).
  • Smallest Licensable OpenGL ES 3.1 Cores with Geometry, Tessellation, and Compute Shaders: The IP package integrates the most advanced 3D features that shift industry dynamics to allow mass market silicon to have equivalent robust features that appear in high end application processors. Die area of the GC7000 is reduced by 20% over previous generation mass market cores and includes the new evolution of OpenGL ES 3.1 and DirectX 11 shader/GPU technologies and upcoming mobile platform requirements, including support for hardware TS/GS shading extensions for Android OS.
  • Faster Graphics Performance: Better real time utilization of shaders speeds up rendering performance, quality and effects to effectively scale up for 4K gaming content at 60 FPS. 4K resolution has 4X the pixels versus 1080p and GC7000 ensures your device can keep up with the game.
  • Cooler Cores: GPU thermals and system power are reduced 30% and bandwidth is reduced by 50% through innovative bandwidth modulation using Vivante frame buffer (vFB) and pixel compression, Khronos ASTC, geometry/tessellation shader rendering, and Android optimized intelligent composition (Regionizer).
  • Configurable Shader Core Implementations: Cores range from highly silicon optimized eight shader solutions to performance optimized multi-GPU/multi-shader solutions, all with best in class performance and available hardware support for security (secure GPU) and OS virtualization.
  • Hardware and Software Integration Simplified: The single unified software stack supports all Vivante GPU cores and existing software platforms to create a seamless transition to the latest technologies. GC7000 hardware is even more modular to allow faster integration with easier place-and-route design and reduced wire congestion.
  • System Friendly Architecture: GC7000 is designed for hybrid and heterogeneous computing systems supporting OpenCL and HSA using AMBA® ACE-Lite™ (CPU – GPU cache coherency) and the latest vStream interface. Other additions include a pixel compression fabric that allows GC7000 to create a streamlined pixel processing pipeline across the ISP, CPU, DSP, memory, and display processor.

For more information on Vivante Vega products, please visit http://www.vivantecorp.com or blog.vivantecorp.com.