New Imagination Technologies PowerVR G6630 Will Be 60X Faster Than Anything Out

[dgstorm]

Computer chip technology is an amazing animal. The more it evolves, the more it helps the next generation of technology evolve, leading to exponential growth. There's a new mobile GPU developed by Imagination Technologies called the PowerVR G6630 which is a prime example of this phenomenon. This new chip will supposedly be 60 times faster than current GPU technology in mobile devices! PowerVR GPUs are found in multiple mobile devices include Androids and iPhones, and although it will likely take 1-2 years before this new chip comes to market, that kind of horsepower means big things for future generations of mobile tech. Here's a quote with some other interesting tidbits,

Imagination Technologies wants to emphasize energy efficiency with this new GPU. It has six processing cores that are smart enough to know when to turn off two or even four of those cores, depending on what’s being displayed on the screen. The G6630 also supports the latest graphics standards, including OpenGL ES 3.0/2.0/1.1, OpenGL 3.x/4.x, OpenCL 1.x, and DirectX 10.

When one pauses to ponder this level of power in future devices, the mind begins to boggle. Very soon, mobile tech will vastly surpass anything we currently have even on the PC or console side of things. Of course, PC and console tech isn't sitting still either, so at that time there may be something equally as impressive. Still, the disparity between the two industries is shrinking by leaps and bounds. Eventually they will not longer be separate, and our mobile PCs will be capable of some truly staggering feats of cyber-imagination.

Source: AndroidAuthority

 

[GAstorino]

Now if they can create a 500 meg micro sd card for my phone and better keyboard/laptop io setup you could just about run a business from your phone anywhere in the world with very little footprint.

 

[jerkwad]

Now if they can create a 500 meg micro sd card for my phone and better keyboard/laptop io setup you could just about run a business from your phone anywhere in the world with very little footprint.

for about 9 minutes before that GPU crushes our VERY outdated battery technology ;-)
seeing things like this depress me - as it seems everyone is going for huge computing performance and there are no stories of battery tech that hints at anything BIG coming out anytime in the (near) future !!! grrr

 

[GAstorino]

You are so right. 2013 computer tech with 1950 battery tech.

 

[FoxKat]

Now if they can create a 500 meg micro sd card for my phone and better keyboard/laptop io setup you could just about run a business from your phone anywhere in the world with very little footprint.

500 Meg?? I want 5 Terabytes!! I currently use an Apple (blech!) Bluetooth keyboard and Logitech Bluetooth mouse, have an HDMI out to a 27" HD TV, and if lag were out of the way, I COULD run a business from it. With the PowerVR G6630, I am sure I could. Here's to 2014!! :icon_ banana:

 

[GAstorino]

Yeah so 50' battery tech. I remember when I was a kid used to have a glass bulb with a thing that spun when you shown light on it. You would think that someone would come up with the simple tech of getting some power from light just shining on the screen as you worked on it, or some kind of solar thing built into parts of the phone. Just to get 5 or 10% extra power from those things would be nice.

 

[johnomaz]

There was a recent battery tech discovered where crushed silicon makes Li-Ion batters so much better. Crushed silicon can create a smartphone battery that lasts three times longer than current cells Part of the increase in power is also the efficiency at which it runs. Its why modern desktop CPUs can perform so much better than their 5 year old siblings at the same clock speed. Nothing is wrong with a 1950MaH battery as long as the hardware is efficient in how it uses power.

 

[jerkwad]

There was a recent battery tech discovered where crushed silicon makes Li-Ion batters so much better. Crushed silicon can create a smartphone battery that lasts three times longer than current cells Part of the increase in power is also the efficiency at which it runs. Its why modern desktop CPUs can perform so much better than their 5 year old siblings at the same clock speed. Nothing is wrong with a 1950MaH battery as long as the hardware is efficient in how it uses power.

agreed, to an extent. but you can't tell me that this new GPU (at 60x performance) is going to be ANY less power hungry than current GPUs. So basically if this new GPU is 60x more powerful, even if you want to say that it is 10x more efficient in its usage of power, it would STILL chew through the battery 6x as fast - and I would guess that it won't be 10x as efficient...bottom line is our batteries are the choke-point. I am sure there are great battery technologies out there but the cpu/gpu race is far outpacing any gains in batteries thus far - hence my disappointment at the "Performance Race" w/o also addressing the MaH requirements...at our current hardware tech and efficiency levels there is plenty wrong with a 1950MaH battery, in my opinion.

it's just like putting a huge engine in a small car with a 2 gallon gas tank. sure you might get wicked performance but you won't travel more than 5 miles before you are on empty. to me that is pointless.

PS - i'm just mad and grumpy that we don't have better battery tech out right now - i love the progress we are making in all other areas these days!

 

[dgstorm]

There was a recent battery tech discovered where crushed silicon makes Li-Ion batters so much better. Crushed silicon can create a smartphone battery that lasts three times longer than current cells Part of the increase in power is also the efficiency at which it runs. Its why modern desktop CPUs can perform so much better than their 5 year old siblings at the same clock speed. Nothing is wrong with a 1950MaH battery as long as the hardware is efficient in how it uses power.

Yep. We covered that story that day as well. Here's our link for it: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...shed-silicon-could-triple-battery-output.html

As far as jerkwad's argument goes, he has good logic if chipset technology worked like an engine, but it doesn't. This new GPU likely won't require that much more power than current GPU tech. The reason for this is that it's improved performance does not happen because it is operating at higher frequencies, which would require more energy. The reason the chip is so much faster is because they can squeeze more transistors in a smaller space than the previous generations. While it will still require a bit more power to push electrons through all of those extra transistors, the efficiency is not diminished that much, and in fact if they use more advanced data routing methods and other tweaks, the efficiency of this new chip will likely be about the same as current chips. Even if it is a little worse, it won't be dramatically different, and their ability to turn off unneeded cores will enhance things even further.

The better analogy for this chip is it is like a 4 cylinder engine with a turbo added on. You still get good fuel efficiency yet you also get a huge boost in horsepower.

Your argument that they need to work on better batteries is absolutely valid regardless. One good thing about chip technology moving at such a rapid pace is that with the newer super-computers we can now work out calculations that would not have been possible before. This in turn will help us figure out new ways to improve batteries!

 

[jerkwad]

^ i like your turbo 4cyl analogy better ;-) it will be interesting to see the efficiency levels of these newer techs...i hope, for everyone's sake, that they do maintain or improve efficiencies - otherwise, we are taking 1 step forward and 1.5 steps back in terms of useability. Thanks for adding positive substance to the discussion

 

[lloydstrans]

The problem with battery technology is no one wants to pay for it. We have the resources over hear to build, not necessarily better batteries, but hold them to tighter tolerances which in turn make them better. China pumps out thousands and could care less. Look at this forum and see how battery life differs

 

[FoxKat]

Yep. We covered that story that day as well. Here's our link for it: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...shed-silicon-could-triple-battery-output.html

As far as jerkwad's argument goes, he has good logic if chipset technology worked like an engine, but it doesn't. This new GPU likely won't require that much more power than current GPU tech. The reason for this is that it's improved performance does not happen because it is operating at higher frequencies, which would require more energy. The reason the chip is so much faster is because they can squeeze more transistors in a smaller space than the previous generations. While it will still require a bit more power to push electrons through all of those extra transistors, the efficiency is not diminished that much, and in fact if they use more advanced data routing methods and other tweaks, the efficiency of this new chip will likely be about the same as current chips. Even if it is a little worse, it won't be dramatically different, and their ability to turn off unneeded cores will enhance things even further.

The better analogy for this chip is it is like a 4 cylinder engine with a turbo added on. You still get good fuel efficiency yet you also get a huge boost in horsepower.

Your argument that they need to work on better batteries is absolutely valid regardless. One good thing about chip technology moving at such a rapid pace is that with the newer super-computers we can now work out calculations that would not have been possible before. This in turn will help us figure out new ways to improve batteries!

^ i like your turbo 4cyl analogy better ;-) it will be interesting to see the efficiency levels of these newer techs...i hope, for everyone's sake, that they do maintain or improve efficiencies - otherwise, we are taking 1 step forward and 1.5 steps back in terms of useability. Thanks for adding positive substance to the discussion

4 cylinder with turbo is a good analogy but perhaps a better analogy is a 12 cylinder engine with multi-displacement technology, where it can shut down 4 or even 8 cylinders when cruising, using 4 cylinders on a straightaway on a limited access highway such as a turnpike, running at 1900 rpm and doing 70 mph, but if you want to pass, you press the pedal and it kicks in 4 more cylinders to give you 8 cylinder acceleration and torque...or when pulling a load like a trailer and going up hill when it pulls out all the stops and runs on 12 cylinders for the massive torque and horsepower that those 12 cylinders give.

I have a Dodge Durango with a 5.7 Liter Hemi 8 cylinder Multi-Displacement engine and it does 1/2 of the above, shutting down 4 of the 8 cylinders when the throttle is closed or at steady speeds. It''s pretty neat as I am able to hear it and watch the tachometer drop from about 2,250 RPMs to about 1,900 RPMs and settle into a cruising speed. Mine has a "towing" button on the shift lever that turns off the Multi-Displacement - essentially bypassing it and keeping it running on all 8 cylinders, so the additional load while towing doesn't cause it to toggle repeatedly between 4 and 8 cylinders.

The added benefit from a "multi-displacement" processor is that unlike an engine which still has all the additional friction and overhead to move all that additional steel, valves and pistons even when the cylinders are shut down, the processor's deactivated cores will consume nearly NO power during their standby periods. Also unlike an engine which has to take time to rev up, the additional cores on the processor can jump in at "full throttle" in micro-seconds, provide just the boost needed and then shut down again in less time than the human mind can detect.

Divide and conquer!!

 

[lloydstrans]

As long as we are throwing analogies around, a Brayton cycle motor with reheat would fit in well.

 

[FoxKat]

As long as we are throwing analogies around, a Brayton cycle motor with reheat would fit in well.

Smart alec!!

 

[kodiak799]

Exciting stuff. If you're talking a 1.5ghz single-threaded chip, 60X is equivalent to a quad-core chip with 8 threads running at 7.5ghz! Although I've always wondered if smartphone cpu speeds are equivalent to laptops. Nevertheless, that would be enough power for everything I run (provided we get the ram up to 8+ gigs). Would be nice not to have to lug around a laptop, but maybe a tablet and keyboard that I could take advantage of a larger screen and extended battery life.

And then as far as being a laptop replacement, if you really have to use all the horses you probably would be plugged into a power source, anyway. That kind of power in a padphone-type configuration could dominate.