PowerVR GPU family now offers range from single-cluster to six cluster cores

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, Barcelona, Spain – 25th February 2013 – Imagination Technologies (IMG.L), a leading multimedia, processor, communications and cloud technologies company, today announces the smallest area member of the ground-breaking PowerVR Series6 ‘Rogue’ family, which will enable mass-market adoption of OpenGL ES 3.0.

PowerVR G6100 is a new area optimized GPU IP core that features one ‘Rogue’-architecture shader execution cluster, making it the smallest and most efficient graphics core designed for OpenGL ES 3.0 available on the market. PowerVR Series6 is one of the first GPU architectures to achieve conformance for OpenGL ES 3.0*.

The PowerVR G6100 joins the existing range of Series6 graphics IP cores to build a comprehensive and flexible GPU roadmap of one, two, four and six-cluster parts that address all aspects of the mobile and embedded market, from mass-market smartphones and tablets to high-end designs.

Products shipping now from Imagination’s partners are already showing the benefits of OpenGL ES 3.0 in driving more and more processing onto the GPU for the fastest graphics and compute performance, freeing CPU resources and reducing power consumption in mobile devices. With G6100 Imagination can drive the adoption of OpenGL ES 3.0, and this important movement of work onto the GPU, from the most mass market phones to the most capable tablets and consoles.

G6100 is designed to enable high-quality graphics and efficient GPU compute performance for mobile solutions where area is limited but advanced OpenGL ES 3.0 graphics performance is still desired. No other IP solution provides the breadth of features or performance of G6100 in as efficient a silicon footprint.

G6100 offers the optimal balance between silicon area and performance for designing an OpenGL ES 3.0 capable range of high resolution or multi-screen low cost devices. The G6100’s single USC (Unified Shader Cluster), combined with a high performance texture mapping unit, is able to comfortably deliver the same raw fill rates as multi-processor GPUs from the previous generation.

Says Tony King-Smith, EVP marketing, Imagination: “With PowerVR Series6 we are delivering our partners a truly scalable roadmap that addresses all requirements from mass market mobile and embedded to high-end gaming and GPU compute. The PowerVR G6100 is able to offer the best performance and lowest power consumption at a very small area. Furthermore, its full software compatibility with all other ‘Rogue’ cores means software development costs across the family are kept to a minimum.

“We believe G6100 will drive mass market adoption of OpenGL ES 3.0 capable ultra-portable mobile devices, from mass market smartphones to exciting new categories like wearable computers.”

Inside the PowerVR Series6 ‘Rogue’ architecture

Based on a scalable number of compute clusters, the PowerVR Series6 architecture is designed to target the requirements of a growing range of demanding markets from mobile to the highest performance embedded graphics including smartphones, tablets, PC, console, automotive and TV. Using these arrays of programmable computing elements PowerVR G6xxx cores deliver class-leading GPU Compute power efficiency while minimising power and bandwidth demands.

PowerVR Series6 GPUs deliver full support for all popular and emerging GPU compute APIs including OpenCL 1.x and Renderscript Compute/Filterscript, delivering an optimal balance of performance versus power consumption for mobile and embedded devices. Members of the Series6 family are designed to support the features of the latest graphics APIs including OpenGL ES 3*/2/1.1, OpenGL 3.x/4.x, and full WHQL-compliant DirectX9.3/10, with certain family members extending their capabilities to DirectX11.1 functionality.

The PowerVR Series6 family of GPUs delivers a significant portfolio of new technologies and features, including: advanced scalable compute cluster architecture; high efficiency compression technology including lossless image and parameter compression and the widely respected PVRTC2 texture compression; an enhanced scheduling architecture; dedicated housekeeping based on Imagination’s processor technology; and a new generation Tile Based Deferred Rendering architecture. These features combine to produce a highly latency tolerant architecture that consumes the lowest memory bandwidth in the industry while delivering the optimal performance per mm2 or per mW depending on configuration.

About PowerVR

Imagination's PowerVR graphics technologies are licensed by world leading companies to power iconic products delivering the best in smartphone, tablet, TV and console apps, including the most advanced user interfaces and highest performance gaming.

PowerVR GPU technology is driven by one of the world’s largest engineering teams dedicated to graphics processor development. It is complemented by Imagination’s PowerVR Insider ecosystem, which provides extensive support and tools to a vibrant community of more than 35,000 developers, who have already created hundreds of thousands of apps optimised for PowerVR powered devices.

Imagination’s PowerVR graphics technologies are the de facto standard for mobile and embedded graphics. PowerVR Series6 is already in silicon with multiple partners, with some already shipping.

About Imagination Technologies

Imagination Technologies - a global leader in multimedia, processor and communication technologies - creates and licenses market-leading processor solutions including graphics, video, vision, CPU & embedded processing, multi-standard communications, cross-platform V.VoIP & VoLTE and cloud connectivity. These silicon and software intellectual property (IP) solutions for systems-on-chip (SoC) are complemented by an extensive portfolio of software, tools and ecosystems. Target markets include mobile phone, connected home consumer, mobile and tablet computing, in-car electronics, networking, telecoms, health, smart energy and connected sensors. Imagination's licensees include many of the world's leading semiconductor manufacturers, network operators and OEM/ODMs. Corporate headquarters are located in the United Kingdom, with sales and R&D offices worldwide. See: www.imgtec.com.