ARM touts high-end graphics for CE devices

System supports up to one billion pixels a second

Written by Robert Jaques

vnunet.com, 02 Jun 2008

ARM has unveiled its Mali-400 MP multiprocessor graphics system which it claims can deliver performance of up to one billion pixels per second.

The chip firm said that power consumption and area efficiency are key aspects of the Mali-400 MP GPU design.

The scalable multi-core graphics processing design will help bring graphics acceleration to "almost any device with a screen", the company claims.

The Mali-400 MP architecture offers support for one to four processors, and is designed for a variety of devices from mobile phones "through to 1080p-based iDTVs".

"We see an increasing need for pixel processing of up to 1G pixels in the home as HD screens become ubiquitous," said Ola Larsen, vice president of marketing at TAT, an ARM Mali developer relations programme partner.

"The set-top box and digital TV user interface will never be the same once graphics acceleration such as Mali technology becomes the standard."

The graphics acceleration capability of consumer devices is rapidly becoming a must-have

Michael Dimelow ARM

Michael Dimelow, director of marketing at ARM's Media Processing Division, added: "The battle for consumers' attention across all product markets means that the graphics acceleration capability of these devices is rapidly becoming a must-have.

"Consumers expect an equally compelling user experience when accessing content from their mobile and digital home entertainment devices."