ARM Cortex-A73: forget about aggressive throttling

ARM presented a new mobile processor architecture Cortex-A73 and the new layout Mali G71, which are not only more powerful and more energy-efficient than their predecessors, but also to ensure long time working in full force.

ARM Cortex-A73: forget about aggressive throttling

Fig. ARM

ARM Cortex-A73 to be 30% faster than the ARM Cortex-A72, and at the same time use up to 30 percent less energy. The core will be built on 64-bit architecture and will be manufactured in 10-nanometer process – although the market may also appear circuits produced in 14 and 16nm. The maximum clock speed can be as high as 2.8 GHz (2.5 GHz Cortex-A72). The new cores can be combined with energy-efficient core Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A35. But this time is not the same performance for ARM is the most important, and the ability to maintain it at the highest level for as long as possible. Many of today's processors, mostly created just for the ARM architecture (more or less intrusive manufacturers), suffers from the so-called. thermal throttling. In itself it is not a bad phenomenon, because it saves on the processors from overheating, but in many cases it is too aggressive, so efficiency is reduced too fast and too hard. This can be especially troublesome even with virtual reality, where maintaining a constant frame rate affects the usability of the solution. Through the efforts of the new ARM Cortex-A73 has a much better maintain consistent performance, without the negative effects of overheating.

Mali G71: powerful GPU, designed for VR

Fig. ARM

ARM also presented the layout Mali G71, built in the architecture of Bifrost. Its major asset is to be support for HSA (Heterogeneous System Architecture), which allows the GPU and CPU to simultaneously access the same data across the address space, which is to speed up their action. Mali G71 is also support for a fully open API Vulcan. Mali G71 will be in the ratio of 1: 1 and a half times more efficient than the small-T880, and the strongest configuration may be made ​​with up to 32 cores, although of course there will be less rich cores equivalents (configuration of 4, 6, 8 and 16 cores) . The new GPU is to check first of all the virtual reality as it is to be capable of rendering a constant and high number of frames per second, with the least possible delay. To top smartphone will most likely 16-core variant of Mali G71, which by ARM to be more powerful than the popular ,, '' deskopowych GPU with 2015 whatever that means. Systems using ARM Cortex-A73 and Mali G71 will enter production late this year, so at the earliest commercial devices will appear in the first quarter of 2017 years.