ARM launches Mali-450 MP graphics processor

ARM has launched the ARM Mali-450 MP Graphics Processing Unit, a replacement for the successful and widely used Mali-400 MP GPU. The Mali-400 MP is used in a large number of products, including smart-TVs, Android based smartphones and tablets. Mali-450 MP extends the capabilities of devices to support up to 8 cores with greater per core performance than Mali-400 MP, and provides double the vertex processing throughput.

The die area of Mali 450-MP is a mere 8.6 mm², and includes a quad-core processor with 256 KB L2 cache. It runs at 240 MHz (in 40nm LP) or 480 MHz (in 40nm GP), and offers 104M triangles/s throughput with 3.8G pixels/s at 480 MHz.

The processing efficiency of the Mali-450 MP has been optimized for improved energy efficiency and reduced memory bandwidth. Combining these improvements with an increased latency tolerance reduces the energy requirements, as well as lowering production costs.

4 x FSAA (Full Scene Anti-Aliasing) helps to provide high quality images for 2K and 4K screen resolutions. With both 4x and 16x anti-aliasing, image quality and performance exceed other similar products. Further features for graphics processing include support to OpenGL up to v2.0 and OpenVG 1.1.

Mali-450 MP is software compatible with the older Mali-300 and Mali-400 MP, easing the transition to the newer technology for existing users.