Arm unveils 5th generation GPUs with Immortalis-G720

Arm unveiled its 5th-generation graphics processing unit (GPU) architecture starting with the Arm Immortalis-G720.

The Cambridge, United Kingdom-based company made the announcement at the Computex trade show in Taiwan.

It also said its Armv9 Cortex compute cluster delivered double-digit performance gains in its third consecutive year. And it unveiled its TCS23 platform for premium mobile computing to power immersive games, real-time 3D experiences and next-gen AI apps.

It’s all against the backdrop of Arm’s belief that mobile devices touch every aspect of our digital lives. In the palm of your hand is the ability to both create and consume increasingly immersive, AI-accelerated experiences that continue to drive the need for more compute, Arm said.

The company said that every year it will build foundational platforms designed to meet increasing compute demands, with a relentless focus on high performance and efficiency. Working closely with its broader ecosystem, Arm said it is delivering the performance, efficiency and intelligence needed on every generation of consumer device to expand our digital lifestyles.

Arm claims it has the visual experiences

Last year, Arm promised a supercharged visual experience with the all-new flagship Immortalis-G715
GPU. It is delivering it in partnership with MediaTek through the TCS22-based Dimensity 9200, which is now powering benchmark-topping flagship smartphones from Oppo and Vivo.

This year, the company is excited to announce that its latest GPUs are built on the 5th Gen GPU
architecture. Designed as the most efficient GPU architecture that Arm has ever created, the 5th Gen
architecture redefines parts of the graphics pipeline to reduce memory bandwidth enabling the next
generation of high geometry games and real-time 3D applications, while also bringing smoother
gameplay and complex PC and console-like experiences to mobile.

Deferred Vertex Shading (DVS) is a new graphics feature introduced in the 5th Gen GPU architecture that redefines the dataflow, which enables partners to scale for larger core counts and higher performance points. Already, Arm said it is seeing the benefits of DVS across many popular games like Genshin Impact and Fortnite.

Immortalis-G720

Arm’s TCS23 includes the Arm Immortalis GPU based on Arm’s brand-new 5th Generation GPU architecture for ultimate visual experiences, a new cluster of Armv9 CPUs that continue performance leadership for next-gen artificial intelligence (AI), and new enhancements to deliver more accessible software for the millions of Arm developers.

The new Immortalis-G720 is Arm’s most performant and efficient GPU ever, as we continue to push the
boundaries of visual computing. It delivers 15 percent performance and efficiency improvements over
the previous generation, as well as a 40 percent uplift in system-level efficiency, leading to higher quality
graphics for more immersive visual experiences.

Alongside the Immortalis-G720, Arm also added to its portfolio of GPUs with the new Arm Mali-G720 and Mali-G620. Through these new Mali GPUs, Arm said it is committed to bringing premium graphics features to a wider market of consumer devices quicker.

CPU performance leadership for intelligent AI

Arm unveiled its Arm Total Compute Solutions 2023 (TCS23), which will be the platform for mobile computing, offering its best premium solution for smartphones. TCS23 delivers a complete package of the latest intellectual property designed and optimized for specific workloads to work seamlessly together as a complete system.

As part of TCS23, Arm is announcing a new Armv9 Cortex CPU compute cluster, which for the third consecutive year delivers double-digit performance gains alongside significant efficiency improvements.

A vital part of this high-performance cluster is the new Arm Cortex-X4, which is a fourth-generation Cortex-X core. It pushes the limit of performance on flagship smartphones. It is the fastest CPU that Arm has ever built, bringing 15% more performance compared to the Cortex-X3.

Meanwhile, the new power-efficient microarchitecture consumes 40% less power than Cortex-X3 on the same process. These performance and efficiency gains bring the on-device experiences, like UI responsiveness and application launch time, to the next level and enable next-gen AI and ML-based applications.

Arm said its CPU performance leadership extends to Arm’s new big and LITTLE cores – the Arm Cortex-A720 and Cortex-A520. Cortex-A720 is a CPU IP that boosts sustained performance as the workhorse of the cluster. Meanwhile, Cortex-A520 is Arm’s most performant high-efficiency CPU core ever. Use cases like AAA gaming, all-day productivity and background tasks all benefit from the 20% power efficiency improvements of these new CPU designs over previous generations.

Arm is focusing on tighter coupling on process nodes and compute capabilities. In this new generation of CPU designs, Arm has taken the big step of partnering deeper with TSMC by taping out the Cortex-X4 on the TSMC N3E process – an industry first. This ensures that Arm’s ecosystem is ready to maximize the PPA benefits of its processor technologies once they are taped out.

Partners include Asus, Android, Honor, Intel Foundry Services, Mediatek, Oppo, Samsung, Tencent Games, TSMC, Unity, Xiaomi and Vivo.

“Tencent Games and Arm have a solid long-term partnership. Every time Arm introduces new products
to the mobile gaming ecosystem, it means players around the world will enjoy the next generation of
computing power, and is also a precious opportunity for us to take the mobile gaming experience to a
whole new level,” said Congbing Li, vice general manager of CROS at Tencent Games, in a statement. “Recently, we have increased our cooperation with Arm to push the frontiers of real-time lighting, from
the ultimate ray tracing acceleration, based on Arm Immortalis GPUs, to highly optimal mobile renderers
and hybrid global illumination solutions such as SmartGI. We look forward to the continuing growth of our partnership around the next-gen Arm Total Compute Solutions, and will never stop delivering unprecedented gaming experiences to players worldwide.”

Rounding off the 2023 CPU cluster is Arm’s new DynamIQ Shared Unit, DSU-120, which is designed for
demanding multi-thread use cases and enables a broad range of devices from wearables to smartphones and laptops. The new CPU cluster provides performance when you want it and efficiency when you need it.

Arm said it is committed to smartphone performance and it will show in its CPU and GPU roadmap. Over the next few years, Arm will invest heavily in key IP, such as the Krake GPU and the Blackhawk CPU to deliver the compute and graphics performance our partners demand.

“Our latest collaboration with Arm is an excellent showcase of how we can enable our customers to
reach new levels of performance and efficiency with TSMC’s most advanced process technology and the
powerful Armv9 architecture,” said Dan Kochpatcharin, a TSMC exec, in a statement. “We will continue to work closely with our Open Innovation Platform (OIP) ecosystem partners like Arm to push the envelope on CPU innovations to accelerate AI, 5G, and HPC technology advances.”