We talked on the previous Article about the Mobile processor or SoC 'System on a Chip' like Snapdragon 888, Apple A15 Bionic ..etc , that it integrates several components and among them the GPU.
The GPU Graphics Processing Unit ( for Mobile) ? :
a GPU or Graphics Processing Unit it is also a Processor, it differs from the CPU by their parallel architecture with a large number of cores over 1000 of light cores intended for matrix tasks which produces a high speed, all that to produce an image that Composed of several pixels, if you have a Full HD (1920 x 1080) screen, the GPU in this case must be driven at 2,073,600 pixels to display an image on that screen.
Now imagine when it does 60 FPS (frames per second) or more, the GPU must therefore build 60 Frame of 2,073,600 pixels in just 1 second! , that's why the Battery drops quickly when playing with higher FPS , thus the smartphone heats up which requires a cooling circuit.
What is FPS (frames per second) and Screen Refresh Rate?
Simply the FPS is the number of images per second that the GPU can build (60fps, 90fps..etc), on the other hand the Refresh Rate is the frequency of display of the screen calculated in HZ (90HZ, 120HZ, 144HZ..etc)
to better understand we give an example:
If you want to play PUB in 90 FPS on your phone, you must have a GPU tha can build 90 FPS or higher and the Refresh rate of screen must be 90HZ or higher.
The Apple A15 Bionic GPU (iPhone 13) can generate a maximum of 198 fps, what a solid score!
 |
The Main Differences between GPU and CPU:
| CPU | GPU |
Memory | Needs more memory | Requires less memory |
Clock Speed | high speed | low speed |
No Cores | Few cores (4- 8) but very powerful | 100-1000s of light cores intended for matrix tasks
|
Serial / Parallel task / Data | Serial instruction processing but Task parallelism | Suitable for processing instructions (Data) in parallel (show image on screen/ Frame rate (FPS) |
Debit (throughput) | Emphasis on low latency. | Emphasis on high throughput. |
Instruction set ISA (The Most important!) | RISC instructions of ARM. | Requires additional software (API: Application Programming Interface) to convert CPU function to GPU function for parallel execution, most use API graphics: -OpenGL - DirectX - Vulkan |
What is API (Graphics)?:A graphics API is a specific programming interface, which allows the game developer to create 2D and 3D renderings simply and quickly, using ready-to-use functions that will be processed by the GPU, through the graphics driver. which will translate the functions into commands to be executed.
Mobile GPU manufacturers:
in the field of PC there are two Manufacturers of graphics cards AMD and NVIDIA, for SmartPhones currently there are three that dominate the market :
1. Mali GPUs (ARM) :
After Arm Holdings acquired Falanx Microsystems (spin-off of a research project from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.) they renamed the company to Arm Norway ,The biggest customers who acquire this GPU in these SOCs are: MediaTec ( Helio Series and Dimensity Series ),Samsung (Exynos Series) ,Huawei Hisilicon (Kirin Series) ARM Ltd Now is owned by Nvidia since September 2020,Imagine the power he will have with this union Mali GPU+Nvidia in this field !.
2. Adreno GPU (Qualcomm):
in 2009, Qualcomm bought Imageon from AMD and renamed it Adreno (Imageon is anagram of Radeon a division of Advanced Micro Devices AMD) ,Now Adreno GPUs are used in Snapdragon SoC (System on a Chip) , Adreno 660 is the Last GPU integrated within the Snapdragon 888 SoC.
3. Apple GPU :
Apple has been using PowerVR GPU from Imagination Technologies (UK) in its iPhones and iPads for years and now Apple building its own GPU architecture, Apple A11 Bionic GPU is the first integrated GPU that was designed by Apple used in iPhone 8 , iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X , The Last A15 Bionic GPU Released in End 2021 is one of the most powerful GPU , used in iPhone 13 , iPhone 13 Pro , iPhone 13 Pro Max.
4. AMD GPU (RDNA+2)
He is the fourth Manufacturer and recently entered the race, AMD partners with Samsung to provide RDNA 2 graphics technology for Exynos mobile SoC (exynos 2200 for Galaxy S22).
Video Codec and GPU:
Codec is the abbreviation of (encoder / decoder) one of the essentials needed for any video playing on your devices! (games ,Youtube, Netflix,LiveVideoChat..etc.
The main role of the codec is to compress the size of the video without losing its quality during transmission or storage, which "minimizes the data rate required" and takes into account the time of this operation especially when playing back real-time video (live streaming). online games,watching TV..etc.
There are several generations of codecs, each version improved compared to the previous one (H. 264, H.265, AV1, H.266...).
To encode/decode a video There are two ways :
- Software (CPU)
- Hardware (GPU)
The software solution takes longer than the hardware (GPU)!.
in smartphones The GPU is used as hardware accelerated video encoding and decoding, it workink together with DSP to CODEC an Audio Video .
0 Comments