ARM launches new CPUs and GPUs: Based on Armv9 instruction set for the first time, performance is significantly improved

On the evening of May 25th, ARM launched a new generation of CPUs and GPUs, including its flagship products Cortex-X2 and Cortex-A710 CPUs and Mali-G710 GPUs. The new CPUs and GPUs are based on the new Armv9 architecture. The Armv9 instruction set was released at the end of March this year and is known as "ARM's biggest innovation and advancement in the past decade." The CPU and GPU released this time are the first chips to use the Armv9 instruction set, which means that their performance will be greatly improved, and they will have security and AI features.

Most consumers may not be familiar with the ARM core in mobile phones or computers, but in fact, the design of ARM—especially the big.LITTLE technology, which combines powerful high-performance cores with energy-efficient cores, is very popular in Android phones. universal. This means that the CPU and GPU released by ARM this time may affect the best Android phones in 2022.

Heavy release of three CPUs, significantly improved performance and energy efficiency

Arm launched three new generation microarchitectures for mobile devices and clients this year: the flagship Cortex-X2 core, the A78 follow-up product unveiled in the form of Cortex-A710, and a new small core called Cortex-A510.

Cortex-X2 is part of the Arm Cortex-X customization program, which allows partners to help design dedicated cores for specific use cases. Cortex-X2 is the successor to Cortex-X1 last year, and its performance is expected to increase by 16% compared to Cortex-X1.

Cortex-A710 is a follow-up product of Cortex-A78. ARM stated that its energy efficiency is 30% higher than A78, and its performance is increased by 10%.

However, ARM's chip upgrade is not limited to performance cores. Four years after the birth of Cortex-A55, ARM introduced the new "LITTLE" high-efficiency core Cortex-A510 for the first time to replace the Cortex-A55 design that has been mainly used on mobile phones since its launch in 2017. ARM said that Cortex-A510 will bring the biggest performance leap: 30% performance improvement and 20% energy efficiency improvement.

In addition to the three CPUs, ARM also announced a new generation of CPU cluster combination.

Compared with ARM 8.2, the performance of the new generation cluster combination (one Cortex-X2, 3 Cortex-A710 cores, 4 Cortex-A510 cores) will be greatly improved: peak performance is increased by 30% (thanks to Cortex-X2) , The overall efficiency is increased by 30% (thanks to Cortex-A710), and the performance of "LITTLE" is increased by 35% (thanks to Cortex-A510).

GPU upgrade, covering low, medium and high-end product lines

In addition to the CPU update, ARM also introduced three new GPUs: flagship product Mali-G710, mid-range product Mali-G510 and entry-level Mali-G310.

In terms of high-end products, Mali-G710 is the direct successor of Mali-G78, aiming to achieve simpler and straightforward iterative improvements: ARM's architects can achieve the highest performance based on Mali GPU. The new GPU Mali-G710 improves game performance by 20% and energy efficiency by 20%.

Mali-G510 is the successor product of Mali-G57 in 2019. It is a major upgrade of ARM's mid-range products. Compared with the previous generation products, it has achieved a great performance and energy efficiency improvement (100% performance improvement and 22% energy efficiency improvement).

The new Mali-G310 is a new low-end entry-level product based on Valhall, which represents a multi-generation architecture upgrade based on Bifrost-based Mali-G31, and is aimed at markets focused on low area efficiency and other embedded markets, such as smart TVs. .

Concluding remarks

ARM's release provides a variety of chip designs for a wide range of use cases. For example, computers may rely more on Cortex-X2 processors and independent GPU solutions, while smart phones rely more on ARM's CPU clusters and Mali-G710 GPUs. In addition, there are smart watches that use Cortex-A510 and Mali-G310.

It will take some time for new ARM designs to appear on mobile phones or devices: ARM still needs to first hand over the designs to partners, and then the partners will manufacture semiconductor products (usually announced at the end of the year) before these chips can enter the mobile phone manufacturing process.

Therefore, the appearance of new ARM CPU and GPU designs in mobile phone devices may have to wait until early 2022. This is still under the assumption that the global semiconductor product shortage will not further postpone next year's products. But ARM's latest CPU and GPU designs are still an exciting preview of the future development of smartphones.

Reference link:

• https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/25/22448107/arm-armv9-architecure-cortex-x2-a710-cpu-mali-g710-gpu-android-2022-designs
• https://www.anandtech.com/show/16693/arm-announces-mobile-armv9-cpu-microarchitectures-cortexx2-cortexa710-cortexa510
• https://www.anandtech.com/show/16694/arm-announces-new-malig710-g610-g510-g310-mobile-gpu-families