ARM has announced the release of its cutting-edge mobile processor core designs and comprehensive computing solutions for 2023: Cortex-X4, A720, and A520. These cores are based on the Arm v9.2 architecture, supporting only a 64-bit instruction set and leaving behind 32-bit applications. With significant improvements in performance and efficiency, as well as enhanced security and scalability, these cores are set to change the game in the smartphone industry.
Alongside these processor cores, ARM has also unveiled its fifth-generation GPUs, including Immortalis G720, Mali G720, and Mali G620. Each GPU has been optimized and improved from its predecessor, with Immortalis G720 taking the crown as the most powerful GPU ARM has ever produced.
ARM Cores: Cortex-X4, A720, and A520
Cortex-X4: The Flagship Core
Cortex-X4 is ARM’s flagship core, designed for high-performance demands. Boasting a 15% performance improvement over last year’s X3 core and a 40% reduction in power consumption at the same frequency, the X4 core is typically used in a chip with only one or two of these cores.
Key features of the Cortex-X4 include:
- An increase in physical size by less than 10%
- 2MB L2 cache size for higher performance
- 8 arithmetic logic units (ALUs)
- 3 branch units
- An extra multiply-accumulate unit
- Pipelined floating-point and square root operations
Cortex-A720: The Performance Core
The Cortex-A720 is ARM’s performance core, balancing performance and power consumption. It offers a 20% efficiency improvement and performance enhancement at the same power as last year’s A715 core. Typically, four to six of these cores are used in a chip.
Improvements in the Cortex-A720 include:
- Shortened length
- Optimized branch prediction
- Pipelined floating-point division and square root operations
Cortex-A520: The Efficiency Core
ARM’s efficiency core, the Cortex-A520, provides a 22% efficiency improvement at the same performance as the A510 core. Designed to save power and area, the A520 core typically has two to four of these cores in a chip.
Key features of the Cortex-A520 include:
- Fused core architecture
- Shared L2 cache, L2 translation lookaside buffer, and vector data paths in a composite
- Optimized branch prediction in the front-end
ARM’s Dynamic Shared Unit (DSU-120)
ARM has also updated its Dynamic Shared Unit (DSU-120), which integrates multiple CPU cores with L3 memory system, control logic, and external interfaces to form a multicore cluster. The DSU-120 offers several improvements over the DSU-110:
- Support for up to 14 CPU cores (up from 12)
- Support for up to 32MB of L3 cache
Immortalis G720: The Groundbreaking GPU
The most significant innovation of the Immortalis G720 is the introduction of Delayed Vertex Shading (DVS) technology. This method reduces memory access and bandwidth usage, saving power and improving frame rates. DVS can reduce bandwidth usage by 40%, and overall, the Immortalis G720 offers a 15% improvement in performance per watt, a 15% increase in peak performance, and an average 15% increase in frame rate.
Other advantages of the Immortalis G720 include:
- Hardware-level ray tracing support
- Variable rate shading
- 2x MSAA module
- Up to 16 cores
Mali G720 and G620: The Versatile GPUs
Mali G720 is a versatile GPU that can have 6 to 9 cores (without ray tracing support), while the Mali G620 is suitable for the low-end market, with a maximum of 5 cores.
ARM’s new mobile processor core designs and GPUs are expected to appear in new chips at the end of this year or early next year. These innovations will revolutionize the smartphone industry, offering better efficiency, performance, security, and scalability. With the 64-bit transition now complete, ARM’s new designs are ready to push the boundaries of what mobile devices can do.
