ARM Claims PS3-Like Graphics On Upcoming Mobile GPU

l_bratch writes, quoting from the BBC, "'British computer chip designer ARM has unveiled its latest graphics processing unit (GPU) for mobile devices. The Mali-T658 offers up to ten times the performance of its predecessor." ARM claims that its latest GPU, which will be ready in around two years, will have graphics performance akin to the PlayStation 3. If this has acceptable power consumption for a mobile device, could we be seeing ultra-low power hardware in high-end PCs and consoles soon?"

Re:Yea right

[Jeng]

Because we are getting to the point in technology that us humans won't be able to perceive the difference in graphics.

You can only make something so lifelike, after that you might as well aim at efficiency.

Re:In two years

[poetmatt]

umm, look at the tegra 3. ARM graphics are catching up to consoles quite easily (consoles were always behind). Remember, it's been 3 years where we went from "ARM can barely handle nintendo emulation (single core/500mhz/125mhz gpu)" to "ARM is competing with PS3(4 cores, 1.5ghz, 300+mhz multicore gpu)". In *3* years. All with devices that are more efficient with power than anything intel can offer. So what do you see for the next 12 months, let alone 3-4 years? Even if the increases slow down they're basically going to make x86 processors irrelevant.

Re:Resolution!

[Sockatume]

The Galaxy Nexus' built-in display is 720p. (That it's Pentile is irrelevant to this issue.) If it follows a similar arc to the original Nexus those screens will be showing up in low-end phoens within a couple of years.

Re:Hollywood has bigger screens to fill

[TheRaven64]

The more important limitation is not human perception, it's cost. Remember the models in Quake? Remember the mods? A fairly competent 3D artist could knock out something like the Quake guy in a day or two. Now compare that to a modern game. A single tree in a modern FPS has more complexity than every model on a Quake level combined. That all translates to vastly more artist time, which translates to greater expense. For a Pixar film, you can spend a huge amount developing and texturing every model, but for a game the upper limit is a lot lower.