Imagination Technologies IMG DXD Graphics IP
A new architecture developed to be scalable across mobile, desktop and cloud systems.
Imagination Technologies is a provider of new graphics architectures that are used by companies like Innosilicon for their Fantasy series. The company provides an architecture that can be utilized by all sorts of systems, discrete and integrated graphics solutions, depending on what the third party requires. Performance and supported APIs are said to have improved with the latest architecture called DXD.
The company already offers various series of GPU IPs, such as A-Series for smart TVs, B-Series for entry-level/mid-range performance segments, the CXT and DXT for premium mobile devices, CXM for scalable architecture with 50% more performance compared to BXM. The DXD being introduced today is designed for high-performance segments especially those in the cloud servers.
The company is officially advertising their DXD architecture for cloud gaming and desktop experiences, but the most important feature is full support for DirectX 11 Feature Level 11_0. Moreover, it supports Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL 4.6 via Zink, OpenGL ES 3.2 and OpenCL 3.0, it should run smoothly on the popular e-sports titles, but the lack of DirectX12 support is something not to be ignored. Also worth adding that Windows 11 support is not mentioned in the official specs, but Windows 10 is.
Imagination Technologies also clams that their new DXD architecture has a new dedicated 2D mode support through their TPU (Texture Processing Unit), this feature is called “2D Dual-Rate Texturing”. By using this ‘past path’, high-performance image and game post-processing will see a 2x increase in bilinear filtering performance, it is claimed.
Pipelined Data Masters
Moreover, DXD GPUs will introduce Pipelines Data Masters, in an effort to streamline GPU workload. This should translate into higher performance and efficiency. These Data Masters are special fixed function units that handle geometry, pixel, compute and housekeeping tasks within the GPU. The pipelines will ensure that the next task will commence as soon as the first task is completed.
IMG DXD graphics IP also includes C-programmable RISC-V based firmware. This handheld front-end scheduling of the GPU, and it is said to be 40% faster at handling GPU management events.
In terms of performance, the company claims 2.25x the per-core graphics performance of the previous generation. The new dual-core design will offer 4.6 TFLOPS of performance and up to 144 GTexels. This not a high-end solution, but that should be enough for mainstream gaming.
Imagination Technologies believe that their DXD GPU IP should be particularly appealing to cloud gaming providers. The company also has close ties with various China-based companies like Innosilicon or Moore Threads.
| IMG DXD-72-2304 MC2 Graphics Processor | |
|---|---|
| Headline features | OS Support |
| ⋅ DX11 FL11_0 support ⋅ Fragment Shading Rate ⋅ 2D Dual-Rate Texturing ⋅ Pipelined Data Masters ⋅ RISC-V Firmware ⋅ ASTC HDR Support | ⋅ Windows 10 ⋅ Linux Consumer ⋅ Linux X.org ⋅ Android |
| API Support | Performance |
| ⋅ DX11 D3D FL11_0 ⋅ Vulkan 1.3 ⋅ OpenGL 4.6 via Zink ⋅ OpenGL ES 3.x/2.0/1.1 + Extensions ⋅ OpenCL 3.0 FP | ⋅ 4,608 FP32 FLOPs/Clock ⋅ 8,192 FP16 FLOPs/Clock ⋅ 18,432 DOT8 Ops/Clock |
Source: Imagination Technologies
