Apple A9 / PowerVR GT7600 vs ARM Mali-T860 MP2 vs ARM Mali-T830 MP3
Apple A9 / PowerVR GT7600
► remove from comparisonThe PowerVR GT7600 from Imagination Technologies is a high-end smartphone GPU as part of the Apple A9 SoC for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. At the time of announcement on September 2015, it is the fastest GPU for smartphones and even bests current tablet GPUs.
Architecture
The GT7600 is part of the Series 7XT line-up and is based on a unified shader architecture with 6 clusters that integrate 384 (FP16) and 192 (FP32) ALU cores. Compared to the Series 6XT GPU in the Apple A8 and A8x, ImgTec states that the performance and efficiency of the cores have been improved. Furthermore, the GPU features support for virtualization, hardware-based security, geometry shaders, tessellation, native 10-bit YUV and ASTC LDR/HDR. DirectX 11 and OpenCL FP64 are optional features that are likely not implemented on Apple smartphones and tablets.
Performance
The PowerVR GT7600 is clearly the fastest smartphone GPU on the market as of September 2015. In all of our benchmarks, the GPU is able to beat even the fastest tablet and smartphone GPUs like the PowerVR GXA6850 in the A8x (iPad Air 2), Tegra K1 (Nvidia Shield Tablet) and Adreno 430 (various flagship smartphones). The ARM Mali-T760 MP8 (7420 Octa) in the Galaxy S6 line-up is also no match for the PowerVR GPU.
The Tegra X1 in the Shield TV console is able to beat the GT7600 in 3DMark 2013 Unlimited GPU (135%), but falls behind in GFXBench 3.0 Manhattan with 79% of the performance. Thanks to the efficient use of the GPU (e.g., IOS apps using Metal), we are expecting a graphical step up in 3D games.
Power Consumption
The PowerVR GT7600 in the Apple A9 should be very energy efficient due in part to the use of 3D transistors and an improved 14/16 nm fabrication process.
Note: The PowerVR GT7600 in the Apple A9 is not officially confirmed by Apple!
ARM Mali-T860 MP2
► remove from comparisonThe ARM Mali-T860 MP2 is a mobile graphics solution that can be found in ARM SoCs like the Mediatek Helio P10. The chip is available since Q1/2015 and supports OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenCL 1.2 and DirectX 11.1. The Mali-T860 can be built with 1 to 16 clusters, where the MP2 version features 2 clusters/cores.
The MP2 version is used e.g. in the Mediatek Helio P10 at 700 MHz and performs similar to a Adreno 405 or Mali-T628 with a low core count (e.g. MP2 or MP4). Therfore, only low demanding gaming are suited for the GPU.
In the Helio P10 the GPU is manufactured in 28nm at TSMC.
ARM Mali-T830 MP3
► remove from comparisonThe ARM Mali-T830 MP3 is an integrated graphics card for smartphones and tablets. It first appeared in the Samsung Exynos 7880 in the beginning of 2017. The chip features three clusters and supports OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 1.2 and DirectX 11 (FL 9_3).
The performance should be similar to the old ARM Mali-T860 MP2 and therefore all typical Android games should run fluently.
The ARM Mali-T830 MP3 in the Exynos 7880 is manufactured in 14 nm and therefore also suited for smaller smartphones.
Apple A9 / PowerVR GT7600 | ARM Mali-T860 MP2 | ARM Mali-T830 MP3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mali-T800 Series |
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Codename | Rogue | Midgard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | PowerVR Rogue | Midgard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pipelines | 192 - unified | 2 - unified | 2 - unified | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shared Memory | no | no | no | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
API | DirectX 11_2, OpenGL 4.3, ES 3.x | DirectX 11.1, OpenGL ES 3.1 AEP | DirectX 11 (FL 9_3), OpenGL ES 3.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
technology | 14 nm | 28 nm | 16 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | OpenGL® ES 1.x/2.0/3.x*, AEP, OpenGL 3.3*, DirectX 10_0, OpenCL™ 1.2 EP*, (DirectX 11_2, OpenGL 4.3*, OpenCL 1.2 FP*) | Open CL 1.2 | OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 1.2, DirectX 11 (FL 9_3) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date of Announcement | 09.09.2015 | 01.01.2015 | 01.04.2016 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Link to Manufacturer Page | imgtec.com | www.arm.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Core Speed | 700 MHz | 600 (Boost) MHz |
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