You may have heard of the PowerVR SGX543MP -- you know, the GPU behind Sony's NGP and possibly on its way to the iPad 2 and iPhone 5 -- but chances are, you've yet to see it working up close. Well, feast your graphics-hungry eyes on this: that's Futuremark's Tai Chi benchmark running on a tellingly sheathed device at GDC 2011, working the MP2 (dual-core) iteration of the processor, and that fine smartphone to its right is the Nexus S, sporting the PowerVR SGX540 you've come to know and love. As you can tell, Imagination Technologies' promises of 4X the performance aren't just baseless boasts -- the lady on the left moves with grace and fluidity, while her counterpart on the right is all sorts of herky-jerky. Think that's fast? Check out what the GPU can do with two more cores.
Imagination Technologies may not be a household name, but they created thePowerVR GPUsthat are the gold standard in mobile graphics, and are a part of the ARM SoCs you find in mobile devices like theiPhone 4,Galaxy S, and theDroid 2. Not one to rest on its laurels, the company unveiled its new Series 6 PowerVR chips -- affectionately known as 'Rogue' -- that are20 to 100 times more powerfulthan its previous handheld offerings. That's right, these GPUs will have the same horsepower as today's desktop computers while needing only a milliwatt of juice to deliver face-melting graphics -- the catch is that this bit of black magic won't be showing up in devices for a few years. Guess we'll just have to settle for the Series 5 chips -- likethe quad core beast found in the Sony NGPand the upcomingOMAP 5platform -- which the company promises will make their way into select smartphones "within three months." Be still, our gaming hearts.
