Imagination GPU cleared for RISC-V CPU compatibility, licensed to chip designers
(2022/01/27)
- Reference: 1643281389
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/01/27/gpu_riscv_imagination/
- Source link:
It seems we're a step closer to system-on-chips containing a mix of RISC-V CPU cores and a mainstream GPU powering Linux devices and the like.
Imagination Technologies' [1]BXE-2-32 [2]entry-to-mid-level GPU has been tested and validated to work with RISC-V-compatible CPU cores – and licensed to several companies building RISC-V chips, including RIOS Lab, SiFive, and Yadro, the biz told The Register .
That means we could soon see devices featuring system-on-chips that bring together RISC-V CPU cores and Imagination's graphics-rendering tech.
[3]
RISC-V system-on-chips using the BXE GPU could be used for gaming, though right now it's more likely they'll be used in applications ranging from augmented and virtual reality to in-vehicle entertainment systems and wearables, Jim Wallace, senior director of business development at Imagination, told us. Imagination’s GPUs will work with any RISC-V ISA compliant CPU core, he confirmed.
[4]
[5]
While it's already possible to use, say, an AMD Radeon GPU with PCIe-capable RISC-V systems, such as SiFive's HiFive Unleashed board, [6]using open-source drivers , that's more of a desktop setup. Imagination's [7]announcement heralds its early lead in bringing GPUs to RISC-V SoCs, allowing devices of all shapes and sizes to render accelerated graphics.
RISC-V is an up-and-coming alternative to x86 and Arm. RISC-V International sets the open-source specification, which can be used royalty free to implement CPU cores in microprocessors and system-on-chips. Imagination's compliant GPU fills a big gap in the RISC-V world, bringing it closer to offering a truly well-rounded architecture that can take market-dominating rivals. Arm, don't forget, licenses not just CPU cores to chip designers but also GPU engines.
[8]
So far, development of RISC-V-friendly graphics processors has been a fragmented effort, though RISC-V International this year is [9]establishing a formal group to develop GPUs, with a focus on shading and artificial intelligence applications.
[10]Chatter around GPUs for RISC-V is growing
[11]HP's solution to running GPU-accelerated Linux apps on high-end Z workstations: Rely on Microsoft's WSL2
[12]GPU makers promise relief is at hand over chip shortages, prices expected to fall in second half of the year
Imagination's graphics engines are used in Arm-based mobile chips from the likes of Mediatek. Apple [13]tapped up Imagination's PowerVR architecture for its smartphones, tablets, and parts of its Macs. Imagination is [14]evaluating the compatibility of its GPUs with DirectX, which drives Windows gaming. The BXE is compatible with the Vulkan 1.2, OpenGL ES 3.x/2.0/1.1, OpenCL 3.0, and Android NN HAL APIs, and is primarily aimed at Linux and Android devices.
Imagination has designed its own RISC-V CPU core called Catapult. The IMG BXE-2-32 GPU was validated by Andes Technology using its [15]AX45 64-bit RISC-V CPU on an FPGA, which ran graphics workloads and benchmarks on Linux.
The BXE-series GPUs were launched in late 2020 for applications including entry-level gaming. The chips support 720p to 8K video playback. The FPGA environment included networking, memory, and other peripherals. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://imaginationtech.com/product/img-bxe-2-32/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/13/imagination_b_series/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YfLPvJw@DRgK1kqjndhNAQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfLPvJw@DRgK1kqjndhNAQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YfLPvJw@DRgK1kqjndhNAQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/RISCV/comments/kcu4k3/anyone_know_what_amd_radeon_card_should_just_work/
[7] https://imaginationtech.com/news/imagination-and-andes-jointly-validate-gpu-with-risc-v-cpu-ip/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfLPvJw@DRgK1kqjndhNAQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/04/riscv_international_cto_interview/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/09/gpus_for_riscv/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/12/hp_z_wsl2/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/06/gpu_shortages_relief/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/02/imagination_apple_ip_deal/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/04/imagination_ldirectx_gpu/
[15] http://www.andestech.com/en/products-solutions/andescore-processors/riscv-ax45/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Imagination Technologies' [1]BXE-2-32 [2]entry-to-mid-level GPU has been tested and validated to work with RISC-V-compatible CPU cores – and licensed to several companies building RISC-V chips, including RIOS Lab, SiFive, and Yadro, the biz told The Register .
That means we could soon see devices featuring system-on-chips that bring together RISC-V CPU cores and Imagination's graphics-rendering tech.
[3]
RISC-V system-on-chips using the BXE GPU could be used for gaming, though right now it's more likely they'll be used in applications ranging from augmented and virtual reality to in-vehicle entertainment systems and wearables, Jim Wallace, senior director of business development at Imagination, told us. Imagination’s GPUs will work with any RISC-V ISA compliant CPU core, he confirmed.
[4]
[5]
While it's already possible to use, say, an AMD Radeon GPU with PCIe-capable RISC-V systems, such as SiFive's HiFive Unleashed board, [6]using open-source drivers , that's more of a desktop setup. Imagination's [7]announcement heralds its early lead in bringing GPUs to RISC-V SoCs, allowing devices of all shapes and sizes to render accelerated graphics.
RISC-V is an up-and-coming alternative to x86 and Arm. RISC-V International sets the open-source specification, which can be used royalty free to implement CPU cores in microprocessors and system-on-chips. Imagination's compliant GPU fills a big gap in the RISC-V world, bringing it closer to offering a truly well-rounded architecture that can take market-dominating rivals. Arm, don't forget, licenses not just CPU cores to chip designers but also GPU engines.
[8]
So far, development of RISC-V-friendly graphics processors has been a fragmented effort, though RISC-V International this year is [9]establishing a formal group to develop GPUs, with a focus on shading and artificial intelligence applications.
[10]Chatter around GPUs for RISC-V is growing
[11]HP's solution to running GPU-accelerated Linux apps on high-end Z workstations: Rely on Microsoft's WSL2
[12]GPU makers promise relief is at hand over chip shortages, prices expected to fall in second half of the year
Imagination's graphics engines are used in Arm-based mobile chips from the likes of Mediatek. Apple [13]tapped up Imagination's PowerVR architecture for its smartphones, tablets, and parts of its Macs. Imagination is [14]evaluating the compatibility of its GPUs with DirectX, which drives Windows gaming. The BXE is compatible with the Vulkan 1.2, OpenGL ES 3.x/2.0/1.1, OpenCL 3.0, and Android NN HAL APIs, and is primarily aimed at Linux and Android devices.
Imagination has designed its own RISC-V CPU core called Catapult. The IMG BXE-2-32 GPU was validated by Andes Technology using its [15]AX45 64-bit RISC-V CPU on an FPGA, which ran graphics workloads and benchmarks on Linux.
The BXE-series GPUs were launched in late 2020 for applications including entry-level gaming. The chips support 720p to 8K video playback. The FPGA environment included networking, memory, and other peripherals. ®
Get our [16]Tech Resources
[1] https://imaginationtech.com/product/img-bxe-2-32/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/10/13/imagination_b_series/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YfLPvJw@DRgK1kqjndhNAQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfLPvJw@DRgK1kqjndhNAQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YfLPvJw@DRgK1kqjndhNAQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.reddit.com/r/RISCV/comments/kcu4k3/anyone_know_what_amd_radeon_card_should_just_work/
[7] https://imaginationtech.com/news/imagination-and-andes-jointly-validate-gpu-with-risc-v-cpu-ip/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YfLPvJw@DRgK1kqjndhNAQAAAM8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/04/riscv_international_cto_interview/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/09/gpus_for_riscv/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/12/hp_z_wsl2/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/06/gpu_shortages_relief/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2020/01/02/imagination_apple_ip_deal/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/04/imagination_ldirectx_gpu/
[15] http://www.andestech.com/en/products-solutions/andescore-processors/riscv-ax45/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: I'm curious
Tom 7
I half agree with where your coming from. I would much prefer a GPU that is open ala RISC-V but if its a way to get a decent SOC for now...
Re: I'm curious
3arn0wl
Imagination's GPU designs are proprietary, I believe. Based on MIPS?
I don't think it's going to be too long now before we start seeing Open Source RISC-V GPUs. It's noticeable that most of the Open Source RISC-V designs are coming from China.
Re: I'm curious
Andy 73
To be honest, if everyone had your attitude ("where's my free stuff"), I'd not blame developers for hesitating before open sourcing a design that will take a significant amount of work to get going.
Windows version
CommonBloke
Will be nice to see if they manage to deliver a Windows version that works with x86 CPUs, see some new blood to put AMD and Nvidia on alert. My wish is that it has a performance comparable to a 1060 while costing less than a 1050, though maybe i'm just daydreaming too much
Imagination
Pascal Monett
I wonder what their on-hold music is like . . .
Tom Chiverton 1
Paging Mr Upton.... paging Mr Upton... it's time to give up your arm...
I'm curious
What's the licence on Imagination's GPU? If it's less free than RISC-V I'll wait for one that matches thanks.