iPhone 3GS Has More Powerful PowerVR SGX 535 GPU?
Despite the fact that it seems to be common knowledge that the iPhone 3GS uses the latest PowerVR SGX graphics processors, the specifics have remained a bit of a mystery. In an in-depth "under the hood" analysis, Anandtech guessed that Apple uses the low end 520 model in the iPhone 3GS. The PowerVR SGX chips, however, have a range of models which each carry a different set of performance characteristics.
iPhone developers, however, have discovered that the iPhone 3GS has extension files named "IMGSGX535GLDriver" suggesting that the new iPhone uses the more powerful graphics processor intended for "high end" mobile devices. This may not be entirely conclusive evidence by itself but it is consistent with a report from a Anandtech commenter who claims to have heard directly from Apple engineers at WWDC that the iPhone 3GS does indeed use the SGX 535. As seen from the above list, the 535 seems to deliver much greater performance over the originally believed 520 model as well as the 530 model found in the Palm Pre.
SGX520 (7 MPolys/s, 250Mpx/s) for the handheld mobile market
SGX530/1 (14 MPolys/s) for the handheld mobile market
SGX535 and SGX540 (28 MPolys/s) for handheld high end mobile, portable, MID, UMPC, consumer, and automotive devices
SGX540 (1000M pix/s, 20-35M Polys/s), SGX545, SGX555
iPhone developers, however, have discovered that the iPhone 3GS has extension files named "IMGSGX535GLDriver" suggesting that the new iPhone uses the more powerful graphics processor intended for "high end" mobile devices. This may not be entirely conclusive evidence by itself but it is consistent with a report from a Anandtech commenter who claims to have heard directly from Apple engineers at WWDC that the iPhone 3GS does indeed use the SGX 535. As seen from the above list, the 535 seems to deliver much greater performance over the originally believed 520 model as well as the 530 model found in the Palm Pre.
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34 months ago
That's all well and great, but what does this mean for battery life? The iPhone 3G was already pretty bad about depleting itself in short periods of time on intensive games.
34 months ago
This is not helping me hold off on buying one. I frequently get frustrated my the slowness of the 3G, and it seems a bit worse with the 3.0 OS. Oh well, only money.
34 months ago
Great, hopefully the 3rd Gen iPod Touch uses the higher end one also and doesn't under clock it. /crossfingers/
34 months ago
I was the one who commented on the report at AnandTech, and yes, it was one of the development team for the OpenGL|ES2.0 that I was talking to. He made really clear that it was the 535 processor.
Another, almost oddity, was with a question I had put to the Grand Central guys. They told me to ensure that I keep my coding complient with OpenCL. When I told them that I was developing for the iPhone and not the Mac itself, they basically said, Yeah I know, just make sure that you can be complient with multi-core devices when you need to introduce extra horsepower to your apps.
Does this mean that in a later minor update we'll see OpenCL being used with the current iPhone 3GS or, as I've heard rumor, a multi core main processor, allowing the iPhone to switch between cores, based on preference settings and/or CPU workload.
All looking very nice for the future of mobile devices.
Another, almost oddity, was with a question I had put to the Grand Central guys. They told me to ensure that I keep my coding complient with OpenCL. When I told them that I was developing for the iPhone and not the Mac itself, they basically said, Yeah I know, just make sure that you can be complient with multi-core devices when you need to introduce extra horsepower to your apps.
Does this mean that in a later minor update we'll see OpenCL being used with the current iPhone 3GS or, as I've heard rumor, a multi core main processor, allowing the iPhone to switch between cores, based on preference settings and/or CPU workload.
All looking very nice for the future of mobile devices.
34 months ago
This is great news if true, especially if you want to use it as a mobile gaming device.
34 months ago
Does this mean that in a later minor update we'll see OpenCL being used with the current iPhone 3GS or, as I've heard rumor, a multi core main processor, allowing the iPhone to switch between cores, based on preference settings and/or CPU workload.
i would say a multi core main processor
34 months ago
Am I the only one who is tired of constant iPhone news?
I love all the iPhone news, but I can see your point.
34 months ago
Am I the only one who is tired of constant iPhone news?
I agree with you completely. You may be the only one.:p
I cant get enough of 3GS news. Unfortunately I cant get it until Aug, so these news do interest me a lot and further solidifies my decision of getting one as soon as it arrives here.
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