Loongson has turn out to be one more Chinese language GPU designer because it rolled out a brand new chipset with built-in graphics capabilities for its quad-core 3A5000 and 16-core 3C5000 processors. The brand new iGPU has capabilities corresponding to graphics chips from 2004 ~ 2005, but it surely affords adequate efficiency in workplace workloads.
Loongson’s 7A2000 bridge chip (aka chipset) integrates an OpenGL 2.1/OpenGL ES 2.0-compliant GPU that works at 400 MHz ~ 500 MHz, supporting as much as two shows with a 1920×1080@60Hz or 2560x1440x30Hz decision over two HDMI connections (or an HDMI and a D-Sub/VGA connection).
Primarily based on information from Loongson, the GPU scores 300 FPS in GLMark2, a benchmark from 2004 ~ 2005, and 1,800 FPS in Glxgears, a efficiency testing program from 1999 ~ 2000. Sadly, the producer doesn’t disclose which working system it used or the way it compiled the benchmark. As well as, it’s noteworthy that the GPU doesn’t assist even primary DirectX options and, subsequently, cannot even Home windows 7.
The iGPU is alleged to be an in-house design, and we’re not shocked by this since each Arm and Creativeness have cheap GPU IP blocks that provide a way more refined function set. Nonetheless, growing a low-end in-house GPU might make plenty of sense for Loongson.
The 7A2000 chipset is designed for Loongson’s 3-series processors that use proprietary LoongArch structure and subsequently require an working system and software program that assist this structure. As an alternative of rewriting third-party drivers for Loongson’s platform, designing a low-end GPU and growing drivers in-house could also be simpler. On the finish of the day, Loongson’s clients are numerous authorities or native authorities-run organizations that see China-developed IP as an enormous profit even whether it is years behind equivalents designed in Europe or the U.S.
Different options of the 7A2000 core logic embrace PCIe 3.0, SATA 6 Gbps, USB 3.0, GbE PHY, UART, and even GPIO if somebody needs to attach one thing fancy to a Loongson-based platform.
One other notable enchancment of the 7A2000 talked about by Loongson is the truth that the CPU and chipset are actually linked utilizing a HyperTransport 3.1 32-bit interface at 3.2 GT/s, which improved PCIe bandwidth by 2.4 occasions in addition to SATA learn/write efficiency by 82%/97% when in comparison with the earlier technology Loongson 7A1000 chipset.
Loongson says that a number of motherboard makers and ODMs have already developed quite a few boards that includes a quad-core 3A5000 processor with a 7A2000 chipset and a 16-core 3C5000/3C5000L CPU with a 7A2000 chipset.
