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Samsung Exynos 5 Dual detailed: DirectX 11 and USB 3.0 in a 32nm SOC

Samsung Exynos 5 Dual detailed: DirectX 11 and USB 3.0 in a 32nm SOC

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Samsung has released all the details about the Exynos 5 Dual, the company's upcoming dual-core 1.7GHz mobile CPU based on ARM Cortex-A15 architecture.

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Samsung Exynos 5250
Samsung Exynos 5250

Samsung has released all the details about the Exynos 5 Dual, the company's upcoming dual-core 1.7GHz mobile CPU based on ARM Cortex-A15 architecture, as reported by Android Authority. The 32nm Exynos 5 Dual is a substantial upgrade over the Exynos 4 Quad included in the international Galaxy S III and competes closely with the 28nm Snapdragon S4, which Samsung says offers significantly improved graphics performance, connectivity, and battery life.

The quad-core Mali-T604 GPU built into the Exynos 5 Dual supports resolutions up to WQXGA (2560×1600) as well as stereoscopic 3D. It meets and exceeds Qualcomm's Adreno 225 GPU by adding OpenGL ES 3.0, OpenCL 1.1, and interestingly DirectX 11 support — potentially opening the door for use with Windows 8. ARM's website claims that the T604 offers up to 5x the performance of previous Mali GPUs, but we'll have to wait for integrated products to hit the market before we can know for sure.

Samsung has also incorporated USB 3.0 and SATA III controllers into the Exynos 5 Dual, reducing potential storage bottlenecks. The 400MHz LPDDR2 ("LP" standing for low power) RAM support in the Exynos 4 processor has been superseded by 800MHz LPDDR3, which also bests the 500MHz LPDDR2 support in the Snapdragon S4. Its memory subsystem can push around 12.8GBps of data, and combined with USB 3.0 and SATA III, the Exynos 5 Dual should enjoy a notable speed improvement.

As the increasingly powerful mobile CPUs on the market incorporate desktop- and laptop-class features, battery life becomes more of an issue. While the 32nm Exynos 4 Quad in the Galaxy S III has shown impressive performance, it's unclear whether customers will prefer the raw processing power of a quad-core CPU or the feature-packed yet battery-friendly Exynos 5 Dual. Unfortunately, no products have been officially announced with the processor — even the forthcoming Galaxy Note 10.1 — so we may have to wait quite some time before we get a chance to try Samsung's latest mobile CPU.