Pixel shader bypass for low power graphics rendering

A graphics processing unit configured to draw graphical objects, comprising:

• a rasterizer configured to rasterize a first primitive and a second primitive to generate a first set of rasterization results and a second set of rasterization results;
• a pixel shader unit configured to determine that a bypass mode for the first primitive is a no-bypass mode and generate a first set of pixel colors for the first set of rasterization results;
• and
• a raster operations (ROP) unit configured to receive the first set of pixel colors and a second set of pixel colors, wherein the second set of pixel colors are for the second set of rasterization results and are generated without the pixel shader unit performing any processing operations on the second set of rasterization results.

A computing device comprising:

• a graphics processing unit that includes:
• a rasterizer configured to rasterize a first primitive and a second primitive to generate a first set of rasterization results and a second set of rasterization results,
• a pixel shader unit configured to determine that a bypass mode for the first primitive is a no-bypass mode, and generate a first set of colors for the first set of rasterization results, and
• a raster operations (ROP) unit configured to receive the first set of pixel colors and a second set of pixel colors, wherein the second set of pixel colors are for the second set of rasterization results and are generated without the pixel shader unit performing any processing operations on the second set of rasterization results.