A processor selectively adjusts the precision of data for different functional units. Specified functional units of the processor, such as shader processing unit of a graphics processing unit (GPU) include a zeroing module to store, based on the states of corresponding precision flags, a data value of zero at specified portion of an input and/or output data operand. The functional unit then processes the data including the zeroed portion. Because a portion of the data has been zeroed, the functional unit consumes less power during data processing. Furthermore, the precision flags are set such that the reduced precision of the data does not significantly impact a user experience.
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