Apple Praised for Bold Move With A6 Processor

[Guest]

While we have seen images of Apple's A6 processor die, large parts of the core design as well as the interaction of the integrated components remain speculation.

Apple Praised for Bold Move With A6 Processor : Read more

 

[syrious1]

that in general doubles the performance of the chip in the iPhone 4S

I would like to see some actual benchmarks, instead of a photo of the die.

 

[ttg_Avenged]

Meh. They are not the first, no where near it to make a dual core phone. There is quads 1.6GHz out.. so, yea.

But still, I could definitely see how much innovation has been created from this, and all that amazing manure iSheep eat & nom on all day.

 

[lipoly]

[citation][nom]syrious1[/nom]I would like to see some actual benchmarks, instead of a photo of the die.[/citation]

Here you go: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6330/the-iphone-5-review

 

[Dangi]

Of course A6 will run faster, that's what embedded systems do, you don't need that much CPU brute force if the system is fully optimized for it, the same way consoles can play games with performance close to computer games ( without AA ) with hardware thats way less powerful

 

[zwavergn]

[citation][nom]ttg_avenged[/nom]Meh. They are not the first, no where near it to make a dual core phone. There is quads 1.6GHz out.. so, yea. But still, I could definitely see how much innovation has been created from this, and all that amazing manure iSheep eat & nom on all day.[/citation]

You do realize the dual-core A6 outperforms some quad-cores like the Nvidia Tegra 3 and Snapdragon S4, which are quad core chips, right?

More cores does not mean it's better. A better architecture or design makes the difference. In Apple's case with the A6, they laid it out by hand instead of the usual automated tools and it gave significant performance boosts.

 

[eklipz330]

[citation][nom]zwavergn[/nom]You do realize the dual-core A6 outperforms some quad-cores like the Nvidia Tegra 3 and Snapdragon S4, which are quad core chips, right?More cores does not mean it's better. A better architecture or design makes the difference. In Apple's case with the A6, they laid it out by hand instead of the usual automated tools and it gave significant performance boosts.[/citation]what are you trying to reason with someone that hates apple? that's like trying to reason with someone that buys nothing BUT apple.

2 sides of the same coin.

 

[deftonian]

[citation][nom]Dangi[/nom]Of course A6 will run faster, that's what embedded systems do, you don't need that much CPU brute force if the system is fully optimized for it, the same way consoles can play games with performance close to computer games ( without AA ) with hardware thats way less powerful[/citation]

It's a stretch to say consoles can play games with performance close to computer games... a very big stretch. Computers have such a huge range when it comes to performance so if you mean that consoles comes close to low end computers in regards to gaming, then you're accurate. But mid to higher end PCs will knock the socks off a console.

 

[Guest]

Apple could make another bold move by contracting with AMD for a custom APU for Apple laptops! I am sure they would have better graphics the the Intel HD4000!

 

[bigdragon]

Move on over, Intel. Here comes Apple. I expect this to become a trend. Could we see Apple move away from x86 and roll their own chips for laptops and desktops in 5 years? It's now possible especially as iOS continues to gain steam. It's not like they've always been x86. I would be quite interested in seeing Wintel vs Armple. The competition that would bring would help boost computing I think.

 

[IQ11110002]

"You do realize the dual-core A6 outperforms some quad-cores like the Nvidia Tegra 3 and Snapdragon S4, which are quad core chips, right?"

Of course it's fast on such a puny little screen, sigh..... All that performance that you can't actually see. lol
I'll take the slightly slower(unnoticable in real world) phone with larger screen thanks, At least it will be of use!

 

[ericburnby]

^ Shows how much you know. They run offscreen 1080P benchmarks to test the GPU independently of the screen res and the A6 kicks everyone else to the curb. The newest S4 Pro with Adreno 320 can match the A6 but needs twice the cores and higher clock to do so.

I thought Tom's was a site where people discussed hardware like CPU's? All of a sudden Apple has the best mobile SoC and suddenly everyone at Tom's has forgotten everything they supposedly learned over the years watching AMD and Intel battle.

 

[nieur]

if apple thinking of bringing their cpu on desktop it will simply fail. It requires years of research and development.

 

[christarp]

[citation][nom]ericburnby[/nom]^ Shows how much you know. They run offscreen 1080P benchmarks to test the GPU independently of the screen res and the A6 kicks everyone else to the curb. The newest S4 Pro with Adreno 320 can match the A6 but needs twice the cores and higher clock to do so.I thought Tom's was a site where people discussed hardware like CPU's? All of a sudden Apple has the best mobile SoC and suddenly everyone at Tom's has forgotten everything they supposedly learned over the years watching AMD and Intel battle.[/citation]

b..but apple is bad!! This is seriously the argument everyone on this site uses.

 

[Kami3k]

The CPU isn't even fully their design, not impressed.

 

[Dupontrocks11]

Apple always gets praise. Apple takes middle line technology and adds a twist. Then they market the hell out of their iProduct to uninformed consumers, and sue anyone who gets in their way. No matter what they say, Apple isn't concerned about the advancement of technology for the industry, they are concerned with your MONEY.

 

[vigorvermin]

[citation][nom]deftonian[/nom]It's a stretch to say consoles can play games with performance close to computer games... a very big stretch. Computers have such a huge range when it comes to performance so if you mean that consoles comes close to low end computers in regards to gaming, then you're accurate. But mid to higher end PCs will knock the socks off a console.[/citation]

His point was that it runs better then the same spec hardware in a computer environment. Put console parts into a computer and you'll get way worse looking games then on the console.

 

[usbgtx550]

At first I thought, "about time Apple used an AMD processor in their notebooks."
Open article, disappointment.

 

[Bloob]

[citation][nom]zwavergn[/nom]You do realize the dual-core A6 outperforms some quad-cores like the Nvidia Tegra 3 and Snapdragon S4, which are quad core chips, right?More cores does not mean it's better. A better architecture or design makes the difference. In Apple's case with the A6, they laid it out by hand instead of the usual automated tools and it gave significant performance boosts.[/citation]
A6 (and their chip.design in general) is actually one of the few praise-worthy things about Apple, especially because they can optimize both the hw and sw to work together to increase efficiency. While A6 outperforms Tegra3 in lightly threaded applications ( S4 Plus does too ), I've seen no evidence of it beating S4 Pro in highly threaded applications (/multitasking), at least the Exynos chip in the int. GS3 version beats A6 in usual benchamarks ( and supposedly, battery life ).

 

[Cazalan]

Nvidia needs to get that Tegra4 out sooner.

Kudos to Apple for designing something other than a thin case with rounded corners.

 

[bluekoala]

As much as I don't like Apple, this is pretty impressive.

 

[Guest]

Beyond the hardware specs, Chipworks’ reverse engineering also confirms that the A6 is produced using Samsung’s 32nm HKMG process, and that the total die size is 9.7mm by 9.97mm (96mm2)

Apple just can't seem to get away from needing Samsung in some form or other...

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]ericburnby[/nom]^ Shows how much you know. They run offscreen 1080P benchmarks to test the GPU independently of the screen res and the A6 kicks everyone else to the curb. The newest S4 Pro with Adreno 320 can match the A6 but needs twice the cores and higher clock to do so.I thought Tom's was a site where people discussed hardware like CPU's? All of a sudden Apple has the best mobile SoC and suddenly everyone at Tom's has forgotten everything they supposedly learned over the years watching AMD and Intel battle.[/citation]
The tittle of best mobile SoC will be short lived because of the soon to be released Samsung's Exynos 5 Dual. A Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU paired with a Quad-Core ARM Mali-T604 GPU.

 

[ojas]

[citation][nom]Cazalan[/nom]Nvidia needs to get that Tegra4 out sooner. Kudos to Apple for designing something other than a thin case with rounded corners.[/citation]
Yeah i know. They've done a really good job.

Intel too needs to update the GPU on their SoC. The SGX544/545 in their Clover Trail SoCs should match the A5X/A6.

[citation][nom]Vladislaus[/nom]The tittle of best mobile SoC will be short lived because of the soon to be released Samsung's Exynos 5 Dual. A Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU paired with a Quad-Core ARM Mali-T604 GPU.[/citation]
Yeah, so are those graphene chips

Point is, you can't discredit Apple for something that exists and is actually excellent (instead of their usual "magic" nonsense) because of something that hasn't been released yet.

 

[Vladislaus]

[citation][nom]ojas[/nom]Yeah i know. They've done a really good job.Intel too needs to update the GPU on their SoC. The SGX544/545 in their Clover Trail SoCs should match the A5X/A6.Yeah, so are those graphene chips Point is, you can't discredit Apple for something that exists and is actually excellent (instead of their usual "magic" nonsense) because of something that hasn't been released yet.[/citation]
I'm not saying that the A6 it's bad or whatever. I'm saying that it's title will be short lived. Just more 6 days and Samsung will release the first device powered by the Exynos 5 Dual. In a few more months the ST-Ericsson A9600/L9600, the OMAP 5 and the Tegra 4 will be released. This is just a cycle.