Apple A8x

[Hans de Vries]

http://www.apple.club.tw/ipad-air-2%E7%A2%BA%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AFa8x-2gb-ram/

So this would be the A8X to be (presumable) released this Thursday.

There are two ELPIDA dram chips next to the A8x and with some
imagination we might read the (very blurry) part number right below
the ELPIDA logo as "FA164A..." which would make them 16Gb LPDDR3
parts each with a 2x32 bit databus.

That would make a decent 4GB dram in total with a wide 128 bit bus.
If I'm reading the "GD-F" on the 3rd line correctly then that should make
them DDR3-1600 parts giving the A8X a desktop like bandwidth of
25.6 GB/s.

Well, I guess Thursday, 16th we'll find out the details with the introduction
of the new iPads.

 

[Abwx]

Surely that comparing so different ISAs is not that simple but at wich level would you put this CPU in respect of the X86 low power cores performances, to use convenients opponents let s say an AMD Mullins or an Intel Btrail , both being assumed as 4.5W TDP.?.

 

[thunng8]

Surely that comparing so different ISAs is not that simple but at wich level would you put this CPU in respect of the X86 low power cores performances, to use convenients opponents let s say an AMD Mullins or an Intel Btrail , both being assumed as 4.5W TDP.?.

Going by Apple's claim of 40% cpu increase compared to the a7 in the iPad air, it looks like the cpu is clocked at about 20% higher ( the other 20% coming from ipc increases) or about 1.7ghz.

 

[Rakehellion]

This guy looks like George W.

 

[Rakehellion]

http://www.apple.club.tw/ipad-air-2%E7%A2%BA%E5%AF%A6%E6%98%AFa8x-2gb-ram/

So this would be the A8X to be (presumable) released this Thursday.

There are two ELPIDA dram chips next to the A8x and with some
imagination we might read the (very blurry) part number right below
the ELPIDA logo as "FA164A..." which would make them 16Gb LPDDR3
parts each with a 2x32 bit databus.

That would make a decent 4GB dram in total with a wide 128 bit bus.
If I'm reading the "GD-F" on the 3rd line correctly then that should make
them DDR3-1600 parts giving the A8X a desktop like bandwidth of
25.6 GB/s.

Well, I guess Thursday, 16th we'll find out the details with the introduction
of the new iPads.

I only see one memory chip there. That's 2GB.

 

[III-V]

I only see one memory chip there. That's 2GB.

There's another hiding under the little aluminum, er, crossbar. Part numbers appear to be identical, although the image is rather blurry.

 

[Lepton87]

Surely that comparing so different ISAs is not that simple but at wich level would you put this CPU in respect of the X86 low power cores performances, to use convenients opponents let s say an AMD Mullins or an Intel Btrail , both being assumed as 4.5W TDP.?.

It's fast, probably comparable to a 2C/2T SB at the same frequency. Atoms and Mullins are in a completely different league IPC wise, maybe they can catch up if they can be clocked 80% higher, that's about ST performance, in MT Atom and its AMD equivalent would look much better thanks to double the cores.

 

[Eug]

According to Apple's PR material:

The A8X CPU is 40% faster than the A7 (iPad).
The A8 CPU is 25% faster than the A7 (iPhone).

The A8X GPU is 150% faster than A7 (iPad).
The A8 GPU is 50% faster than A7 (iPhone).

For the A8 GPU, that 50% number comes from a different spec. They said the A7 GPU is 56X the speed as the original iPhone, whereas the A8 GPU is 84X. 84/56 = 1.5.

EDIT:

If I am reading that memory label correctly, it really does look like FA164A3M. I can't find any reference to this exact chip, but for some of the Android teardowns, their 2 GB is FA164A2M.

Furthermore, there does seem to be a second memory chip there on the A8X logic board.. However, I would be totally shocked if there was 4 GB RAM. I would expect only 2 GB RAM max.

 

[Ajay]

Furthermore, there does seem to be a second memory chip there on the A8X logic board.. However, I would be totally shocked if there was 4 GB RAM. I would expect only 2 GB RAM max.

2GB would still be a huge improvement (and overdue) for the iPad Air.

 

[Eug]

I ordered the iPad Air 2 this morning on the assumption it comes with 2 GB RAM.

So, what's that other chip then? I can't make out the text. I blew it up and it's just a pixelated mess.

 

[asendra]

I ordered the iPad Air 2 this morning on the assumption it comes with 2 GB RAM.

So, what's that other chip then? I can't make out the text. I blew it up and it's just a pixelated mess.

Me too. I hope it has 2GB otherwise I don't know if I would keep it, or save money and get a Mini 2. i'm upgrading from an OG Mini.

But I'm pretty sure it has 2GB. Only way I could see it no having 2GB is if this board is from the supposed ipad pro. That one HAS to have 2GB ram if they introduce side by side apps, and increase the resolution.

 

[Eug]

iPhone 5s: 1.3 GHz A7 - 40X CPU speed original iPhone
iPhone 6: 1.4 GHz A8 - 50X CPU speed original iPhone

Thus, the A8 at 1.4 GHz is 1.25X A7 at 1.3 GHz. Therefore, adjusting for clock speed to match, the A8 is approximately 1.16X A7 at 1.4 GHz, which is the clock speed of the A7 in the iPad Air.

---

iPad Air: 1.4 GHz A7
iPad Air 2: ?? GHz A8X - +40% (1.4X) CPU speed of 1.4 GHz A7

---

1.4X A7 (Air 2 A8X) / 1.16X A7 (iPhone 6 A8) ~ +20.6% A8X over A8.

Assuming the speed increase is due to clock ramping alone, then the A8X is probably running around 1.206 x 1.4 GHz ~ 1.7X GHz.

---

Also iPhone 5s: GPU 56X original iPhone
iPhone 6: GPU 84X original iPhone

Therefore iPhone 6 A8 represents +50% GPU vs iPhone 5s A7.

iPad Air 2 A8X represents 2.5X over A7 in iPad Air.

Ignoring clock speeds for the moment, it seems the iPad Air 2's GPU is 2.5X / 1.5X = 67% faster than GPU in A8.

---

tl;dr version:

Eug's math estimates the A8X to be running at about 1.7 GHz.

 

[Eug]

If my math is correct, and if Geekbench scales relatively linearly, then the A8X ought to be able to edge past the Nexus 9's Tegra K1 in terms of CPU speed.

Also, it should be noted that Geekbench says the K1 is running at 2.5 GHz, but it's supposed to be running at 2.3 GHz in the Nexus 9 according to Google.

Then again, the test was run in 32-bit mode. It's supposed to be a bit faster with 64-bit, which means it could retain the crown in 64-bit mode even against the A8X.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Nexu...gra-K1-outperforms-Apple-iPhone-6s-A8_id61825

The other issue of course though is power efficiency.

 

[mavere]

The other issue of course though is power efficiency.

The Air 2's battery is only slightly larger than the Nexus 9. It's probably enough to account for screen size differences, so we'll probably be able to directly compare standardized-brightness battery tests.

 

[tviceman]

If my math is correct, and if Geekbench scales relatively linearly, then the A8X ought to be able to edge past the Nexus 9's Tegra K1 in terms of CPU speed.

Also, it should be noted that Geekbench says the K1 is running at 2.5 GHz, but it's supposed to be running at 2.3 GHz in the Nexus 9 according to Google.

Then again, the test was run in 32-bit mode. It's supposed to be a bit faster with 64-bit, which means it could retain the crown in 64-bit mode even against the A8X.

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Nexu...gra-K1-outperforms-Apple-iPhone-6s-A8_id61825

The other issue of course though is power efficiency.

It'd be quite a coup for Nvidia to actually be competitive (within 5-10%) of Apple's A8X on either CPU or GPU performance, given than A8X is on 20nm, TK1 is on an inferior 28nm process, AND it's Nvidia's first custom CPU implementation. Regardless, the fact that Nvidia can't get TK1 (either the 32 or 64 bit version) wide market proliferation speaks to either how much they're trying to charge (too much), or how much Android vendors simply do not care about premium performance. In the end, Apple is only competing with themselves.

 

[Mopetar]

TK1 (Denver) better be good considering how long its been in development. When they first announced it over three years ago it had already been in development for just as long. If they weren't within 10%, it would be an utter flop.

 

[Qwertilot]

Hardly like Apple threw their Ax design together over a coffee break sometime

 

[Eug]

It'd be quite a coup for Nvidia to actually be competitive (within 5-10%) of Apple's A8X on either CPU or GPU performance, given than A8X is on 20nm, TK1 is on an inferior 28nm process, AND it's Nvidia's first custom CPU implementation. Regardless, the fact that Nvidia can't get TK1 (either the 32 or 64 bit version) wide market proliferation speaks to either how much they're trying to charge (too much), or how much Android vendors simply do not care about premium performance. In the end, Apple is only competing with themselves.

Or, one wonders if maybe it partially has something to do power efficiency.

 

[witeken]

The Air 2's battery is only slightly larger than the Nexus 9. It's probably enough to account for screen size differences, so we'll probably be able to directly compare standardized-brightness battery tests.

Does the Nexus 9 have an IGZO panel?

 

[Ajay]

I ordered the iPad Air 2 this morning on the assumption it comes with 2 GB RAM.

So, what's that other chip then? I can't make out the text. I blew it up and it's just a pixelated mess.

Good luck - and please let us know how much RAM there is (if we don't get the news b/4 you get your iPad).

That picture is terrible. I tried a variety of photo manipulations on it and could find partial matches of some of the numbers to the uncovered Elpida RAM, but not enough to say that it's the same chip.

 

[Lepton87]

Those Denver numbers look very good, it looks like it's a better design then even apple Cyclone+ and that's 28nm versus 20nm, very impressive. I'm looking forward to FinFet Denver as there probably won't be 20nm version judging from NV comments about it.

 

[cytg111]

It's fast, probably comparable to a 2C/2T SB at the same frequency..

Holy crap. Apple/ARM on the move.

 

[jpiniero]

That's the thing with Denver - I fear the power draw is going to be bad. Apple OTOH seems to have dropped power consumption between the A7/X and A8/X and still managed to get a decent performance increase.

 

[2is]

I'm waiting on confirmation of RAM before I buy an Air 2. If i'ts 2GB I may bite. If it's 4GB I certainly will. If they're still stick at 1GB it's a definite no go.

 

[Lepton87]

Holy crap. Apple/ARM on the move.

I don't like Apple, I've got LG G2 when the new iPhones weren't available and I've been enjoying a big high-resolution screen for far longer. Every benchmark except memory benchmarks point to Cycle having high IPC, some say even as high as HW but I think it's closer to SB or even nehalem territory depending on which cyclone+ or vanila. Do you have any benchmarks proving otherwise? Anyway 1.4GHz SB 2C/2T is not that fast nowadays. Certainly not desktop class, slower then top C2D which were released in 2006 and that's 8 years before a phone CPU comes close in perf. to a desktop and only in short bursts because Cyclone can't operate at max speeds for long so it's as fast as 8 years old desktop CPU for a second or 2 maybe 4 and back to being 2x slower due to throttling.