Discussion Apple Silicon SoC thread

[Eug]

M1
5 nm
Unified memory architecture - LP-DDR4
16 billion transistors

8-core CPU

4 high-performance cores
192 KB instruction cache
128 KB data cache
Shared 12 MB L2 cache

4 high-efficiency cores
128 KB instruction cache
64 KB data cache
Shared 4 MB L2 cache
(Apple claims the 4 high-effiency cores alone perform like a dual-core Intel MacBook Air)

8-core iGPU (but there is a 7-core variant, likely with one inactive core)
128 execution units
Up to 24576 concurrent threads
2.6 Teraflops
82 Gigatexels/s
41 gigapixels/s

16-core neural engine
Secure Enclave
USB 4

Products:
$999 ($899 edu) 13" MacBook Air (fanless) - 18 hour video playback battery life
$699 Mac mini (with fan)
$1299 ($1199 edu) 13" MacBook Pro (with fan) - 20 hour video playback battery life

Memory options 8 GB and 16 GB. No 32 GB option (unless you go Intel).

It should be noted that the M1 chip in these three Macs is the same (aside from GPU core number). Basically, Apple is taking the same approach which these chips as they do the iPhones and iPads. Just one SKU (excluding the X variants), which is the same across all iDevices (aside from maybe slight clock speed differences occasionally).

EDIT:



M1 Pro 8-core CPU (6+2), 14-core GPU
M1 Pro 10-core CPU (8+2), 14-core GPU
M1 Pro 10-core CPU (8+2), 16-core GPU
M1 Max 10-core CPU (8+2), 24-core GPU
M1 Max 10-core CPU (8+2), 32-core GPU

M1 Pro and M1 Max discussion here:

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M1 Ultra discussion here:

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M2 discussion here:

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Second Generation 5 nm
Unified memory architecture - LPDDR5, up to 24 GB and 100 GB/s
20 billion transistors

8-core CPU

4 high-performance cores
192 KB instruction cache
128 KB data cache
Shared 16 MB L2 cache

4 high-efficiency cores
128 KB instruction cache
64 KB data cache
Shared 4 MB L2 cache

10-core iGPU (but there is an 8-core variant)
3.6 Teraflops

16-core neural engine
Secure Enclave
USB 4

Hardware acceleration for 8K h.264, h.264, ProRes

M3 Family discussion here:

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M4 Family discussion here:

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[poke01]

View attachment 107810
M4 has the same GPU architecture as A18 with improved RT. However, Apple kept silent about this at the M4 iPad Pro event.

Is this the solar bay test?

 

[jdubs03]

View attachment 107811

This year, Apple has done a very good job of improving power efficiency.

Gotta be LN2 for that score. That's ridiculously high.

 

[mvprod123]

Is this the solar bay test?

It's a kind of internal test.

 

[Doug S]

This year, Apple has done a very good job of improving power efficiency.

I'm still of the opinion that the problematic N3B process was the reason for A17P's large increase in power draw. Apple was paying for "known good dies" and TSMC was probably insisting on cranking up the power a bit to include some dies Apple normally tosses (or saves to use in less power sensitive products like Apple TV) to deliver enough dies to meet Apple's needs.

N3E fixed the yield issues, so Apple was able to do their normal binning.

 

[jdubs03]

View attachment 107811

This year, Apple has done a very good job of improving power efficiency.

One thing I noticed about this chart, and then the one below is the A17 Pro values are different. I'm assuming just an accidental mix up.



Odd too that the spec2017 results don't go to the max frequency for the A17 Pro in his A18/P review. But in the previous videos he shows the same spec2017 int and fp values for the A17 Pro, but the correct max frequency. I'm assuming another accidental value there. The reason I mention it, is because he points out that the A18P sees a 4.5% IPC increase (integer), but in that other video we see 6.2%. And when the normal 3.78GHz value is used instead of 3.72GHz, the IPC increase shows as 6.1%.



What gives? 😵‍💫

 

[poke01]

One thing I noticed about this chart, and then the one below is the A17 Pro values are different. I'm assuming just an accidental mix up.

View attachment 107819

Odd too that the spec2017 results don't go to the max frequency for the A17 Pro in his A18/P review. But in the previous videos he shows the same spec2017 int and fp values for the A17 Pro, but the correct max frequency. I'm assuming another accidental value there. The reason I mention it, is because he points out that the A18P sees a 4.5% IPC increase (integer), but in that other video we see 6.2%. And when the normal 3.78GHz value is used instead of 3.72GHz, the IPC increase shows as 6.1%.

View attachment 107822
View attachment 107823
What gives? 😵‍💫

The frequency in the A18 Pro for the A17 Pro might be typo since it’s the exact same results as the A17 Pro review. A lot of typos, I guess it was rushed.

Hopefully for the 8G4 review we get a less error prone graphs.

 

[poke01]

Much faster H.265 encoders in A18 Pro. Bodes well for the M4 Pro/Max chips.

 

[FlameTail]

View attachment 107810
M4 has the same GPU architecture as A18 with improved RT. However, Apple kept silent about this at the M4 iPad Pro event.

Hmm. Interesting.

I'm still of the opinion that the problematic N3B process was the reason for A17P's large increase in power draw. Apple was paying for "known good dies" and TSMC was probably insisting on cranking up the power a bit to include some dies Apple normally tosses (or saves to use in less power sensitive products like Apple TV) to deliver enough dies to meet Apple's needs.

N3E fixed the yield issues, so Apple was able to do their normal binning.

That bodes well for upcoming Android SoCs.


Kinda incredible how iOS18 improves battery life so much.

But the Geekbench scores are also lowered.

 

[FlameTail]

When it comes to A18 Pro, Apple is still outspending Android SoC vendors in terms of cache capacity. But the A18's cache capacity is actually similar to current Android flagship CPUs.

Also something that the Geekerwan review revealed is that the reduced cache doesn't make a huge difference to the performance or efficiency. But there is a difference, yes;

 

[poke01]

GPU performance is improved by quite a bit

 

[FlameTail]

So A18 also uses the same P-core uarch, E-core uarch and GPU uarch as M4?

 

[Doug S]

Odd too that the spec2017 results don't go to the max frequency for the A17 Pro in his A18/P review. But in the previous videos he shows the same spec2017 int and fp values for the A17 Pro, but the correct max frequency. I'm assuming another accidental value there. The reason I mention it, is because he points out that the A18P sees a 4.5% IPC increase (integer), but in that other video we see 6.2%. And when the normal 3.78GHz value is used instead of 3.72GHz, the IPC increase shows as 6.1%.



What gives? 😵‍💫

I always ignore the listed frequencies because benchmarks always seem to have a hard time determining the frequency. They aren't actually running at "less" frequency, its just the frequency being calculated/reported that's different.

What stood out to me was the slightly higher power draw of the non-Pro A18s. I wonder if that's just due to the smaller cache (i.e. working the memory controller a little more) or if they're the same die and Apple binned on power draw, using ones that could operate on a bit lower voltage in the Pro models.

Looking forward to teardowns so we can answer this "is it one die or two" question...

 

[poke01]

So A18 also uses the same P-core uarch, E-core uarch and GPU uarch as M4?

Yes. I think we will know more in the Mac event.

 

[jdubs03]

Hmm. Interesting.

That bodes well for upcoming Android SoCs.

View attachment 107835
Kinda incredible how iOS18 improves battery life so much.
View attachment 107836
But the Geekbench scores are also lowered.

I noticed on one of the Apple OS youTubers I follow that geekbench scores were a bit lower in iOS 18 compared to iOS 17, particularly after iOS 18.0 beta 2-3. So when considering that, those 8100-8200 scores make much more sense, which means ones at 8400+ must just be super good bins and/or ideal cooling conditions.

One thing I’ve personally noticed for my 14 Pro is that in Safari and Firefox my Kraken 1.1 time was faster by about 13% and my Speedometer 3 score was higher by about 6%.

 

[jdubs03]

Figured I’d post this since it’s newsy. A19/P on TSMC N3P. A20P on N2.

Kuo: iPhone 17 to Use 3nm Chip Tech, iPhone 18 Pro Models to Use 2nm

Next year's iPhone 17 series will feature processors made using TSMC's enhanced N3P 3-nanometer chip technology, but only iPhone 18 Pro...

www.macrumors.com

Should be a good opportunity to upgrade the architecture for the Ecores. It’ll probably be an iteration on the Pcore.


Looks like the release cadence for Apple Silicon will be staggered a year behind HVM.