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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[igor_kavinski]

Yeah... I think AMD and Intel have some work to do.

Massive understatement!

 

[Heartbreaker]

I am shocked. I never thought they would do the 32core GPU. They did and it has 57 Billion Transistors. Holy shoot. That's gonna be expensive.

 

[igor_kavinski]

HDR mini-LED, yes!

 

[Roland00Address]

Massive understatement!

From an i9 to an i11?

 

[Ajay]

What? Is that a 512 bit memory interface on the M1 Max??!

Oh, and PCIe 4.0 on the SSD (going by xfer rate).

 

[igor_kavinski]

AMD Radeon Pro 5600M Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

4 times higher performance brings the M1 Max almost up to 3090 level.

 

[igor_kavinski]

From an i9 to an i11?

More like i19 within 30W power budget. Intel needs to move away from x86 architecture to achieve that.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Delivered next week?! I've never wanted a third kidney more!

 

[igor_kavinski]

What? Is that a 512 bit memory interface on the M1 Max??!

Oh, and PCIe 4.0 on the SSD (going by xfer rate).

It's gonna be a sleepless night planning how to acquire this beast

 

[insertcarehere]

I am shocked. I never thought they would do the 32core GPU. They did and it has 57 Billion Transistors. Holy shoot. That's gonna be expensive.

...And fed it with the bandwidth equivalent of a Playstation 5. This is the nearest thing to a console SoC put in a laptop.

 

[nxre]

I am shocked. I never thought they would do the 32core GPU. They did and it has 57 Billion Transistors. Holy shoot. That's gonna be expensive.

oh wow. these are beastly dies. Can anyone estimate size from these slides? I think the 32GPU version is easily going over 300mm3. crazy

 

[jpiniero]

Yikes, the prices. On the base 14", the upgrade to 10 CPU + 32 GPU (from 8 CPU and 14 GPU) is $700. There's a bunch of options between the two.

Going from the base 16 GB of memory to 64 is an extra $800. You see why Apple doesn't do DIMMs.

 

[Saylick]

I am shocked. I never thought they would do the 32core GPU. They did and it has 57 Billion Transistors. Holy shoot. That's gonna be expensive.

Seems like Jade-C Chop is an apt name for the M1 Pro. That cut line is pretty apparent in those die shots.

 

[nxre]

Overall, these laptops are absolutely killer and their best laptop offer in what feels like a decade. What can you even complain? Mini-LED display, leading performance on both CPU and GPU, great battery life, great camera, great speakers, great connectivity, great cooling. Also, both sizes come with exactly the same specs.
Maybe the notch? but frankly, it seems to not cut into apps, and on fullscreen it just blacks out like a bezel so does it really matter?
I have nothing to say other than Apple knocked it out the park with this one. Every penny they charge for this beast is worth it, a no compromises machine like they haven't done since forever.
Now I'm just peacefully waiting for the first reviews. Can't wait for anandtech piece on M1 Pro and Max.

 

[Panino Manino]

I am shocked. I never thought they would do the 32core GPU. They did and it has 57 Billion Transistors. Holy shoot. That's gonna be expensive.

Sorry, but I need to let it out of my chest...
This dieshot/floorplan looks so... ugly!

It starts at U$2500.


Is the PC segment really "all wrong"?
This entire big SOC uses just 60W? Even ignoring the newer process, this seems like another universe compared to the PC segment.

And Apple doing what Intel refused with Alder Lake, they use just 2 small cores.

 

[Saylick]

oh wow. these are beastly dies. Can anyone estimate size from these slides? I think the 32GPU version is easily going over 300mm3. crazy

Yeah, looks like M1 Max is 3x the die size of the regular M1, so 300mm2 at least makes sense.

 

[nxre]

is the binned 8 core die 6+2? I can't find the information on their website.

 

[nxre]

Is the PC segment really "all wrong"?
This entire big SOC uses just 60W? Even ignoring the newer process, this seems like another universe compared to the PC segment.

I believe the 60W figure is just for the 32-core GPU.

 

[Heartbreaker]

CPU/GPU upgrade pricing.

 

[Racan]

This makes Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger hopes to win back Apple by outcompeting it even funnier.

His only hope to do business with Apple in the future is manufacturing Apple designs.

 

[insertcarehere]

Looking at the slide footnotes, it appears that the M1 Pro's GPU is straight up faster than a laptop 3050ti ("Discrete PC laptop graphics") while the M1 Max's compares very well with a maxed-out RTX 3080 Mobile ("High-end PC laptop graphics"). In an SoC that probably consumes less than 80w all-in, that's an engineering statement if there ever is one.

 

[leoneazzurro]

Looking at the slide footnotes, it appears that the M1 Pro's GPU is straight up faster than a laptop 3050ti ("Discrete PC laptop graphics") while the M1 Max's compares very well with a maxed-out RTX 3080 Mobile ("High-end PC laptop graphics"). That's an SoC all right...

You can put a lot of teraflops on a chip, being able to use them is another matter. Also, there is a process node of advantage.

 

[Heartbreaker]

This makes Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger hopes to win back Apple by outcompeting it even funnier.

His only hope to do business with Apple in the future is manufacturing Apple designs.

Yeah, I was thinking of that when these were announced, but even before this, and even if Intel had CPU supremacy again, Apple was never going to go back to Intel CPU. It's about more than just CPU performance.

 

[igor_kavinski]

You can put a lot of teraflops on a chip, being able to use them is another matter. Also, there is a process node of advantage.

I doubt Intel would be able to match Apple's performance per watt even with the exact same process node. They need a whole new architecture. Apple simply made the most of available die space.

 

[Ajay]

Seems like Jade-C Chop is an apt name for the M1 Pro. That cut line is pretty apparent in those die shots.

Yep, all those rumors were correct. The die shots looked a bit different at first, but there's just a difference in how they were taken/colored. Two top parts are identical. Really freaking impressive!

Also, I wonder if the two efficiency cores are just there for compatibility (maybe some OS functions are hard coded to only run on LP cores).