Discussion Apple Silicon SoC thread

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Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,583
996
126
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:

Screen-Shot-2021-10-18-at-1.20.47-PM.jpg

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:


M1 Ultra discussion here:


M2 discussion here:


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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Heartbreaker

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2006
4,222
5,224
136
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.
Screen-Shot-2021-10-18-at-1.20.47-PM.jpg
 

nxre

Member
Nov 19, 2020
60
103
66
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.
Screen-Shot-2021-10-18-at-1.20.47-PM.jpg
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

Lifer
Oct 1, 2010
14,510
5,159
136
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.
 

nxre

Member
Nov 19, 2020
60
103
66
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

Senior member
Jan 28, 2017
813
1,010
136
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.
Screen-Shot-2021-10-18-at-1.20.47-PM.jpg

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.
 

insertcarehere

Senior member
Jan 17, 2013
639
607
136
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.
 
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leoneazzurro

Senior member
Jul 26, 2016
905
1,430
136
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

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2006
4,222
5,224
136
Jul 27, 2020
15,750
9,817
106
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

Lifer
Jan 8, 2001
15,332
7,792
136
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).