Chipworks - A6X Teardown

[djgandy]

http://www.chipworks.com/blog/recentteardowns/2012/11/01/inside-the-apple-ipad-4-a6x-to-be-revealed/

123mm2
A lot of GPU resource on this chip!

 

[ChronoReverse]

Well it looks like the SGX554 really does double the SGX543 from looking at the GLBenchmarks result, so it's not a terrible surprise that it has to use even more die space.

Wow, the graphics cores die space area really increased

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Isn't this the A6X?

 

[djgandy]

Yes it is, I typo'd the title

 

[bearxor]

God Apple... Seriously?

Wouldn't dual-core 554 have sufficed?

 

[MrX8503]

Can't wait for Anand's review

 

[gus6464]

God Apple... Seriously?

Wouldn't dual-core 554 have sufficed?

I think Apple is just trying to make a statement to other manufacturers that they better get on the ball or they are just going to keep annihilating them in the GPU department.

What I really want to see is what Intel does with next gen Atom since they licensed PowerVR. I think within the next 2 years Windows 8 and iOS are going to leave Android in the dust in the tablet graphics department.

 

[TheStu]

I think Apple is just trying to make a statement to other manufacturers that they better get on the ball or they are just going to keep annihilating them in the GPU department.

What I really want to see is what Intel does with next gen Atom since they licensed PowerVR. I think within the next 2 years Windows 8 and iOS are going to leave Android in the dust in the tablet graphics department.

I think they may also be sending a message to intel. Think about it, Apple is custom designing their SoC silicon now, devoting massive resources and space to the GPU in particular. They are putting out GPU destroying displays on their laptops now, so intel had better step up their game.

 

[Aikouka]

Anand's A6X GPU Preview:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6426/ipad-4-gpu-performance-analyzed-powervr-sgx-554mp4-under-the-hood

God Apple... Seriously?

Wouldn't dual-core 554 have sufficed?

Why do you say that? In my attempt to "think like Apple", I would believe that they try to keep the iPhone and iPad in a sort of "performance equilibrium." For example, the iPhone 5 and the iPad 4 should be able to play games of similar quality in their native resolution. If Apple was just shooting for reduced power consumption with similar performance, then I think your suggestion would be good.

 

[bearxor]

Why do you say that? In my attempt to "think like Apple", I would believe that they try to keep the iPhone and iPad in a sort of "performance equilibrium." For example, the iPhone 5 and the iPad 4 should be able to play games of similar quality in their native resolution. If Apple was just shooting for reduced power consumption with similar performance, then I think your suggestion would be good.

Wouldnt a 543MP3 and a 554MP2 have been sufficiently close in power? If the 554MP4 is twice as fast as the 543MP4, then 2 vs 3 units seems like it should be about equal.

Now, if Apple was shooting for "we really want games to run smooth at 2048x1536, then overkill on the GPU was necessary. It just doesn't seem like it was a huge deal or that the 543MP4 was terribly underpowered.

 

[Aikouka]

Wouldnt a 543MP3 and a 554MP2 have been sufficiently close in power?

Yes and No. Yes, I think in an apples to apples comparison, the performance would be pretty similar; however, if you want to compare the iPad at its native resolution to the iPhone 5 at its native resolution, you need the beefier GPU. That's the difference that we need to keep in mind; as long as Apple keeps with the same naming system, the A#X SoCs are designed for the iPad and will probably need to be beefier in the GPU department to keep the relative performance in line with the latest iPhone using the A#.

 

[dagamer34]

God Apple... Seriously?

Wouldn't dual-core 554 have sufficed?

In order to maintain similar performance, a dual-core 554 would have to be clocked higher than a quad-core 543, and we have to remember that the relationship between clock speed frequency and power usage is not linear, more power is used than performance is gained.

The other side of this is that if you have more cores, you can keep clock speed lower and still perform roughly the same amount of work, but you've increased die space (and inevitably cost).

 

[ChronoReverse]

The other side of this is that if you have more cores, you can keep clock speed lower and still perform roughly the same amount of work, but you've increased die space (and inevitably cost).

Fortunately for Apple, they have the huge economies of scale to do this and not even flinch.

 

[dagamer34]

Fortunately for Apple, they have the huge economies of scale to do this and not even flinch.

True. And it is NOT pure coincidence that the OEMs that sell the most phones make their own custom designs because they don't have to ask SoC vendors to design a chip for them, they can get whatever they want. Off-the-shelf parts are always going to suck compared to custom designs.