Apple A8 Benchmarked

[witeken]

Hope nobody posted this.
https://www.semiwiki.com/forum/content/3842-intel-core-m-vs-apple-a8.html

The interesting thing to note about the A8 vs Core M is that at TSMC 20nm Apple was able to pack in 2B transistors while Intel was only able to pack in 1.3B at 14nm. Apple’s die size is a tad larger (89mm2 vs 82mm) but seriously, this is a 20nm planar versus 14nm FinFET comparison and where is Intel’s so called transistor density superiority?!?!?!?! Let’s wait for the teardown and benchmarks but this has got to be a humbling experience for Intel. Kind of like when Apple released a 64-bit SoC last year and Qualcomm wet themselves.l

For those people who want to measure the transistor density a bit more scientific and apples to Apples: http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=36610917&postcount=139

Intel: 70nm x 52nm = 3.640nm²
TSMC: 90nm x 64nm = 5.760nm²
FF Plus: 80nm x 64nm = 5.120nm²
Intel 22: 90nm x 80nm = 7.200nm²

 

[krumme]

Tsmc 20nm is just very dense - as usual. But look at freq - it shows at the perf side.

 

[Rakehellion]

I'm still wondering where all those transistors went. The leaked benchmarks don't look impressive, I wonder how A8 will handle 1080p and I'd love to see a comparison between how the A7 handles it's lower resolution display.

The A6X (iPad 4) can run Infinity Blade at 2048x1536 with anti-aliasing, so I'm sure the A8 can handle 1080p just fine. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6472/ipad-4-late-2012-review/5

 

[Sweepr]

iPhone 6+ also packs 1GB RAM: http://bbs2.ruliweb.daum.net/gaia/d...ad?articleId=1512922&bbsId=G003&itemGroupId=2

I'm still expecting a 2GB upgrade for the Air 2, but it looks like most 2014 iOS devices are stuck with 1GB RAM.

 

[TeknoBug]

Safari runs horribly on my iPad Air, that's why I use Mercury browser and sometimes Google Chrome. There has been times when I noticed it runs out of memory, so yeah 1GB on the newest devices makes little to no sense,I bet next year Apple will start raising RAM size.

 

[Eug]

iPhone 6+ also packs 1GB RAM: http://bbs2.ruliweb.daum.net/gaia/d...ad?articleId=1512922&bbsId=G003&itemGroupId=2

I'm still expecting a 2GB upgrade for the Air 2, but it looks like most 2014 iOS devices are stuck with 1GB RAM.

Not a surprise for the 6 plus.
I'm hopeful but not optimistic for the Air.

But what is that app and why are there page outs?

 

[Ajay]

Not a surprise for the 6 plus.
I'm hopeful but not optimistic for the Air.

Same here. I also would like a 12/13" iPad Air, but don't know where Apple stands on a larger iPad (I'm in reading glasses territory now, so a larger iPad would let me see more of a web page at a more reasonable font size).

But what is that app and why are there page outs?

With so little memory free, something as simple as a notification would probably cause the OS to page out some inactive application memory (some memory is usually left free in OSes to reduce physical memory fragmentation). I don't know what the "other" memory status stands for in IOS.

 

[Eug]

With so little memory free, something as simple as a notification would probably cause the OS to page out some inactive application memory (some memory is usually left free in OSes to reduce physical memory fragmentation). I don't know what the "other" memory status stands for in IOS.

But iOS has no swap file.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the terminology/technology here, but iOS just asks apps to give up memory, or else it just takes it. It doesn't page it out to swap, because there is no swap file in the first place.

 

[TreVader]

So not even 2GB in the 6+, actually I'm glad the 6 is the same. I would never buy a 5.5" phone and I appreciate apple keeping flagship specs in it's smaller phones.

 

[TreVader]

The A6X (iPad 4) can run Infinity Blade at 2048x1536 with anti-aliasing, so I'm sure the A8 can handle 1080p just fine. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6472/ipad-4-late-2012-review/5

The A6X is a chip not utilized in any iPhone and it has a huge GPU upgrade that makes it capable of running like that.


Pretty sure the A6X is competitive with A7 too, but I wouldn't want A7 running 1080p

 

[Eug]

The A6X is a chip not utilized in any iPhone and it has a huge GPU upgrade that makes it capable of running like that.

Pretty sure the A6X is competitive with A7 too, but I wouldn't want A7 running 1080p

Not sure I'd want A7 running 1080p either, but the A7's GPU performance is much faster than the A6X's, not to mention the huge CPU boost.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7460/apple-ipad-air-review/4

BTW, the last two pictures show the difference that the number pixels pushed makes. The winner on iOS by a huge margin is my iPhone 5s, since it has so many less pixels. It's also interesting to see the iPad mini (non-Retina, and based on the ancient iPad 2 with its A5) score better than the iPad 4 (Retina) in that last graph.

I'm sure A8 was purpose-built for 1080p in mind though. The idea of A7 running 1080p is a moot point, since there are no A7 1080p devices.

So not even 2GB in the 6+, actually I'm glad the 6 is the same. I would never buy a 5.5" phone and I appreciate apple keeping flagship specs in it's smaller phones.

I'm sad for both the 6 and 6 plus. Too bad too, cuz the A8 CPU/GPU performance will absolutely scream in iOS 8 otherwise. The 5s already screams in iOS 8. I don't think the CPU/GPU will be the bottleneck for future iOS upgrades here. It will be the amount of RAM in this case.

In the case of the iPhone 4 vs 4S, it was definitely the CPU. Even with 512 MB RAM, the iPhone 4 can't keep up.

For the 4S vs. the 5, it will be both the RAM and the CPU.

For the 5 vs. the 5S, it will be just the CPU.

And for the 5S vs. the 6, I'm thinking it might even be other features (such as H.265 support) and even just marketing reasons, since performance overall is likely not that different in most situations, and the RAM is the same.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Knowing Apple and the fact that they talked about "desktop class scalar engine" I wouldn't be surprised if they would just run (some) games in a lower resolution (2x as on the 6).

That would be an awful waste of a nice, high-resolution display.

But it's probably the most likely in light of the apparent modest performance improvements in the A8 GPU over A7.

 

[jdubs03]

The reviews are coming, from mashable:

Obviously iPhone 5s is on the right.

Edit from engadget: Eug you have a better format.

So yeah, really disappointing for the GPU, even with 20nm, they're at a disadvantage to TK1...by a long way.
My goal was to get a 6 next year when the 6S came out, but based on this, nope.

 

[pw257008]

wonder if those numbers will change for the 5s when ios 8 comes through

 

[Eug]

Engadget: iPhone 6 and 6 Plus review: bigger and better, but with stiffer competition

Another interesting side effect of the size difference is how they manage thermal heat dissipation. Since it's the smaller of the two, the iPhone 6 got noticeably toastier than the Plus when playing games -- in fact, I rarely had any problem with the Plus getting warm.

wonder if those numbers will change for the 5s when ios 8 comes through

For the iPhone 5s in iOS 8:

I get around 425 ms in SunSpider in both iOS 7 and iOS 8 on my iPhone 5s, although it's much less consistent on iOS 8. iOS 8 ranged from that to a high of about 480 ms. It was all over the place. iOS 7 was consistently low.

In iOS 8, I get 15105 in 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited on the iPhone 5s.

I get 20788 in Base Mark X on the default medium quality setting. I don't know what setting they used. I assume the high setting though. For the high setting of Base Mark X I get 14242, which is close to Engadget's 14404.

I get 2542 in Geekbench 3.2 (multi-core).

Note that aside from SunSpider, these are the first and only times I have run these benches. No repeated runs to get better scores.

 

[liahos1]

I'll be getting it but not for the a8. I wonder if this starts dispelling the idea apple displaces intel in future macs

 

[Enigmoid]

Incremental upgrade. Thought for sure apple was going to leap ahead of everyone else. Guess not.

 

[Sweepr]

Pretty boring upgrade from a technical perspective. ~16% CPU performance bump (partially from higher clocks) + <20% GPU performance bump (according to the Basemark/3DMark numbers). I wonder if we'll ever see a A6->A7 performance increase again. As much as I like the iOS ecosystem the Exynos 5433-based Note 4 with QHD screen and 3/4GB RAM is looking more tempting.

 

[nismotigerwvu]

So they should do it just to one-up the competition. Have 8GB of RAM and a 4K display on the next phone because they can.

Android uses a different system of memory management than iOS.

I'll ask again: How is the device actually limited by the amount of memory it currently has? I think that's a legitimate question.

Talk about a strawman argument....Along those lines, why doesn't Apple slash down to 512 megs or better yet 256 just because they can.

It isn't a matter of one-upping their competitors, it's a matter of staying competitive. If app developers feel squeezed out by resource constraints they might start looking (or placing a larger emphasis) elsewhere. Considering that iOS only holds around 11~12% of the global market, it isn't a given that developers will always see it as the premiere platform even if all marketshare isn't created equal.

The cost of speccing to 2 gigs is quite minimal in funds and miliwatts. Also, remember that content will be more resource intensive at these newly increased resolutions. Apple might have been able to get by with less when pixel counts were down compared to the rest of the market, but their users are accustomed to a refined experience and would respond poorly to stuttering or unresponsiveness.

 

[TreVader]

Well that is disappointing, but I guess we got spoiled with the huge improvements we had every year.


still haven't read the review but I'm confident that the 6 will be plenty quick on iOS8 with A8

 

[TreVader]

Pretty boring upgrade from a technical perspective. ~16% CPU performance bump (partially from higher clocks) + <20% GPU performance bump (according to the Basemark/3DMark numbers). I wonder if we'll ever see a A6->A7 performance increase again. As much as I like the iOS ecosystem the Exynos 5433-based Note 4 with QHD screen and 3/4GB RAM is looking more tempting.

On paper at least it is way faster than the 6.




I have my doubts about the adreno 420 or Mali equivalent holding up to QHD just as I do the 6 with 1080p.

 

[Eug]

On paper at least it is way faster than the 6.

Yeah, but so is the A7.

 

[TreVader]

Yeah, but so is the A7.

I have the 5s and although I realize apple went far and beyond with A7, I do think they could've put more GPU grunt than they did in the plus specifically.


That being said, specs are just numbers and after reading the review, it looks like apple hit a home run with this phone. He basically says the 6+ is the best all around phablet out there and the 6 is nearly as good.

 

[Eug]

I'd say it's a solid base hit. It's not a home run without 2 GB RAM.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Apple really needs to get in on some FinFET action.