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Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

techinsights.com

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Re: Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

#81

Post by dismalpedigree »

segfaultbuserr wrote: post #9

Only a die-shot, it's disappointing that there's no comment or explanation. But the website advertises: > A DFR report will be available to TechInsights subscribers on Apple's M1 disruptive chip architecture in January 2021. So I assume the actual write-up is still a work-in-progress. Perhaps we just need to be patient and come back a month later.

The “reports” are targeted at competitors who want to know how and what Apple did. They are quite expensive for a consumer or casual user.

The are more than just a document. A DFR includes in depth analysis, hundreds of supporting images, and usually access to the Circuit Vision for it. CV is a viewer that allows drilling into the chip down to viewing individual transistors along with the chip schematics. Think map tiles but for a chip.

Disclosure: I work at TechInsights.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

#82

Post by als0 »

bullen wrote: post #69
chrisseaton wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's L3, but I think it's called 'system cache' because it is also used for the bus that loads memory from RAM into the GPU.

I would really like to know where the L1 caches are for proportions!

The L1 caches are part of each CPU itself.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

#83

Post by murukesh_s »

vnorilo wrote: post #72
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #70

Can we step back and marvel at the absurdity that one of the most powerful CPUs ever created was for a phone?

From a device class where the newly all-important perf per watt was always the north star, in a market with the largest chip volume, by a company with ample margins and mountains of cash? Does not seem all that absurd :)

yea it's *the world largest company (by market capitalisation), whose main product is their flagship mobile and whose main differentiator is the CPU (almost everything else is beaten or available in competing products like Camera, number of apps etc). The moment the CPU performance falls below Android devices, people will look at iPhones differently.. iOS is a differentiator but doesn't have the x factor to make iPhones justify the premium tag.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

#84

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

vnorilo wrote: post #72
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #70

Can we step back and marvel at the absurdity that one of the most powerful CPUs ever created was for a phone?

From a device class where the newly all-important perf per watt was always the north star, in a market with the largest chip volume, by a company with ample margins and mountains of cash? Does not seem all that absurd :)

I always assumed that they would be inferior in terms of absolute performance if you were going for performance per watt. I never imagined just how efficient the silicon could be.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

#85

Post by dismalpedigree »

I work at TechInsights.

Depending on what the community is looking to know, there may be some things we can share publicly. I’m in the software group and not intimately involved with the RE parts, but I will act as an ambassador and see if I can get the right people involved.

Throw some comments on this thread and we’ll see what we can do to help. Might be next week due to holidays.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

#87

Post by murukesh_s »

chrisseaton wrote: post #71
JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #70

Can we step back and marvel at the absurdity that one of the most powerful CPUs ever created was for a phone?

But these devices aren’t ‘phones’ any more are they? That’s disingenuous. They’re hugely powerful general purpose computing devices - many people’s primary computing device if you go outside the tech bubble. They do compute intensive tasks like photo manipulation, on-line video editing, grading, and compression, they do face detection, depth estimation, etc etc. I don’t know why people still say ‘wow all this for a t…

its a shame we can't 'dock' em to a larger monitor to do desktop work yet. There are attempts by few players, but if Apple can do that it would be another revolution..

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

#88

Post by dwighttk »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #55
manigandham wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you claiming that they are not a tech leader right now?

They're in a weird spot. They're obviously making a lot of money, but most companies in their position do a lot of work to court developers and accessory makers etc. Apple's position is essentially that they control the market so you need them more than they need you. But that makes others resent them. Which is a vulnerability because it means you have all the rest of the industry ready to sell Apple down the river t…

> fervently supporting any half viable competitor in the hopes that it becomes fully viable.

Great. I’m an Apple fan and I’d love it if there were more half-viable or better competitors. Seems like Apple is doing a good job.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

#89

Post by Hamuko »

joakleaf wrote: post #73

I wonder what they'll do for "M1X" and pro-machines? Seems like heat isn't an issue, so can they increase the clock-speed of the M1? And will they create a larger die with 2xGPU and 2xCPUs, or will they "stitch" multiple M1 dies together on one package to have a higher yield and reduce supply chain concerns? An M1X with 2xGPU will bring it to Radeon 5500M level which is what I have in my current 16", but still not qu…

Well, the prevailing rumor currently is a processor with 8 high-performance cores (as opposed to the 4 on the M1). I don't know if the amount of high-efficiency cores would also be doubled so that it's like 2xCPU when compared to the M1.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Die-Shots

#90

Post by temac »

murukesh_s wrote: post #83
vnorilo wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a device class where the newly all-important perf per watt was always the north star, in a market with the largest chip volume, by a company with ample margins and mountains of cash? Does not seem all that absurd :)

yea it's *the world largest company (by market capitalisation), whose main product is their flagship mobile and whose main differentiator is the CPU (almost everything else is beaten or available in competing products like Camera, number of apps etc). The moment the CPU performance falls below Android devices, people will look at iPhones differently.. iOS is a differentiator but doesn't have the x factor to make iPho…

I suspect for the majority of buyers the differentiator is the logo, then the OS, then maybe the CPU.
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