Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II • Hacker News Board

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#51

Post by tenebrisalietum » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 7:49 PM UTC

varispeed wrote: post #48

So Apple strategy seems to be to commit as little resources as possible to their products knowing that "open source" developers will do their work for free thus Apple will not have to pay extra salaries and taxes? I don't understand why people bother working for free to e.g. run Linux or even write a GPU driver? I get this is a nice developer challenge, and being involved with Apple stuff is still being seen as "cool…

Maybe because ... those developers want to use Linux on hardware they bought and own instead of the built-in operating system? The developers are helping themselves, not Apple.

Apple could save some money by selling bare metal M1's without an OS installed, but then it might get into the hands of people who want a "cheaper Mac but your hacker friend can get it working" and it would damage their brand, so I see why they don't do it.

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#52

Post by astrange » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 7:49 PM UTC

monkmartinez wrote: post #34

zaptrem wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M1 cores outperform Comet Lake cores and are basically tied with AMD Vermeer despite using a fraction of the power.

Who cares if you have the darn thing plugged in anyway? Does the M1 outperform the Threadripper 3990x?

Personally I like the noise level in my room being 32 dB and don't like PCs having to run the fan at full speed to show the desktop picture.

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#53

Post by orangecat » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 7:50 PM UTC

varispeed wrote: post #48

So Apple strategy seems to be to commit as little resources as possible to their products knowing that "open source" developers will do their work for free thus Apple will not have to pay extra salaries and taxes? I don't understand why people bother working for free to e.g. run Linux or even write a GPU driver? I get this is a nice developer challenge, and being involved with Apple stuff is still being seen as "cool…

It's not about helping Apple. The M1 beats every x86 CPU in absolute single threaded performance, as well as multicore performance per watt. Hopefully AMD will close the gap (I don't have much hope for Intel), but for now it's an extremely attractive target for Linux.

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#54

Post by war1025 » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 7:52 PM UTC

captain_price7 wrote: post #19

I know enough about GPU to know how interesting this is, but not enough to fully get it. I wish there were some "Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU for Dummies ".

I imagine the "for graphics engineers" version has to get figured out before they can do the "for Dummies" version.

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#55

Post by gjsman-1000 » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 7:53 PM UTC

Everyone, remember that in 2019 Alyssa was in _High School_. Where do people get this knowledge? It's astounding.

She was literally reverse-engineering Mali for Panfrost starting in her Sophomore year.

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#56

Post by monkmartinez » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 7:53 PM UTC

gonehome wrote: post #43

cambalache wrote: post #6

OK I love this, but I am pretty sure my chances of getting a mac in the future are zero. From which side should I expect the PC response? Intel? AMD? Microsoft? ARM? Samsung? I think Apple willingly or not has just obliterated the whole consumer pc market.

You might have to bite the bullet and get a mac - I don't see much promise from others in this space. Intel's CEO change may save them, but they're definitely facing an existential threat they've failed to adapt to for years. Amazon will move to ARM on servers and probably some decent design there, but that won't really reach the consumer hardware market (probably - though I suppose they could do something interestin…

Are you saying you don't see much promise for AMD, Intel and Nvidia in the GPU space or with computers in general? I had a hard time following your logic.

Apple may own their stack, but there are a TON of use cases where that stack doesn't even form a blip on the radar of the people who purchase computer gear.

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#57

Post by cambalache » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 7:54 PM UTC

chrisweekly wrote: post #41

cambalache wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Price for one, also I still consider PC and Linux (and god heavens even windows) more open than Mac. I also work with many windows-only automation software.

sorry but what's "PC" above, given it's not windows?

A generic term for hardware able to run linux and/or windows. Or any personal computer not build by Apple. You can have any combination of open/closed hardware and OS.

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#58

Post by chucky_z » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 8:01 PM UTC

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #55

Everyone, remember that in 2019 Alyssa was in _High School_. Where do people get this knowledge? It's astounding. She was literally reverse-engineering Mali for Panfrost starting in her Sophomore year.

Where did you get your knowledge? With places like HackerNews along with folks like yourself and myself writing posts about this kind of stuff it becomes trivial to walk down a rabbit hole for anyone of any age. Think back to how much you accomplished when you were younger because you were walking in the footsteps of others. :)

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#59

Post by happymellon » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 8:01 PM UTC

stefan_ wrote: post #31

zaptrem wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M1 cores outperform Comet Lake cores and are basically tied with AMD Vermeer despite using a fraction of the power.

They are also on a different process shrug

So they are competitive, because they are a node ahead?

Re: Dissecting the Apple M1 GPU, Part II

#60

Post by singhrac » Fri, Jan 22, 2021, 8:01 PM UTC

monkmartinez wrote: post #34

zaptrem wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

M1 cores outperform Comet Lake cores and are basically tied with AMD Vermeer despite using a fraction of the power.

Who cares if you have the darn thing plugged in anyway? Does the M1 outperform the Threadripper 3990x?

I think it's a moot question, since they're not comparable here. Laptops have inherent thermal limitations (not just power) that don't allow something like the Threadripper to be workable.

If you wanted a fair comparison you'd wait to see what processor Apple puts in their Mac Pro in 2-3 years, and compare that to whatever is the Threadripper equivalent then.