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Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

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Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#181

Post by lowbloodsugar »

londons_explore wrote: post #151
lowbloodsugar wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really curious if the memory bandwidth is entirely available to the CPU if the GPU is idle. An nvidia RTX3090 has nearly 1TB/s bandwidth, so the GPU is clearly going to use as much of the 400GB/s as possible. Other unified architectures have multiple channels or synchronization to memory, such that no one part of the system can access the full bandwidth. But if the CPU can access all 400GB/s, that is an absolute game…

I suspect the GPU is never really idle. Even simple screen refresh blending say 5 layers and outputting it to a 4k screen is 190Gbits at 144 Hz.

Don't know much about the graphics on an M1. Does it not render to a framebuffer? Is that framebuffer spread over all 4 memory banks? Can't wait to read all about it.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#182

Post by burmanm »

gpt5 wrote: post #167

It’s interesting that the M1 Max is similar in GPU performance to RTX 3080. A sub $1000 Mac Mini would end up being the best gaming PC you could buy, at less than half the price of an equivalent windows machine.

But without games to play on it. Instead, you could just get an Xbox Series X for half that price.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#183

Post by klelatti »

wmf wrote: post #179
klelatti wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this context the absence of the 27 inch iMac was interesting. If these SoC were not deemed to be 'right' for the bigger iMac then possibly a more CPU focused / developer focused SoC may be in the works for the iMac?

Nah, it'll be the same M1 Max. Just wait a few months like with the 24" iMac.

You're probably right. Maybe they have inventory to work through!

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#184

Post by dewey »

out_of_protocol wrote: post #171
sk0g wrote: post #115

Now, if only Unreal Engine builds were available M1 native, I could get rid of my huge and heavy desktop entirely! Interestingly, some improvements to Rosetta were mentioned, extremely briefly.

Apple very much against games, they've even broken OpenGL just because. Don't expect any type of gaming ecosystem around Apple anytime soon.

> Apple very much against games

They are not against games, they just don't care about supporting anything else that's not coming through their frameworks and the app store. This can easily verified by the way-too-long segments of game developer demos at the annual WWDC.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#186

Post by spicybright »

bla3 wrote: post #82

This is about the processors, not the laptops, so commenting on the chips instead. They look great, but they look like they're the M1 design, just more of it. Which is plenty for a laptop! But it'll be interesting to see what they'll do for their desktops. Most of the additional chip area went into more GPUs and special-purpose video codec hardware. It's "just" two more cores than the vanilla M1, and some of the effi…

I'm going to sound dumb for this, but how difficult do any of you think it would be to make a computer with 2 M1 chips? Or even 4?

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#187

Post by sounds »

Unklejoe wrote: post #126
PaulKeeble wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

400GB/s available to the CPU cores in a unified memory, that is going to really help certain workloads that are very memory dominant on modern architectures. Both Intel and AMD are solving this with ever increasing L3 cache sizes but just using attached memory in a SOC has vastly higher memory bandwidth potential and probably better latency too especially on work that doesn't fit in ~32MB of L3 cache.

The M1 still uses DDR memory at the end of the day, it's just physically closer to the core. This is in contrast to L3 which is actual SRAM on the core. The DDR being closer to the core may or may not allow the memory to run at higher speeds due to better signal integrity, but you can purchase DDR4-5333 today whereas the M1 uses 4266. The real advantage is the M1 Max uses 8 channels, which is impressive considering t…

Just to underscore this, memory physically closer to the cores has improved tRAS times measured in nanoseconds. This has the secondary effect of boosting the performance of the last-level cache since it can fill lines on a cache miss much faster.

The step up from DDR4 to DDR5 will help fill cache misses that are predictable, but everybody uses a prefetcher already, the net effect of DDR5 is mostly just better efficiency.

The change Apple is making, moving the memory closer to the cores, improves unpredicted cache misses. That's significant.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#188

Post by sys_64738 »

bla3 wrote: post #82

This is about the processors, not the laptops, so commenting on the chips instead. They look great, but they look like they're the M1 design, just more of it. Which is plenty for a laptop! But it'll be interesting to see what they'll do for their desktops. Most of the additional chip area went into more GPUs and special-purpose video codec hardware. It's "just" two more cores than the vanilla M1, and some of the effi…

The way I interpreted it is that it's like lego so they can add more fast cores or more efficiency cores depending on the platform needs. The successor generations will be new lego building blocks.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#189

Post by rubyist5eva »

schleck8 wrote: post #170
lisper wrote: post #105

"Apple’s Commitment to the Environment" > Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to have net-zero climate impact across the entire business, which includes manufacturing supply chains and all product life cycles. This also means that every chip Apple creates, from design to manufacturing, will be 100 percent carbon neutral. But what they won't do is put the chip in an expan…

Apple, the company that requires the entire panel to be replaced by design when a 6 dollar display cable malfunctions, is proud to announce its latest marketing slogan for a better environment.

Obsession with emissions has really made people start to miss the forest from the trees.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#190

Post by rubyist5eva »

jeswin wrote: post #114
_the_inflator wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that Apple took a subtle, not so subtle stand: power consumption has to do with environmental impact.

Apple almost single-handedly made computing devices non-repairable or upgradable; across their own product line and the industry in general due to their outsized influence.

It’s almost like it’s just about marketing and not much else…
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