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Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

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Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#41

Post by fastball »

crazygringo wrote: post #21
whynotminot wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’ve always been good enough for gaming. The problem has just been whether or not publishers would bother releasing the games. It’s unfortunate that Apple can’t seem to really build enough momentum here to become a gaming destination.

It has always baffled me why Apple doesn't take gaming seriously. It's another revenue stream, it would sell more Macs. It's profit. Is it just some weird cultural thing? Or is there some kind of genuine technical reason for it, like it would involve some kind of tradeoffs around security or limiting architecture changes or something? Especially with the M-series chips, it feels like they had the opportunity to make…

Apple does take gaming seriously. They've built out comprehensive Graphics APIs and things like the GPTK to make migrating games to Apple's ecosystem actually not too bad for developers. The problem is that a lot of game devs just target Windows because every "serious" gamer has a windows PC. It's a chicken-and-egg problem that results from Apple always having a serious minority share of the desktop market. So historically Apple has focused on the segments of the market that they can more easily break into.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#42

Post by smith7018 »

LorenDB wrote: post #40

How many people does this actually affect? Gamers are better off with AMD X3D chips, and most productivity workloads need good multicore performance. Obviously MR is great silicon and I don't want to downplay that, but I'm not sure that best singlecore performance is an overly useful metric for the people who need performance.

It affects the millions of people that buy the machine by way of longevity.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#44

Post by wing-_-nuts »

carlgreene wrote: post #11
post_break wrote: post #8

What's crazy is that the M4 Pro is in the Mac mini, something so tiny can handle that chip. The Mac Studio with the M4 Max will be awesome but the Mini is remarkable.

I am still astounded the huge change moving from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac (M1) has had in terms of battery performance and heat. I don't think i've heard the fans a single time I've had this machine and it's been several years. Nor have I had any desire to upgrade.

I do wonder if PC desktops will eventually move to a similar design. I have a 7800x3d on my desktop, and the thing is a beast but between it and the 3090 I basically have a space heater in my room

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#45

Post by zeroonetwothree »

ceejayoz wrote: post #18
xbenjii wrote: post #12

I'm confused. They're claiming "Apple’s M4 Max is the first production CPU to pass 4000 Single-Core score in Geekbench 6." yet I can see hundreds of other test results for single core performance above 4000 in the last 2 years?

Are those production results? https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/1962935 says it was running at 13.54 GHz. https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/4913899 looks... questionable.

https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/7531877 seems fine?

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#46

Post by jsheard »

torginus wrote: post #35
ttul wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My assessment is that ARM is running away from the competition. Apple is indeed designing the chip, but without the ARM architecture, Apple would have nothing to work with. This is not to diminish the incredible work of Apple’s VLSI team who put the chip architecture together and deftly navigated the Wild West of the fabrication landscape, but if you look at the specialized server chip side, it’s now dominated by ARM…

Even compared to other ARM cores, Apple is in a league of its own.

They have a good silicon design team, but having so much money that they can just buy out exclusive access to TSMCs most advanced processes doesn't hurt either. The closest ARM competitor to the M4, the Snapdragon X Elite, is a full node behind on 4nm while Apple is already using 2nd generation 3nm.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#47

Post by zeroonetwothree »

t-sauer wrote: post #33
xbenjii wrote: post #12

I'm confused. They're claiming "Apple’s M4 Max is the first production CPU to pass 4000 Single-Core score in Geekbench 6." yet I can see hundreds of other test results for single core performance above 4000 in the last 2 years?

As far as I can tell those are all scroes from overclocked CPUs.

https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/7531877 doesn't seem to be

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#49

Post by have_faith »

crazygringo wrote: post #21
whynotminot wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They’ve always been good enough for gaming. The problem has just been whether or not publishers would bother releasing the games. It’s unfortunate that Apple can’t seem to really build enough momentum here to become a gaming destination.

It has always baffled me why Apple doesn't take gaming seriously. It's another revenue stream, it would sell more Macs. It's profit. Is it just some weird cultural thing? Or is there some kind of genuine technical reason for it, like it would involve some kind of tradeoffs around security or limiting architecture changes or something? Especially with the M-series chips, it feels like they had the opportunity to make…

I always assumed it was the nature of the gaming workload on the hardware for why they don't ever promote it. AAA games pegging the CPU/GPU at near max for long periods of time goes against what they optimise their machines for. I just think they don't want to promote that sort of stress on the system. On top Apple taking themselves very seriously and seeing gaming as below them.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#50

Post by tempest_ »

torginus wrote: post #35
ttul wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My assessment is that ARM is running away from the competition. Apple is indeed designing the chip, but without the ARM architecture, Apple would have nothing to work with. This is not to diminish the incredible work of Apple’s VLSI team who put the chip architecture together and deftly navigated the Wild West of the fabrication landscape, but if you look at the specialized server chip side, it’s now dominated by ARM…

Even compared to other ARM cores, Apple is in a league of its own.

Outside of Ampere(who are really more server focused) who else is designing desktop/laptop ARM cpus?
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