

Apple A5X quad-core confusion, explained - dazbradbury
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2012/03/apple-a5x-not-quad-core/

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Steko
[http://www.anandtech.com/show/5072/nvidias-
tegra-3-launched-...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/5072/nvidias-
tegra-3-launched-architecture-revealed/2)

Graphics comparison:

Tegra 3 (Kal-El) @ 300 Mhz: 7.2 Gflops

A5X (2 x Power VR SGX MP2): 2 x 19.2 Gflops = 38.4 Gflops

Actual GPU clock on Tegra 3 unknown (in this article) but if it was 400 Mhz
that would be 9.6 Gflops which would be exactly 1/4 of the A5X.

~~~
techblock
Is the dual-core in the A5X faster than in the A5, excluding the GPU?

~~~
pwthornton
Unknown. We'll have to wait for some benchmarks to see the clock speed.

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jsz0
I wasn't very confused to start with. Is it fast enough? Yes/No? Yes.

~~~
jarek
Very hacker-like attitude indeed. /s

~~~
oemera
At the end of the day this is what counts. Is it fast or not. What else are
more cores for if not for more speed and performance.

I don't like that attitude calling someone not hacker-like because he doesn't
cares about cores! It's all about creating something better and that has
nothing to do with counting cores.

<http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_(hobbyist)>

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trotsky
Interesting - I definitely believed there were four cpu cores in that chip
yesterday. It'll be interesting to see what is made of this double speak, lord
knows if someone like samsung pulled a trick like this the condemnation from
the true believers would be severe.

~~~
masklinn
> Interesting - I definitely believed there were four cpu cores in that chip
> yesterday.

I have trouble understanding how that could be done, they clearly stated
"quad-core graphics" as opposed to the A5's "dual-core graphics" (the A5 using
a SGX543MP2 with the A5X probably being a SGX543MP4), there was no fudging
around or tentative to make it anything but.

~~~
ChuckMcM
I was thinking you were joking and then I realized you were serious. Were you?
Did you see how you used the same phrase to mean two different things?

    
    
      ... they clearly stated 'quad-core graphics'
      ... as opposed to the A5's *'dual-core graphics'*
    

All of Apple's messaging around the iPad and 4S are 'dual core' means two
CPUs. And with the 'New iPad' (nobody calls it an iPad 3 I notice) they said
the A5X with 'quad core graphics'. They are being imprecise in their messaging
and since it is uncommon for them to be imprecise it seems to reflect they are
perhaps a bit touchy about the Tegra-3's claim of being quad-core.

So it was painfully easy for a non-technical person to come away from both the
announcement, and the 'features' on the web site, thinking that there are four
CPU cores in the new iPad. We can debate if that was an honest mistake or a
calculated risk, I expect it will turn out badly for Apple either way.

[1] "The dual-core A5 chip delivers even more power. ..."
<https://www.apple.com/iphone/features/>

[2] "The A5X chip with quad-core graphics drives four times the pixels of iPad
2" <https://www.apple.com/ipad/features/>

~~~
wmf
Agreed. Apple generally hides tech specs, so when they do talk techie it's for
a very specific reason.

------
sigzero
I didn't realize there was confusion. He was pretty clear about quad core
graphics and the iPad site on Apple is pretty clear about quad core graphics
but a dual core cpu.

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6ren
Tegra 3 vs. A5 benchmarks (Transformer Prime vs. iPad 2)
[http://www.anandtech.com/show/5163/asus-eee-pad-
transformer-...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/5163/asus-eee-pad-transformer-
prime-nvidia-tegra-3-review/3)

BTW: Apple claims x2 GPU performance over iPad 2 - suggesting the doubling of
GPU cores to MP4 is the only source of increased performance. Because the iPad
3 (?) has x4 the pixels of the iPad 2, half-speed seems expected (if using
full resolution). The same thing happened for the first iPhone retina display,
so not that surprising. It's likely game devs will use the same solution as on
the xbox360: less than full resolution.

------
pwthornton
There is still much we don't know about the A5X. The A5 in the iPad (which is
different from the iPhone 4S's and Apple TV's A5) is clocked at 1 ghz per
core. The A5X could be clocked higher. We won't know until the benchmarks come
out.

The A5X does have two additional GPU cores. They could be clocked higher or
lower than the old GPU cores or the same. Again we won't know for sure.

We do know that the new iPad has a battery almost twice as a big as the iPad
2s. Clearly there is a lot more pixels and horsepower to push.

Just because a tablet has more or less cores won't tell you everything about
its computational power. Some companies may go with more cores clocked lower,
while others with fewer cores clocked higher. Others will focus more on GPU
performance (and in having the GPU accelerate non-graphical tasks), while
others will focus more on CPU power.

Ultimately Apple probably couldn't have gotten the battery life it wanted with
a quad-core CPU and quad-core GPU at the same time. Apple clearly is
prioritizing GPU power, as they have been pushing the iPad, iPhone and iPod
Touch as portable gaming devices. Apple has also been pushing the GPU to be
used for general computing purposes.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the A5X having faster core speeds for the CPUs.

Battery life is the biggest concern for mobile devices. Some companies are
putting CPU power first, while others are putting GPU power first. This is
good for consumers.

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ricardobeat
After all the bickering, he ends the article with

> _The new iPad is a Dual-Core tablet with a graphics engine that is 2X the
> speed of the iPad 2_

out of nowhere. 2X? He just provided evidence that the iPad 2 is 2x faster
than Tegra 3 - it's obvious the new one must be at least 4x faster since it's
driving four times more pixels (they wouldn't launch a new iPad that performs
_worse_ ), and that would make it even more than 4X faster than nvidia.

~~~
tikhonj
He did not provide evidence that the iPad 2 is 2x faster than Tegra 3--rather,
he showed that on _one_ benchmark that isn't entirely relevant it performs
twice as well. His theory is that the new model is 4x faster _on that
benchmark_. But the real point is that the particular benchmark is of limited
utility.

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bilbo0s
I had to ... as patiently as I possibly could ... explain to a woman yesterday
that her iPhone 4 was not 4G (LTE). I think people like her are who Apple
target with this sort of marketing. Don't misunderstand, I don't believe Apple
made users believe they were getting a 4G phone with the iPhone. I just think
companies like AT&T, Verizon, Samsung and Apple word things in a manner
intended to put their customers in a certain frame of mind.

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pwthornton
It is worth noting that the new iPad has the same GPU as the Playstation Vita.
I think that says something about the gaming performance implications for the
chip. I doubt the Tegra 3 stacks up, because if it did, surely Sony, a company
that needs great portable gaming performance, would have looked much harder at
the platform.

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tehayj
no surprise apple is just pulling marketing stunts like always

