Check it out! Looks like the iPhone 3GS does have a Cortex-A8 and PowerVR SGX! Not unexpected, but awesome!
http://it.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3579
http://it.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3579
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Anandtech article reveals iPhone 3GS CPU/GPU in Depth
- Thread starter winterspan
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
So is this writer for Anandtech just guessing, or did he somehow find out information no one else has released? I'm just wondering; if anyone were able to dissect a processor just by looking at some quick promo videos it's Anandtech, but the writer seemed awfully certain that the 3G S had this new Cortex processor...
Cortex A8 is an amazing CPU. 256MB of DDR2 also boosts performance over the 128MB of DDR1.
OpenCL is supported on the PowerVR SGX. Perhaps it will be available in iPhone OS 4.0 for the 3GS.
This isn't just a 20% boost in performance. It's a full 100-200% leap.
Once developers begin exploring the full power of the new CPU and GPU, there's a whole new round of possibilities for Apps.
OpenCL is supported on the PowerVR SGX. Perhaps it will be available in iPhone OS 4.0 for the 3GS.
This isn't just a 20% boost in performance. It's a full 100-200% leap.
Once developers begin exploring the full power of the new CPU and GPU, there's a whole new round of possibilities for Apps.
Didn't you hear? It's an incremental upgrade.
Clock Speed
3G -- 412MHz
3Gs -- 600MHz
John Gruber of Daring Fireball called this on May 21st. Of course, he called most of what we saw on Monday... He's had reliable inside sources for a while. Here's what he said regarding this "incremental" 400MHz to 600MHz jump.
"The original EDGE iPhone and iPhone 3G use the same 400 MHz processor. Lets say the rumors are right and I believe they are that the next-generation iPhones CPU will be running at 600 MHz. In the same way that, say, a 90 MHz Pentium was more than 1.5 times as fast as a 60 MHz 486, the 600 MHz CPU in the next iPhone will be more than 1.5 times as fast as the current 400 MHz iPhone CPU."
In other words, they didn't just up the clock speed - it's a change in processor technology.
The article says nothing about 256 MB of DDR2 memory. Only mention of 256 is 256 KB of L2 cache.
http://www.macdailynews.com/index.p...s_apples_iphone_3g_s_sports_600mhz_256mb_ram/
256 MB Ram confirmed by T-Mobile Netherlands
256 MB Ram confirmed by T-Mobile Netherlands
Make it, on average, 2x faster. The whole complaint here was that all Apple was giving us were layman's terms.
There is an open-source project called open pandora (openpandora.org) that is using the same SoC as the Pre (and same processor as 3GS, apparently). They have full ubuntu, firefox, quake 3 etc. all running on it. It's fast.
Let me put this in a nutshell:
- The CPU clock speed is faster
- The CPU architecture is more advanced, with two simultaneous processing pipelines instead of 1
- There's twice the processing cache plus an additional level of cache
- There's twice the application RAM and it's double the clock speed.
- The graphics core is all-new. It is more advanced in pretty much all the same ways as the CPU. It will push more pixels, more triangles, and has full shaders.
WOW.
So this is by no means just a 200 mHz bump in clock speed. It's like ripping the V6 out of your car, and replacing it with a V8, plus a supercharger, plus headers, plus a better transmission. You get the idea.
People won't really understand the true power of this device until they play with it for a few days
- The CPU clock speed is faster
- The CPU architecture is more advanced, with two simultaneous processing pipelines instead of 1
- There's twice the processing cache plus an additional level of cache
- There's twice the application RAM and it's double the clock speed.
- The graphics core is all-new. It is more advanced in pretty much all the same ways as the CPU. It will push more pixels, more triangles, and has full shaders.
WOW.
So this is by no means just a 200 mHz bump in clock speed. It's like ripping the V6 out of your car, and replacing it with a V8, plus a supercharger, plus headers, plus a better transmission. You get the idea.
People won't really understand the true power of this device until they play with it for a few days
It has since come out through other sources. There are threads about it. Run a search for 3GS tech specs.
The T-mobile site confirms 256MB RAM along with corroborating the 600 MHZ processor.
Also, it would be a crime to give this thing a cortex A8 and only 128MB of RAM.
edit: FWIW, ARM lists the ARM11 architecture peaking out at 710 DMIPS (Dhrystone Million Instructions Per Second. It's a much more fair comparison than simple MHZ) for a 130nm process (the iphone uses a 90nm process, but has it downclocked from 600 to 412 MHZ, so it's probably a fair guess).
The Cortex A8 is capable of 2000 DMIPS at 600 Mhz.
It will be interesting to see what the first 3G S specific application is. I'm hoping for the people that don't have the 3G S on order that devs make the apps compatible for both revisions.
I think there is a good chance that on launch day there could be a 3G S category.
I think there is a good chance that on launch day there could be a 3G S category.
The 710 is for the ARM11 running around 650mhz. a 412Mhz iPhone 3G is probably running around 450-500 DMIPS.
The Cortex-A8 does 2DMIPS/mhz, so the 600Mhz iPhone 3GS should be pushing around 1200 DMIPS.
Awesome power! I can't wait to see how fast the web browser is!
What an exciting discussion! Can't wait to get my hands on this thing!
Of course I don't have much to compare it to since this is my first iPhone.
Of course I don't have much to compare it to since this is my first iPhone.