All iPads A7 chip 5.4x single core & 5.08x multi-core over iPad3

[jpiszcz]

I was surprised by these results, the iPad3 benchmarks are very poor compared to the A7:

iPhone 5S (A7): 1401 single / 2508 multi
iPad 3: 259 single / 493 multi

So the new iPad Air or Mini for that matter should be a nice speed boost compared to the iPad 3, is anyone considering buying the new iPad Air / Mini due to the speed increase alone?

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

You are wrong. The A7 in the iPads are around twice as powerful as the iPhone 5S.

Here's the maths (GPU wise);

iPhone 5 -28.8Gflops
iPhone 5S -76.8Gflops (apple said 2X increase in graphics but in this case is 2.67X)
iPad 4-76.8Gflops
IPad 5- 2X times iPad 4(as said by apple, but will most likely be 2.67X again) so the iPad Air would perform around 205Gflops.

The A7 in the iPad Air (maybe not in the mini, need something more than screen size to account for $100 increase) will be clocked higher; I guess 1.4-1.5 Ghz.

As with the examples above; the 5S's GPU is a powerful as an iPad 4's, but the iPad Air is 2X faster than that (as said in the keynote and on their site). So the GPU is also different.

It is either a much higher clocked G6430 (unlikely) or the G6630 (most likely).

So Id say with the increased clock speed of the A7 (it doesn't have to be called A7X!!!) as well as the much better GPU (2X compared to iPad 4; therefor 2X compared to iPhone 5S, but as states before, in Gflops is much more likely to be 2.67X) the geekbench score should be around 1700 single core and 3200 dual core.

An the GPU in the iPad 3 performs around 15-30Gflops (can't remember) so even taking it as 30 to 205, it is around a 6.8 X GPU for Gflops from the iPad 3.

Lets just wait for tear downs in a week and see how great it is

 

[tann]

This is what makes me wonder how why things like the iPad 2 and original mini are around, 5x more powerful for a relatively small price increase. It's crazy how fast these things have advanced!

Though this probably means that iOS 8 will support the iPad 2.

 

[smiddlehurst]

You are wrong. The A7 in the iPads are around twice as powerful as the iPhone 5S.

Here's the maths (GPU wise);

iPhone 5 -28.8Gflops
iPhone 5S -76.8Gflops (apple said 2X increase in graphics but in this case is 2.67X)
iPad 4-76.8Gflops
IPad 5- 2X times iPad 4(as said by apple, but will most likely be 2.67X again) so the iPad Air would perform around 205Gflops.

The A7 in the iPad Air (maybe not in the mini, need something more than screen size to account for $100 increase) will be clocked higher; I guess 1.4-1.5 Ghz.

As with the examples above; the 5S's GPU is a powerful as an iPad 4's, but the iPad Air is 2X faster than that (as said in the keynote and on their site). So the GPU is also different.

It is either a much higher clocked G6430 (unlikely) or the G6630 (most likely).

So Id say with the increased clock speed of the A7 (it doesn't have to be called A7X!!!) as well as the much better GPU (2X compared to iPad 4; therefor 2X compared to iPhone 5S, but as states before, in Gflops is much more likely to be 2.67X) the geekbench score should be around 1700 single core and 3200 dual core.

An the GPU in the iPad 3 performs around 15-30Gflops (can't remember) so even taking it as 30 to 205, it is around a 6.8 X GPU for Gflops from the iPad 3.

Lets just wait for tear downs in a week and see how great it is

Uh, no, he's right because those are Geekbench figures which are primarily about CPU not GPU speeds. And yes, the A7 is going to be a huge change from the A5 cores, the whole architecture is a generational leap over the A6 and the A6 had a pretty damn good jump over the A5 in the first place!

As for GPU I'm afraid I don't agree here either. Gflops is one way of looking at performance but it's not the ONLY way and I suspect Apple is using a different measure for that 2x figure. Look at Anandtechs benchmarks for the 5S and the A7 in there is already significantly ahead of the A6X in some tests. While we don't know what changes (if any) Apple have made I'd be really surprised if there's any significant silicon changes. Clock speeds might increase but I'd be amazed if there's anything more than that.

 

[Tiger8]

I was surprised by these results, the iPad3 benchmarks are very poor compared to the A7:

iPhone 5S (A7): 1401 single / 2508 multi
iPad 3: 259 single / 493 multi

So the new iPad Air or Mini for that matter should be a nice speed boost compared to the iPad 3, is anyone considering buying the new iPad Air / Mini due to the speed increase alone?

People keep saying speed speed speed. I really don't get it, what exactly? I have an iPad 3 and I use it primarily to browse the web, read emails, and send invoices, and I just don't see how the boost would help me. Would safari take 0.5 seconds rather than 1.5 seconds?

What Apps run faster on iPad Air?

 

[TommyA6]

Uh, no, he's right because those are Geekbench figures which are primarily about CPU not GPU speeds. And yes, the A7 is going to be a huge change from the A5 cores, the whole architecture is a generational leap over the A6 and the A6 had a pretty damn good jump over the A5 in the first place!

As for GPU I'm afraid I don't agree here either. Gflops is one way of looking at performance but it's not the ONLY way and I suspect Apple is using a different measure for that 2x figure. Look at Anandtechs benchmarks for the 5S and the A7 in there is already significantly ahead of the A6X in some tests. While we don't know what changes (if any) Apple have made I'd be really surprised if there's any significant silicon changes. Clock speeds might increase but I'd be amazed if there's anything more than that.

A7 in iPhone 5s is 2x faster in GPU than A6 in iPhone 5, which is 2x faster than A5 GPU. As stated by Phil in the event, A7 in iPad mini retina is 8X faster in GPU than A5 in first iPad mini. We can conclude that iPad A7 uses a more powerful GPU than iPhone 5s (probably 6630 compared to 6430)

 

[Markiie]

People keep saying speed speed speed. I really don't get it, what exactly? I have an iPad 3 and I use it primarily to browse the web, read emails, and send invoices, and I just don't see how the boost would help me. Would safari take 0.5 seconds rather than 1.5 seconds?

What Apps run faster on iPad Air?

I have a iPhone 5s and currently a iPad3. Use them side by side and do all the functions mentioned above. The iPhone 5s is much, much better by worlds apart. So much smoother.

Here is a example:

Use a butter knife to cut through a piece of steak.......then use a steak knife. Do they do the same thing? Yes. Will the steak taste the same. Yes.

But which knife would you rather use during dinner?

 

[Diversion]

You are wrong. The A7 in the iPads are around twice as powerful as the iPhone 5S.

Here's the maths (GPU wise);

iPhone 5 -28.8Gflops
iPhone 5S -76.8Gflops (apple said 2X increase in graphics but in this case is 2.67X)
iPad 4-76.8Gflops
IPad 5- 2X times iPad 4(as said by apple, but will most likely be 2.67X again) so the iPad Air would perform around 205Gflops.

The A7 in the iPad Air (maybe not in the mini, need something more than screen size to account for $100 increase) will be clocked higher; I guess 1.4-1.5 Ghz.

As with the examples above; the 5S's GPU is a powerful as an iPad 4's, but the iPad Air is 2X faster than that (as said in the keynote and on their site). So the GPU is also different.

It is either a much higher clocked G6430 (unlikely) or the G6630 (most likely).

So Id say with the increased clock speed of the A7 (it doesn't have to be called A7X!!!) as well as the much better GPU (2X compared to iPad 4; therefor 2X compared to iPhone 5S, but as states before, in Gflops is much more likely to be 2.67X) the geekbench score should be around 1700 single core and 3200 dual core.

An the GPU in the iPad 3 performs around 15-30Gflops (can't remember) so even taking it as 30 to 205, it is around a 6.8 X GPU for Gflops from the iPad 3.

Lets just wait for tear downs in a week and see how great it is

What's up old friend! You think Apple still put in a G6630 even without the A7X moniker? When Apple stated regular A7, I immediately think they just clocked the cpu and graphics a little over over the 5S to drive the higher resolution.. Can't wait for an Anandtech teardown and examination though so we can be 100% sure.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

What's up old friend! You think Apple still put in a G6630 even without the A7X moniker? When Apple stated regular A7, I immediately think they just clocked the cpu and graphics a little over over the 5S to drive the higher resolution.. Can't wait for an Anandtech teardown and examination though so we can be 100% sure.

Hello I still think so. 5S GPU is equal to A6X GPU and iPad Air is 2 X the A6X; so the iPad Air's GPU is 2X faster than the iPhone 5S, so I hope so. I love reading Anandtech reviews, and the iPad Air will be no different Just hope the 2Gb of RAM leak was right...

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

What's up old friend! You think Apple still put in a G6630 even without the A7X moniker? When Apple stated regular A7, I immediately think they just clocked the cpu and graphics a little over over the 5S to drive the higher resolution.. Can't wait for an Anandtech teardown and examination though so we can be 100% sure.

Right. I have a full proof answer that it is an A7X in all but name. Warning- contains maths

iPhone 5- 28.8Gflops
I

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What's up old friend! You think Apple still put in a G6630 even without the A7X moniker? When Apple stated regular A7, I immediately think they just clocked the cpu and graphics a little over over the 5S to drive the higher resolution.. Can't wait for an Anandtech teardown and examination though so we can be 100% sure.

Right. I have a full proof answer that it is an A7X in all but name. Warning- contains maths

iPhone 5- 28.8Gflops
iPhone 5S- 76.8Gflops(2X times increase over iPhone 5, real increase=2.67X)
iPad 4- 76.8Gflops
iPad Air- 2X iPad 4(real increase 2.67X)=205gflops

The iPhone 5S is as powerful GPU wise as the iPad 4 and the iPad Air is twice as powerful as it. So iPad Air is twice as fast as the iPhone 5S GPU wise.

The X series were increases in CPU clock speed increase and Better GPU. This maths proves the better GPU, and the CPU clock increase also adds up as the iPad Air=2X A6X, the iPhone 5S was 2X A6, so it is a larger jump. I suspect a 100-400Mhz increase in clock speed GPU wise, and the G6630 GPU/ super clocked G6430.

The maths proves that it is not the same CPU or GPU as in the 5S, it appears they just simplified the naming of the SoC.

 

[DVK916]

You are wrong. The A7 in the iPads are around twice as powerful as the iPhone 5S.

Here's the maths (GPU wise);

iPhone 5 -28.8Gflops
iPhone 5S -76.8Gflops (apple said 2X increase in graphics but in this case is 2.67X)
iPad 4-76.8Gflops
IPad 5- 2X times iPad 4(as said by apple, but will most likely be 2.67X again) so the iPad Air would perform around 205Gflops.

The A7 in the iPad Air (maybe not in the mini, need something more than screen size to account for $100 increase) will be clocked higher; I guess 1.4-1.5 Ghz.

As with the examples above; the 5S's GPU is a powerful as an iPad 4's, but the iPad Air is 2X faster than that (as said in the keynote and on their site). So the GPU is also different.

It is either a much higher clocked G6430 (unlikely) or the G6630 (most likely).

So Id say with the increased clock speed of the A7 (it doesn't have to be called A7X!!!) as well as the much better GPU (2X compared to iPad 4; therefor 2X compared to iPhone 5S, but as states before, in Gflops is much more likely to be 2.67X) the geekbench score should be around 1700 single core and 3200 dual core.

An the GPU in the iPad 3 performs around 15-30Gflops (can't remember) so even taking it as 30 to 205, it is around a 6.8 X GPU for Gflops from the iPad 3.

Lets just wait for tear downs in a week and see how great it is

By this logic the Ipad Mini GPU has 19.2 GFlops, and since apple said 8X the A7 in the Mini Retina needs to be at least 150 GFlops. Their is something not right about this thinking.

Something is very odd what the numbers apple is giving.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

Uh, no, he's right because those are Geekbench figures which are primarily about CPU not GPU speeds. And yes, the A7 is going to be a huge change from the A5 cores, the whole architecture is a generational leap over the A6 and the A6 had a pretty damn good jump over the A5 in the first place!

As for GPU I'm afraid I don't agree here either. Gflops is one way of looking at performance but it's not the ONLY way and I suspect Apple is using a different measure for that 2x figure. Look at Anandtechs benchmarks for the 5S and the A7 in there is already significantly ahead of the A6X in some tests. While we don't know what changes (if any) Apple have made I'd be really surprised if there's any significant silicon changes. Clock speeds might increase but I'd be amazed if there's anything more than that.

But the same goes for CPU.

iPhone 5S A7 = 2X A6
iPad Air A7 = 2X A6X

The CPU in the iPad 4 was more powerful than the CPU in the iPhone 5, so the CPU score for the iPad Air's A7 will be greater. It is basically A7X in all but name. With the X series being an increased clock speed and a better GPU.

The iPhone 5S scores roughly 2X as much as the iPhone 5. D by doubling the iPad 4's geekbench score (1750), the iPad Air should have a score of 3300-3500 multicore score.

----------

By this logic the Ipad Mini GPU has 19.2 GFlops, and since apple said 8X the A7 in the Mini Retina needs to be at least 150 GFlops. Their is something not right about this thinking.

Something is very odd what the numbers apple is giving.

The iPad mini would have overall GPU performance of around 155Gflops with a G6430 GPU clocked at 400Mhz (twice as high as the 5S). The iPad Air will have an overall 205Gflops with a G6630. That makes the numbers add up.

Before, Apple has made devices seem to have the same spec (iPhone 4 vs iPod 4) but turned out to be very different (in that case, 256mb of RAM instead of 512 in the iPhone 4). It am not at all surprised that they are different.

 

[macduke]

But the same goes for CPU.

iPhone 5S A7 = 2X A6
iPad Air A7 = 2X A6X

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[/COLOR]

The iPad mini would have overall GPU performance of around 155Gflops with a G6430 GPU clocked at 400Mhz (twice as high as the 5S). The iPad Air will have an overall 205Gflops with a G6630. That makes the numbers add up.

Before, Apple has made devices seem to have the same spec (iPhone 4 vs iPod 4) but turned out to be very different (in that case, 256mb of RAM instead of 512 in the iPhone 4). It am not at all surprised that they are different.

These are very keen observations. People seem to forget about the iPod Touch. Apple varies ram for lower-end products. It wouldn't be surprising at all if the Mini has 1GB and the Air has 2GB.

I think I'm settling in on the fact that I'm just going to order an Air because, between the two, it is guaranteed to have the same or better specs. I'll have to order it online as I'm not near an Apple Store and have Apple gift cards I need to use. So I'll probably get it early the next week (the 4th or 5th). With a 14 day return window (from the date of arrival, correct?), that means that I have until the 18th or 19th for an iPad Mini Retina to come out and have it's specs discovered. Though I've heard that Apple is usually flexible, especially if you tell them that you're exchanging for a different model. But surely they wouldn't run up too close to Black Friday, right?

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

These are very keen observations. People seem to forget about the iPod Touch. Apple varies ram for lower-end products. It wouldn't be surprising at all if the Mini has 1GB and the Air has 2GB.

I think I'm settling in on the fact that I'm just going to order an Air because, between the two, it is guaranteed to have the same or better specs. I'll have to order it online as I'm not near an Apple Store and have Apple gift cards I need to use. So I'll probably get it early the next week (the 4th or 5th). With a 14 day return window (from the date of arrival, correct?), that means that I have until the 18th or 19th for an iPad Mini Retina to come out and have it's specs discovered. Though I've heard that Apple is usually flexible, especially if you tell them that you're exchanging for a different model. But surely they wouldn't run up too close to Black Friday, right?

My maths adds up and it was also leaked to be 1Gn mini 2, and 2gb for the Air. So I think there is a very large chance this will be right.

 

[SamuraiMinis]

What's up old friend! You think Apple still put in a G6630 even without the A7X moniker? When Apple stated regular A7, I immediately think they just clocked the cpu and graphics a little over over the 5S to drive the higher resolution.. Can't wait for an Anandtech teardown and examination though so we can be 100% sure.

I think he's right about it likely being a G6630 instead of the G6430 which is in the 5S. Teardown will reveal the specs .

If it does indeed have the G6630 my theory on why they left it as A7 is because unlike the A5 and A6, the A7 has a quad core GPU by default.
That's why I think they left the X off of the iPad A7 chip. And as mentioned, the Mini Retina may just have the G6430 version like the iPhone 5S while the iPad Air may have the G6630 to seperate it from the mini retina in some way. Especially since they made it clear in the keynote that the iPad Air was more of a productivity device then the iPad Mini.

(Speculation)

 

[DVK916]

But the same goes for CPU.

iPhone 5S A7 = 2X A6
iPad Air A7 = 2X A6X

The CPU in the iPad 4 was more powerful than the CPU in the iPhone 5, so the CPU score for the iPad Air's A7 will be greater. It is basically A7X in all but name. With the X series being an increased clock speed and a better GPU.

The iPhone 5S scores roughly 2X as much as the iPhone 5. D by doubling the iPad 4's geekbench score (1750), the iPad Air should have a score of 3300-3500 multicore score.

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The iPad mini would have overall GPU performance of around 155Gflops with a G6430 GPU clocked at 400Mhz (twice as high as the 5S). The iPad Air will have an overall 205Gflops with a G6630. That makes the numbers add up.

Before, Apple has made devices seem to have the same spec (iPhone 4 vs iPod 4) but turned out to be very different (in that case, 256mb of RAM instead of 512 in the iPhone 4). It am not at all surprised that they are different.

If the G6430 is capable of 400MHz why would apple intentionally downclock it?

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Doing a quick calculation

If the Retina Mini is a G6430 at 400MHz it would have around 156 GFlops
If the Air was G6630 at 400MHz it would have around 234 GFlops.
If the Air was G6630 at 350MHz it would have around 204 GFlops.

This is plausable, but I don't get why if these clusters are capable of 400MHz why is apple clocking them only at 200MHz on the 5s.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

If the G6430 is capable of 400MHz why would apple intentionally downclock it?

----------

Doing a quick calculation

If the Retina Mini is a G6430 at 400MHz it would have around 156 GFlops
If the Air was G6630 at 400MHz it would have around 234 GFlops.
If the Air was G6630 at 350MHz it would have around 204 GFlops.

This is plausable, but I don't get why if these clusters are capable of 400MHz why is apple clocking them only at 200MHz on the 5s.

Because it dour ant need it. Put the best in the iPhone, then you can't increase graphical perfromance on the iPad. Remember with the 5S's res. it doesn't need to be run at a high clock, as it would only then waste battery.

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If the G6430 is capable of 400MHz why would apple intentionally downclock it?

----------

Doing a quick calculation

If the Retina Mini is a G6430 at 400MHz it would have around 156 GFlops
If the Air was G6630 at 400MHz it would have around 234 GFlops.
If the Air was G6630 at 350MHz it would have around 204 GFlops.

This is plausable, but I don't get why if these clusters are capable of 400MHz why is apple clocking them only at 200MHz on the 5s.

It is the same for CPU specs.

iPhone 4-800Mhz, iPad 1 1Ghz and so on...

 

[Davidkoh]

If the G6430 is capable of 400MHz why would apple intentionally downclock it?

----------

Doing a quick calculation

If the Retina Mini is a G6430 at 400MHz it would have around 156 GFlops
If the Air was G6630 at 400MHz it would have around 234 GFlops.
If the Air was G6630 at 350MHz it would have around 204 GFlops.

This is plausable, but I don't get why if these clusters are capable of 400MHz why is apple clocking them only at 200MHz on the 5s.

Thermals and battery life are two reasons why they would want to underclock.

At the teardown we will all see how much RAM it has and what GPU is used. We might even get really strong indications before if Anandtech releases an in depth review before the teardown happens.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

Thermals and battery life are two reasons why they would want to underclock.

At the teardown we will all see how much RAM it has and what GPU is used. We might even get really strong indications before if Anandtech releases an in depth review before the teardown happens.

How would we?

 

[Davidkoh]

How would we?

How would we get indications? Some benchmarks show the amount of RAM in the device. And depending on the GPU benches we can draw conclusions of what that would correspond to.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

How would we get indications? Some benchmarks show the amount of RAM in the device. And depending on the GPU benches we can draw conclusions of what that would correspond to.

Thanks. I wasn't saying you were wrong; just wanted to know

 

[Pressure]

Well, they all (iPhone 5s, Retina iPad Mini and iPad Air) use the S5L8960x SoC aka A7 it would seem.

Also references to S5L8960x SoC still, which is the A7, so there’s no funny business about it being different silicon, it’s the same.

So there you have it. The only distinguishing feature will be memory bandwidth and clock speed.

 

[Menel]

This is what makes me wonder how why things like the iPad 2 and original mini are around, 5x more powerful for a relatively small price increase. It's crazy how fast these things have advanced!

Though this probably means that iOS 8 will support the iPad 2.

Why can't the iPad 2 keep doing the things it's always done.

Texting?
HTMl5 rendering? Been done since original iPhone ARM.
Playing Angry Birds? I think original iPhone did that also.

Why more speed speed speed? It's not like the tablet is doing anything radically newer.

 

[TommyA6]

Well, they all (iPhone 5s, Retina iPad Mini and iPad Air) use the S5L8960x SoC aka A7 it would seem.



So there you have it. The only distinguishing feature will be memory bandwidth and clock speed.

The only thing important (regarding performance) is presented in this picture.
Until tear downs are complete we can only speculate, but the fact is iPad Air is at least 2x faster in GPU than iPad 4th generation.