Could apple enable both cores with a software update?

[brendu]

So like the title says, the appleTV3 supposedly has an A5 chip that is actually a dual core chip with one core disabled as it is not needed. If they released a new ios7 update for the appleTV could they activate the second core via a software update? If so do you think this would make a noticeable difference since the RAM is still limited to 512mb?

 

[QuarterSwede]

No.

The second core isn't disabled because it isn't there. The Apple TV 3 uses a single core A5 that's 50% the size of the dual core variant.

Source: Chipworks

 

[brendu]

No.

The second core isn't disabled because it isn't there. The Apple TV 3 uses a single core A5 that's 50% the size of the dual core variant.

Source: Chipworks

Thanks for this. The sites I had looked at said it was dual core but one core was disabled. That's a great explanation of the A5 in the appleTV

 

[QuarterSwede]

Could apple enable both cores with a software update?

No problem. Your question peaked my curiosity because I didn't know and since I found the answer I thought I'd share. 😉

 

[paulrbeers]

Thanks for this. The sites I had looked at said it was dual core but one core was disabled. That's a great explanation of the A5 in the appleTV

I believe that was true until 2013 when they released the appletv3 v2. Although many speculated that most of the A5s in V1 were probAbly "bad" dual core A5s thus were only good for one core. Pure speculation tho


http://www.anandtech.com/show/6834/apple-tv-2013-a1469-short-review-analysis-of-a-new-a5

 

[cynics]

Even if it was there, Apple isn't the kind of company that would activate it nor are most companies. They'd much rather you upgrade to an AppleTV 4 (once released).

 

[jtara]

Not saying it's the case here, but, often, chips that have some section disabled are chips that didn't pass test for the disabled functionality.

Chips are subject to physical flaws, and have to be 100% tested for functionality. "Yield" is what percentage of the chips pass test.

Dual-core chips that fail test on one core are still usable if there is a means to disable the flawed core. So, why not increase yield by using those chips in products that don't call for two cores?

They may still have to disable cores on chips that have two perfectly-good cores, if yield is high enough, but they still recover some percentage of chips that would otherwise be destroyed.

 

[brand]

Even if it was there, Apple isn't the kind of company that would activate it nor are most companies. They'd much rather you upgrade to an AppleTV 4 (once released).

Apple released an 802.11n activator for the 2008 MBP.

 

[pdjudd]

That was one big exception and that related to tech that wasn’t mainstream yet (i5 Tech having been around for a couple of years). Plus they only enabled it for a limited set of chips where it was physically able to do that. Not to mention that was what, 7 years ago when they did that?

It was a very unusual thing for them to do. They haven’t done it again.

 

[paulrbeers]

Apple released an 802.11n activator for the 2008 MBP.

If you had even bothered to read the link I provided, you would realize that the original AppleTV3 (3,1) had the second processor fused off and the new AppleTV3 (3,2) never even had a second processor.

So no, you can't create a software update to enable a non-existing component can you?

 

[cynics]

Could apple enable both cores with a software update?

Apple released an 802.11n activator for the 2008 MBP.

Do you have further documentation on this?

If I'm remembering the same software activator, you had to BUY it from the Mac Store. That just further demonstrates what I said.

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If you had even bothered to read the link I provided, you would realize that the original AppleTV3 (3,1) had the second processor fused off and the new AppleTV3 (3,2) never even had a second processor.



So no, you can't create a software update to enable a non-existing component can you?

I think he was just responding to my "what if" post he quoted.

 

[brand]

Do you have further documentation on this?

It was something like $0.99 or $1.99 for a short period and then it was included in the next OS release as part of the OS, which at that time cost something like $129 if I remember correctly. This can be easily Googled for further information.