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iPad Air 2 Benchmark Points to A8X Chip With Triple-Core 1.5 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM

So if the iPad Air 2 uses an A8X chip with only three CPU cores because one is disabled, could A8X chips with all four CPU cores tested working be set aside for the iPad Pro?
 
davva360 said:
Already sold my iPad 2 in preparation for picking one of these up. Glad to see that there is 2GB ram as it probably makes it much more future proof.
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No crap...there should be no reason why this beast wouldn't be getting ALL futures updates.

Apple will need to retire A5, A6 and A7 before they get to this monster.
 
A8 = 2 billion transistors

A8X = 3 billion transistors

That should put any discussion about how my cores the Air 3 has to rest.

I'm actually hoping the ATV4 will contain the A8X to drive 4k displays.
 

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Espeonia said:
People will probably start pointing fingers at CPU/GPU performance again.
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The CPU screams like a bat out of hell.
Edit: The GPU, too. I guess there's nothing about the performance of this that people can complain about.
 
elvisimprsntr said:
A8 = 2 billion transistors

A8X = 3 billion transistors

That should put any discussion about how my cores the Air 3 has to rest.
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Technically transistor count != core count. I mean, we had dual core CPUs before the A8 with less transistors.

Still, I think the evidence picking up all but secures it.
 
Bubba Satori said:
Some other tablets have 3GB, SD cards, a multitasking and multi window OS,
Quad HD displays, intelligent styli and octo core cpus.

But you don't need that stuff, so no worries. :cool:
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And those tablets don't come close to the true performance of there new iPad. Call it cheap CPU architecture where single core performance is crap so they have to use more cores. As for SD card slots, just just because they are so fat eww :p An iPad Air is actually too thin for one.
 
That multi-core score is incredible for a mobile device. This is much bigger than they made it out to be.
 
elvisimprsntr said:
A8 = 2 billion transistors

A8X = 3 billion transistors

That should put any discussion about how my cores the Air 3 has to rest.
Click to expand...

It would have, except for the 40% faster than an A7 CPU bit. That doesn't make sense. Would make more sense if they said 80-90% faster.
 
milo said:
The issue isn't lack of power, it's that apps wouldn't run unless they were all recompiled. And mac developers won't go for that.
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What's the problem with recompiling? The 64 bit that I'm writing would most likely compile and run on a 64 bit ARM processor without any changes.
 
iSee said:
I guess there's nothing about the performance of this that people can complain about.
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Nope, but now I'd argue its almost 'too fast' for what you can do with an iPad :p

The iPad(s) really need some software love, at the moment its running a blown up phone OS with multi-touch gestures :confused:
 
Peace said:
One core is disabled like in previous iPads and iPhones ?
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Aloft085 said:
That was my first guess. Disabling a core dramatically improves yield rates.
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No, the CPU analysis from ChipWorks confirms there is no disabled third core: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8562/chipworks-a8

Bahroo said:
This is the fastest mobile SoC on the planet right now wow! Look at those single core and multi core scores!!!!!
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The CPU in Nexus 9 is faster in single core but gets smoked by A8X's multi-core.

Paddle1 said:
iPhone 6 and 6 plus are already underpowered in comparison. The regular A8 is such a small upgrade in comparison to A6 and A7. I wonder if a "6S" would score higher.
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A8 is definitely not underpowered for its class, it's still among the fastest.

I rather have A8 than A8X if it maintains at least 8 hours of battery.

NMBob said:
Maybe it started with 4, and they disabled 1 to make the yield rates. They couldn't leave it with 4 cores or all of their stores would be attacked by us Mac mini owners. :)
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:D We'll have to wait for ChipWorks' anaylsis to see what's up but 3-core CPUs are not uncommon. You see it all the time in consoles.
 
Kevsta26 said:
Not sure if my dad is right or not, he thinks he is cause he's good with computers.

Is it 3 cores because it's a dual core processor and then the third core is the graphics processor? He claims it's really dual core with the graphics, and the previous iPads were single core with graphics showing 2 cores.
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Apple has an ARM architecture license and its able to design as they wished - these are not off the shelf designs, ex:

If you look at the floor plan for the Ipad Air you can see 2 CPUs and 4 GPU cores. For the Ipad Air 2 - they are probably going with 3 CPU and 6 GPU configuration.

http://www.chipworks.com/en/technic...ources/blog/inside-the-a7/?lang=en&Itemid=815
 

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MikhailT said:
The CPU in Nexus 9 is faster in single core but gets smoked by A8X's multi-core.
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The 64-bit Denver Tegra K-1 is running at 2.3GHz or 2.5GHz in order get those single-core scores. A8X is getting that running at 1.5GHz. It still appears that A8X is a superior design.
 
I'm just waiting to see how it works with safari windows open. I will die if it still refreshes and then people can stop complaining and saying its about the ram.
 
justin216 said:
Technically transistor count != core count. I mean, we had dual core CPUs before the A8 with less transistors.

Still, I think the evidence picking up all but secures it.
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i never said it did, but it certainly doesn't take 1 billion transitions for additional 1 GB of RAM.
 
KPOM said:
The 64-bit Denver Tegra K-1 is running at 2.3GHz or 2.5GHz in order get those single-core scores. A8X is getting that running at 1.5GHz. It still appears that A8X is a superior design.
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Superior design != fastest. If we're talking about superior, then hell freaking yea, it's the best on the market.

A8X is definitely a monster, nobody in their right mind would disagree with that.

Imagine what Apple could do in a few years on a 14nm process, 4-core CPU, and so on.
 
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