Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

rgwebb

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2005
483
1,270
It's already happened in Ukraine and we don't have WWIII. Conventional wisdom is that the US will just let them take Taiwan.

If you're Tim Cook, you will of course plan for this possibility.
Yes, I believe Cook recognizes this operational threat to Apple's success. Furthermore, I think it would be useful for companies like Apple to help grow domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity. What I assume will happen is Apple grows more Asiatic semi-conductor partners - due to the labor cost advantages - but in locations more solidly protected by the US sphere of influence (South Korea) or capable of defending themselves (India).
 

OnawaAfrica

Cancelled
Jul 26, 2019
470
377
Look at the charts. Every Apple Silicon processor made is within the top 30 in single threaded performance. ALL of them. And the HIGHEST single threaded performing i9 is still within just a few hundred points of the worst performing Apple Silicon chip. That is quite remarkable.

Then, as you go down the charts you see ALLLLLLLL the i3’s, i7’s and i5’s that pad Intel’s low end so they can charge dearly for the high end. :) It’s really like Apple just makes and puts i9’s in everything.
true that. and i like that apple doesnt lock down the M chips in the Macs so u can install whatever u want (Needs to be ported first to m series tho)
 

Romain_H

macrumors 6502a
Sep 20, 2021
520
438
What if China attacks Taiwan and takes over TSM and makes it unavailable to US companies? My opinion is that they will take back Taiwan. Not an if but a when.
Well, the important thing is that the machinery TSMC uses is sourced from ASML, a Dutch company.

So in case China attacks Taiwan (doubt it. For now) this would of course be baaad, but not a total catastrophe and/or the end of chip manufacturing in the west. The crucial tech is Dutch, not Taiwanese
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,521
19,677
Thats is as far as the theory goes. Practically no-one is using the i7-1280p/1260p in its normal 15W TDP configuration. Most are using a cTDP UP configuration with PL1 = 28W - which makes them comparable with the MxPro/Max and not with the base M2.

These are scores from real benchmarked hardware. So that's what people run, right? I suppose the units with scores ~1000-1200 are the lower TDP models and the units with ~1600 scores are the higher TDP units.

Beside for passive cooling you need a TDP of less than 10W - most likely closer to 9W.

We don't really know much about the new MBA chassis. Still, the GB5 scores I have linked are of passively cooled M2 MacBook Air, TDP notwithstanding.

The point that I am trying to make is that the passively cooled M2 MBA is likely to be faster in single-core than a high-end actively cooled ADL-P ultraportable, while offering comparable multi-core performance. And much faster graphics of course. I would be curious to see in-depth comparisons between the M2 and the new 6800U, especially the new AMD GPU.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Argoduck

l0stl0rd

macrumors 6502
Jul 25, 2009
483
419
Well, performance can also rely on software, but hardware plays a very important part in it. I have watched some other videos, and Adobe software, such as Premiere, tends to be faster on Macs indeed. However, other software (most of them) will run faster on a PC with better specs. Overall, the performance will loosely follow the benchmarks, although there may be some variations.



The bottom line is that the custom-built PC is faster than the Mac. In terms of performance-per-watt, the M-series processor in the Mac is faster, as it is more efficient. However, in terms of performance-per-dollar, the PC is better, as PC manufacturers charge less for their faster (although less efficient) components than Apple.

There are, however, specific cases in which the Mac may be faster. But they are not the rule.
The way how some software uses the GPU (or at least at the moment), actually means Nvidia is even more efficient then the Apple GPU or more similar then some would expect.

On the CPU Apple is very efficient one the GPU not so much.

Still can’t wait to see what 3nm brings 🤞for the rest of the M2 line using that process.

 
Last edited:

Unregistered 4U

macrumors G4
Jul 22, 2002
10,610
8,628
The way how some software uses the GPU (or at least at the moment), actually means Nvidia is even more efficient then the Apple GPU or more similar then some would expect.

On the CPU Apple is very efficient one the GPU not so much.
I’d still say the Apple GPU is very efficient when it’s used like an Apple GPU. If it’s used like an Nvidia GPU (spending the time calculating a lot of vertices then shoving them over a fast bus to an off-chip GPU… instead of intelligently interleaving the work having the CPU and GPU accessing the same pool of memory (kind of like running down a zipper) then yes, any developer doing that will end up using Apple GPU’s very inefficiently.

It’s going to take awhile for developers used to working one way are able to effectively shift gears and be as efficient on Apple Silicon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Argoduck

NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,092
22,158
I believe Intel have access to the same tech as TSMC?
From what I remember Intel has the latest EUV machines *on order* from ASML, but touted that one of their new processors is *going* to their first on a full EUV process.

So from that, I don’t think they have been doing EUV as long as TSMC.

That said, just like a node isn’t the end all and be all in performance, neither is the etching technology…but you’re definitely at a disadvantage without the smallest possible etching.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Argoduck

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,521
19,677
The way how some software uses the GPU (or at least at the moment), actually means Nvidia is even more efficient then the Apple GPU or more similar then some would expect.

On the CPU Apple is very efficient one the GPU not so much.

Considering the GPU in the strict sense — the compute engine — Apple GPUs are crazy efficient, M1 series offers 1.3TFLOPS of peak general-purpose compute per 5 watts. That's not something other GPUs can reach. But of course, if you are looking at certain specialised applications — like ones involving ML acceleration or raytracing, M1 GPU loses efficiency since it doesn't have the dedicated hardware unlike Nvidia.
 

Xiao_Xi

macrumors 68000
Oct 27, 2021
1,628
1,101
Considering the GPU in the strict sense — the compute engine — Apple GPUs are crazy efficient, M1 series offers 1.3TFLOPS of peak general-purpose compute per 5 watts.
What makes Apple's GPU more efficient than AMD's and Nvidia's? Use a better node?
 

altaic

Suspended
Jan 26, 2004
712
484
What makes Apple's GPU more efficient than AMD's and Nvidia's? Use a better node?
A better node would play a role, but obviously there’s a lot more than the node in a design. There are loads of design choices like using asynchronous logic, clock gating, transistor stacking, etc. Then there are special purpose in-house design tools leveraging machine learning, language theory (say, for proving correctness or short-cutting unnecessary logic), fancy simulators, or who knows what.

But in the context of specifically comparing Apple to AMD or NVIDIA… No idea 🙂

There have been some recent articles about new techniques for transistor stacking, though IIRC those were referring to something Intel was cooking up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Argoduck

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,521
19,677
What makes Apple's GPU more efficient than AMD's and Nvidia's? Use a better node?

No idea. Better node definitely plays a role, but as @altaic wrote above, the node advantage alone is not enough to explain the efficiency lead. It has been speculated that Apple's GPU ALUs are more streamlined than the competition and possibly that Apple uses a larger hardware thread execution width (but I am not convinced about that last bit).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Argoduck

TheDailyApple

macrumors 6502a
May 30, 2019
664
2,911
Compare

M2 with i3
M2 Pro with i5
M2 Max with i7
M2 Ultra with i9

Comparing Apples i3 CPU with intels i9 CPU. Seems legit.
The Pro and Max are identical CPU-wise, the difference is purely GPU.

Also considering power level I’d rank it

A15 -> i3
M2 -> i5
M2 Pro/Max -> i7
M2 Ultra -> i9
 
  • Like
Reactions: pdoherty

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,521
19,677
The Pro and Max are identical CPU-wise, the difference is purely GPU.

Also considering power level I’d rank it

A15 -> i3
M2 -> i5
M2 Pro/Max -> i7
M2 Ultra -> i9

Ultra is a workstation-level CPU. I'd put it in the same category as Threadrippers and Xeons. Looking strictly at the product segmentation, the M2 Pro should compete with the i7/i9 from Intel — and it does so quite successfully in the laptop space, on desktop — not so much.
 

Xiao_Xi

macrumors 68000
Oct 27, 2021
1,628
1,101
Considering the GPU in the strict sense — the compute engine — Apple GPUs are crazy efficient, M1 series offers 1.3TFLOPS of peak general-purpose compute per 5 watts. That's not something other GPUs can reach.
In which applications has Apple's GPU proven to be more efficient than Nvidia's CUDA Cores?
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,149
14,574
New Hampshire
Should that happen, having the latest MacBook will be one of the things of least concern given that WW III will be commenced.

And yet as a CEO, Tim Cook has to plan for it. And I'm sure that he has.

You could say the same thing about Ukraine but we're all still around.
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,521
19,677
In which applications has Apple's GPU proven to be more efficient than Nvidia's CUDA Cores?

Real applications you mean? Games and photo/video editing comes to mind. I am not aware of any popular software that uses GPU compute on a large scale — except renderers of course, where Nvidia commands a strong lead thanks to hardware raytracing and more mature implementation.
 

wabisabizo

macrumors member
Sep 28, 2021
59
125
Seems like healthy competition. I would love to experience Windows with an efficient and competent processor from Intel that levels up to Apples Silicon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ArkSingularity

diamond.g

macrumors G4
Mar 20, 2007
11,438
2,665
OBX
Seems like healthy competition. I would love to experience Windows with an efficient and competent processor from Intel that levels up to Apples Silicon.
I think a lot of folk would, but I also feel like OEMs don't care that much.
 

Xiao_Xi

macrumors 68000
Oct 27, 2021
1,628
1,101
  • Like
Reactions: wabisabizo
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.