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ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
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3,325
PS4 GPU is less than 2 teraflops. M1 is 2.6 teraflops. PS4 Pro is more than 4 teraflops.
 
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Ratsaremyfreinds

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 12, 2019
215
108
yeah my air don't even have a fan. lol last pc I built was almost as loud as a vacuum cleaner lol
 

MK500

macrumors 6502
Aug 28, 2009
434
550
A thread I started a while back:

 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,522
19,679
If a game is developed with Apple Silicon in mind and competently uses its features, yes, it could probably match or even outperform a PS4. However, it will take a while until we get games like that (if at all). Desktop Apple Silicon is still too niche too attract significant attention from developers. Few years down the road - maybe.
 

yellowhelicopter

macrumors regular
Jun 5, 2020
202
115
somewhere I read the m1 gpu is more powerful then the ps4 gpu?

No. There is no way M1 would run God of War, The Last of Us 2, Horizon, Uncharted 4 etc. -like games with the same graphics quality, resolution and speed as base PS4 is able. M1 GPU is excellent if comared with other mobile processors embedded GPUs, but power hangry gaming desktop class GPUs id different matter.
 
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leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,522
19,679
No. There is no way M1 would run God of War, The Last of Us 2, Horizon, Uncharted 4 etc. -like games with the same graphics quality, resolution and speed as base PS4 is able.

Of course it could. PS4 GPU is roughly equivalent to a Radeon Pro 460 in a 2016 15" MBP, it's a 5 year old GPU that was never particularly fast to begin with, and let's not even talk about the CPU. The question is about optimization. Games run well on consoles since they get exclusive access to the hardware and can optimize directly for the target platform. Metal gives you similar opportunities for low-level optimization on Apple Silicon (not quite console level of course), and Apple GPUs have some unique features that are very well suite for high-performance gaming. I have little doubt that if the studios took their time and rewritten the games you mention for Apple Silicon, they would run very well on M1. Of course, this won't happen any time soon.
 

yellowhelicopter

macrumors regular
Jun 5, 2020
202
115
Of course it could.

Well, you may be right. But what they showed so far (like f.e. ancient Tomb Raider with low or avarage detail level and not too impressive FPS) and other games I saw running on M1 on youtube is more like it currently competes with PS3, not PS4.
 

bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,699
Well, you may be right. But what they showed so far (like f.e. ancient Tomb Raider with low or avarage detail level and not too impressive FPS) and other games I saw running on M1 on youtube is more like it currently competes with PS3, not PS4.
There's a lot more to game (or any) performance than raw tflops. But that said, there's more to computing than games. :) The M1's power management is why it doesn't live up to a PS4's performance in what you saw, and it's also why I'm not one of the people that thinks the current M1 is all that hot. (pun intended)
 

ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
1,281
3,325
This is a bad way to compare. The PS wipe the floor with similar teraflops pc.

Console games have less overhead and are closer to the metal. But they also have slight reduction in things like texture and anti aliasing quality that isn’t perceivable to human eyes so that the devs can lock the games at 60fps.

If all things were equal software and quality wise then a teraflop is a teraflop on any system.
 

jdb8167

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2008
4,859
4,599
There's a lot more to game (or any) performance than raw tflops. But that said, there's more to computing than games. :) The M1's power management is why it doesn't live up to a PS4's performance in what you saw, and it's also why I'm not one of the people that thinks the current M1 is all that hot. (pun intended)
As far as I know, the M1 mini doesn't throttle at all. So if it can't live up to a PS4, it isn't because of power management.
 

bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
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As far as I know, the M1 mini doesn't throttle at all. So if it can't live up to a PS4, it isn't because of power management.
It definitely throttles, no way it couldn't, the cooling isn't that good. My Intel Mac Mini throttles, and so do all my Windows PC's. (these days anyway). I just ordered a new Windows Workstation and I fully expect it'll throttle too.
 

jdb8167

macrumors 601
Nov 17, 2008
4,859
4,599
It definitely throttles, no way it couldn't, the cooling isn't that good. My Intel Mac Mini throttles, and so do all my Windows PC's. (these days anyway). I just ordered a new Windows Workstation and I fully expect it'll throttle too.
I haven't seen any examples where the M1 mini throttles. It starts out at it's highest clock and just stays there. Can you give an example? I know the M1 Air throttles and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the M1 MBP does too. There is a huge amount of empty space in the M1 mini, I can't think of any reason that Apple wouldn't put enough cooling in place to handle the max power. The power supply is way over spec'd.
 

ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
1,281
3,325
It definitely throttles, no way it couldn't,
no way?

The maximum heat from that low wattage SoC isn’t that high and cooling solution is sufficient to remove the heat very efficiently. The only way it’s going to throttle is if you somehow block the heat removal while trying to run some 4K ultra ray tracing game type stress.
 

bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,699
Yep, no way. That's the way it's designed -- if you push it in environment, and/or in tasks, it'll throttle, period. If it didn't you'd have one broken CPU.
I can't think of any reason that Apple wouldn't put enough cooling in place to handle the max power. The power supply is way over spec'd.
You don't design the cooling system for a modern PC to run flat out all the time, it would be prohibitively expensive.
 

mi7chy

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2014
10,625
11,298
Name one showcase game for M1? None. You're playing 10+ year old PC games at like 720p. Not even comparable to the old 2013 PS4.
 
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leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,522
19,679
Well, you may be right. But what they showed so far (like f.e. ancient Tomb Raider with low or avarage detail level and not too impressive FPS) and other games I saw running on M1 on youtube is more like it currently competes with PS3, not PS4.

As I wrote, it's all about optimizations. You absolutely can make a modern, demanding game run well on M1, but that will most likely involve you heavily modifying your rendering engine to make use of Apple's TBDR-specific features. I am not aware of any desktop games that is written with Apple hardware in mind — not that it's surprising given that M1 is just couple of months old and it's market share is a drop in the bucket. Optimized games will most likely show up after there is a sufficient number of these computers out there.

Right now, the only game with explicitly promised M1 support I know of is Baldur's Gates 3. And they mentioned it runs on high@1080p at 60FPS, which is better than my 5500M can do.

It definitely throttles, no way it couldn't, the cooling isn't that good. My Intel Mac Mini throttles, and so do all my Windows PC's. (these days anyway). I just ordered a new Windows Workstation and I fully expect it'll throttle too.

Depends on your definition of "throttling". If you mean it as "there are artificial limiters in place to prevent the chip running at speeds where it would otherwise become unstable or damaged", then yes, they obviously throttle. If you mean "throttling" as in "running below it's intended specification", no, it doesn't really throttle...
 

ArPe

macrumors 65816
May 31, 2020
1,281
3,325
Yep, no way. That's the way it's designed -- if you push it in environment, and/or in tasks, it'll throttle, period. If it didn't you'd have one broken CPU.

You’re mistaken because you’re comparing it to CPU/GPUs that output a lot more heat and therefore Intel/AMD/Nvidia implemented throttling features in cases where the cooling solution couldn’t remove the heat fast enough.

The maximum power consumption and heat output of the M1 is very low and the cooling solution already being used by the MBP and Mac mini removes all the heat necessary to keep the silicon running safely.

Even the fanless Air is doing a great job and is only a tiny bit slower than the other two models under maximum load.

Physics baby what is that?
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,522
19,679
The maximum power consumption and heat output of the M1 is very low and the cooling solution already being used by the MBP and Mac mini removes all the heat necessary to keep the silicon running safely.

What you write is essentially correct, but there are still limiters in place. That is very obvious if you look at the power and temperature curves - these chips are temperature (and maybe power-) throttled. M1 could run quicker and consume more power if let unrestricted.
 

TrueBlou

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2014
4,531
3,619
Scotland
I personally think there's great potential with Apple Silicon, particularly when the more powerful SOC arrive, which shouldn't bee too far in the future.

Here's a small example of the potential of the system. This is on a MacBook Air M1, running a beta version of Parallels, which is then virtualising an ARM version of Windows, which in turn is emulating an X64 system.

That's a lot of hurdles in the way of the pure, raw power of the M1.
So what's shown is far from perfect to say the least, but it is a half-decent example.

Anyway, here you go, a quick clip of Metro Exodus, a recent game, running under all of those layers of virtualisation and emulation.... Badly, I'll grant you but when I consider everything that's going on to run this game, I'm still pretty impressed and more importantly, optimistic. All we need then, is actual developer support. Therein lies the problem.


 
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bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,699
Depends on your definition of "throttling". If you mean it as "there are artificial limiters in place to prevent the chip running at speeds where it would otherwise become unstable or damaged", then yes, they obviously throttle.
That's exactly what I mean and am actually quite shocked that someone would think that's a bad thing for a processor/PC to do. I wouldn't buy a modern processor any other way without some VERY special hardware and cooling to support it.
 
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