Apple 'M1X' chip specification prediction appears on benchmark site
A supposed listing for an Apple M1 successor has surfaced on a benchmark site, though it's likely that the chip's specifications are a prediction rather than the results of a test.
Credit: Apple
The "M1X" chip is said to be a 12-core Apple Silicon CPU. As an iteration on the M1, the chip features 12 cores instead of its predecessor's eight. Its internal GPU features 16 cores, instead of the 8-core GPU in the M1.
This is according to an alleged benchmark of a "pre-sample" of the "M1X" that appeared on CPU Monkey. It's impossible to independently verify whether the specifications are accurate, so it's likely wiser to take them as a forecast rather than a true leak of the next-generation Mac chipset.
The specifications do appear in-line with what Apple could release this year. The "M1X," according to the listing, is still a 3.2GHz chip based on a 5-nanometer production process.
If the prediction turns out to be accurate, it looks like the upgrade would be focused on graphics. The listing suggests that "M1X" could have a 16-core GPU with 16GB of maximum memory. It could feature 256 execution units, rather than the M1's 128, and may be able to drive three displays instead of two.
That makes sense because of the first devices that the "M1X" is supposed to appear in. According to CPU-Monkey, the "M1X" will debut in the second quarter of 2021 in a 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and 27-inch iMac refresh. Compared to the previous chip, the "M1X" is also rumored to have a higher power draw with a TDP of 35W instead of the 15W M1.
Again, these specifications are impossible to verify as authentic at this point. And CPU Monkey doesn't appear to have much credibility among benchmarking sites. But, at the very least, the supposed updates seem realistic.
Past reports have indicated that Apple is working on new proprietary chips with 16-core and 32-core graphics processing. Additional reporting also points to new iMac and MacBook Pro models in 2021.
Read on AppleInsider
Credit: Apple
The "M1X" chip is said to be a 12-core Apple Silicon CPU. As an iteration on the M1, the chip features 12 cores instead of its predecessor's eight. Its internal GPU features 16 cores, instead of the 8-core GPU in the M1.
This is according to an alleged benchmark of a "pre-sample" of the "M1X" that appeared on CPU Monkey. It's impossible to independently verify whether the specifications are accurate, so it's likely wiser to take them as a forecast rather than a true leak of the next-generation Mac chipset.
The specifications do appear in-line with what Apple could release this year. The "M1X," according to the listing, is still a 3.2GHz chip based on a 5-nanometer production process.
If the prediction turns out to be accurate, it looks like the upgrade would be focused on graphics. The listing suggests that "M1X" could have a 16-core GPU with 16GB of maximum memory. It could feature 256 execution units, rather than the M1's 128, and may be able to drive three displays instead of two.
That makes sense because of the first devices that the "M1X" is supposed to appear in. According to CPU-Monkey, the "M1X" will debut in the second quarter of 2021 in a 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and 27-inch iMac refresh. Compared to the previous chip, the "M1X" is also rumored to have a higher power draw with a TDP of 35W instead of the 15W M1.
Again, these specifications are impossible to verify as authentic at this point. And CPU Monkey doesn't appear to have much credibility among benchmarking sites. But, at the very least, the supposed updates seem realistic.
Past reports have indicated that Apple is working on new proprietary chips with 16-core and 32-core graphics processing. Additional reporting also points to new iMac and MacBook Pro models in 2021.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Radeon Pro 5300M: 3.2 TFLOPS
Radeon Pro 5500M: 4.0 TFLOPS
Radeon Pro 5600M: 5.3 TFLOPS
The iMacs ship with a handful of GPU options:
Intel Iris Plus 645: 0.8 TFLOPS
Radeon Pro 555X: 1.4 TFLOPS
Radeon Pro 560X: 2.1 TFLOPS
Radeon Pro Vega 20: 3.3 TFLOPS
Radeon Pro 5300: 3.7-4.6 TFLOPS
Radeon Pro 5500: 4.7-5.2 TFLOPS
Radeon Pro 5700: 6.7-7.9 TFLOPS
Radeon Pro 5700 XT: 8.2-9.8 TFLOPS
GPU performance scales almost linearly with core count, so this "M1X" (I still think "M1 Pro" is more likely) should manage around 5.2 TFLOPS. That matches the top-end optional GPU on the 16" MacBook Pro and matches the Radeon Pro 5500 on the iMacs (better than the best available GPU for the 21.5" iMac, matches the midrange GPU for the 27" iMac).
AMD doesn't currently make any higher-performing laptop parts, so this is plenty of performance for a 16" MacBook Pro. Matches the best you can get on the Intel version at much lower power consumption. I think either this chip or something very much like it will end up in a high-end Mac mini, the 16" MacBook Pro, and the 21.5" iMac.
Forgot to mention: the M1 also has twice the GPU performance of the Xbox One or Xbox One S. They're still pretty decent compared to dedicated desktop video cards.
Yet all the M1 crushes Intel who is now doomed! "benchmarks" ignored them just as they ignored how comparing 2 and 4 core "mobile" chips to a chip with 4 performance + 4 efficiency cores never made any sense. They just took Apple's claim - unsubstantiated by any data - that the M1 was faster than "80% of Windows PCs" and ran with it. Also, 4Q this year we are going to see 10nm big.LITTLE chips from Intel followed by 5nm Zen 4 chips - Athlon architecture, not big.LITTLE - chips from AMD. Intel hasn't started hyping their 12th gen chips yet, but AMD is claiming that their Zen 4 chips will have up to 40% performance gains over their current chips.
Thinking that Apple was going to dominate Intel and AMD in PCs the way they dominate Qualcomm and Samsung in mobile never made any sense. Especially if it was based on the superiority of ARM because Qualcomm and Samsung make ARM chips too. Apple versus Qualcomm was "ARM CPU with laptop performance versus ARM CPU with embedded appliance performance." Fine. Apple versus Intel and AMD: ARM CPU with laptop performance versus x86 CPUs that power 97% of the world's servers. A totally different ballgame.
But, & this is a big but, if the next computers from Apple are simply slightly faster with better graphics that’d be a HUGE let down.
Apple will be well aware of Intel’s roadmap, I doubt they’d have been so shortsighted as to release a set of chips that won’t match or exceed what Intel offers.
We will have to see, but just over a year ago people were saying that Apple would never move the Mac to Apple Silicon because it’d never match Intel X86 & they’ve had a rude awakening.
I’ve got the M1 Air & it’s great, but I and my wallet are eagerly awaiting the true Pro computers.
2. Matches the best you can get on the Intel version at much lower power consumption.
You are ... half right. In that it matches the 9th generation Intel Core i9 that is in the current MacBook Pro. Have you seen the benchmarks for the Core i9-11900K? Single core score of 1905 (Geekbench 5). Granted that is a desktop chip, but that is 35% better than the 10th gen Intel Core i9. The most recent 16' MacBook Pro? Had a 9th gen Intel Core i9.
The M1 is a great accomplishment - especially when compared to Qualcomm and Samsung SOCs - but cool your jets here. Otherwise you won't be very happy when the Intel and AMD chips that are on a smaller process, support DDR5 (and in the case of Intel are on a big.LITTLE architecture) come out at the end of the year.
8+4 @ 3.2GHz is still pretty low for what it is, don't tell me that this is where they'll stop. You'd be as ignorant as Intel to believe that.
I do think the next SoC will be 8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. I also wouldn't be surprised if Apple boosts the clock a little. Maybe a 3.4-3.5 GHz clock. The 8 core GPU on the M1 right now is about the same performance as the current 11th Generation Xe from Intel. So doubling up the GPU cores would likely double the best that Intel currently has for integrated graphics. Doubling again would put the ASi SoC at around the top of the line best mobile GPU from AMD.
These still won't be processors for the Mac Pro or iMac Pro. Those are probably coming next year.
Imagine the horrible reviews they would get with an M1 iMac that only offered 16GB of RAM, 2TB storage, no dedicated graphics, and only two USB-C ports. Unfortunately, the writing is on the wall...and the next iMac to replace the 27" model will not have user upgradable memory or user upgradable storage. We will be forced to pay Apple's outrageous prices for memory and storage. The downside of everything residing on the silicon, including storage, means that if the chip fails, everything is gone and unrecoverable.
We will see what Apple comes out with next, but it better be a big improvement over the M1 chip and the 'baby' Macs that Apple released.
The Mac Pro will be using Intel chips for a few more years because Apple's M processor can't beat what is in the Mac Pro as far as memory, storage, features, and performance, especially the ability to run multiple VM environments.
Second, the iMac Pro is dead. Apple hasn't done anything with it for four years. It will likely be discontinued when Apple releases an iMac with hopefully a much better processor than the low end M1 chip.
Edit: Apparently even the earlier Intel MacBook Air supported the 6K XDR monitor.
Memory is probably going to be relatively expensive but I don't imagine having enough storage with a desktop is that big of a deal. Just get a fast external Thunderbolt or USB4 drive. There are external drives available that are as fast as the current M1 SSDs which are pretty good at over 3 GB/s read and write.
The iMac Pro may be dead. Its niche might get folded into the top of the line iMac. I don't actually have much of a guess right now. But if it is part of the 27" iMac Apple Silicon replacement then that SoC needs to support up to 256 GB of RAM to match existing technology. I think there is a chance that Apple will use the same SoC/CPU for both the Mac Pro and iMac Pro when they get released. But I wouldn't bet much on it.