By: Rayla (rayla.delete@this.example.com), September 11, 2022 4:34 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
--- (---.delete@this.redheron.com) on September 11, 2022 12:51 pm wrote:
> Eric Fink (eric.delete@this.anon.com) on September 9, 2022 5:26 pm wrote:
> > me (me.delete@this.me.com) on September 9, 2022 4:41 pm wrote:
> > > > I dint think there is much pointing to pessimistic conclusions. If Apples claims are correct, they have
> > > > obtained a 7-10% improvement in single core at 20% lower
> > > > power usage as well as 20% improvements in multi-core
> > > > (presumably at the same power usage). These are rather significant a year-to-year improvements.
> > >
> > > Apple didn't claim anything other than it's faster.
> >
> > They explicitly stated “20% lower power”.
> >
>
> It's never clear whether codenames have a deeper significance or not, but people
> may find it interesting that the A16 core codenames are Everest and Sawtooth.
> First obvious point is that we have a clear break. We had wind names till we ran out of winds,
> then weather-related names, culminating in Avalanche+Blizzard for the A15 (which certainly
> *sound* like they're broadcasting "these are chips designed with energy foremost").
>
> The new names could represent nothing, but this does not feel like when Apple pivoted
> from cat names to California names; we weren't running out of weather-related words.
>
> So to my eyes this is another piece of evidence for the proposition that Apple is rethinking their
> CPU lines (and differentiating them more – mountains for P-cores, tools for E-cores?)
> Maybe someone will pick up another CPU codename in a macOS build, which might
> clarify if there is a third separate line (stars? rivers? whatever)
I'm skeptical that "Sawtooth" refers to a tool here; it seems more likely, at least to me, that it refers to the Sawtooth mountain range in Idaho.
> Eric Fink (eric.delete@this.anon.com) on September 9, 2022 5:26 pm wrote:
> > me (me.delete@this.me.com) on September 9, 2022 4:41 pm wrote:
> > > > I dint think there is much pointing to pessimistic conclusions. If Apples claims are correct, they have
> > > > obtained a 7-10% improvement in single core at 20% lower
> > > > power usage as well as 20% improvements in multi-core
> > > > (presumably at the same power usage). These are rather significant a year-to-year improvements.
> > >
> > > Apple didn't claim anything other than it's faster.
> >
> > They explicitly stated “20% lower power”.
> >
>
> It's never clear whether codenames have a deeper significance or not, but people
> may find it interesting that the A16 core codenames are Everest and Sawtooth.
> First obvious point is that we have a clear break. We had wind names till we ran out of winds,
> then weather-related names, culminating in Avalanche+Blizzard for the A15 (which certainly
> *sound* like they're broadcasting "these are chips designed with energy foremost").
>
> The new names could represent nothing, but this does not feel like when Apple pivoted
> from cat names to California names; we weren't running out of weather-related words.
>
> So to my eyes this is another piece of evidence for the proposition that Apple is rethinking their
> CPU lines (and differentiating them more – mountains for P-cores, tools for E-cores?)
> Maybe someone will pick up another CPU codename in a macOS build, which might
> clarify if there is a third separate line (stars? rivers? whatever)
I'm skeptical that "Sawtooth" refers to a tool here; it seems more likely, at least to me, that it refers to the Sawtooth mountain range in Idaho.
