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Apple's M1 uses high-bandwidth memory to run like the clappers

7 points by gostsamo 6y ago

johnklos 6y ago
I used to like The Register more when there was a separate UK site. It felt less homogenized. They still have articles which are better than most, like this one - whereas other sites just parrot the same things without detail, The Register actually expands on things. We know that physically moving the memory to the top of the CPU carrier speeds it up, but other articles about the M1 just comment that it's not upgradable and that's all. We need more sources like The Register.
- gostsamo 6y ago
  Yep, most of the industry is just republishing press releases. The Register at least have some personality and some really good stuff there. Regarding the chip, I wondered if Apple had suddenly became all that good chip makers, but it seems that they've traded some of the tradeoffs that others are not. We will see if it will pay off.
coldtea 6y ago
>The downside of this design is that expandability is traded for performance. Users cannot simply add more memory to the configuration; they cannot plug more memory DIMMs into carriers as there are no carriers and DIMM technology isn't used. Most users never add any more memory, even on machines that can do it, so that's fine...
im3w1l 6y ago
So is this awesome enough to bring computer gamers over?
- xsmasher 6y ago
  Chicken and egg problem. Gamers will come if the games are there, games will appear if the gamers come. Unless Apple makes some investment in courting developers I don't expect an influx of games. Very few developers will take the chance on their own; why take on the technical burden for such a very small market? I'm sure dropping 32 bit support burned a lot of bridges too. Half of my mac games on steam are still not playable in Catalina, including Valve's flagship products.
- MR4D 6y ago
  Not fortnite players, unfortunately.
- anaganisk 6y ago
  I dont think so, because AAA titles which majority of casual gamers play, pretty much dont deal with MAC.
coreblocks 6y ago
This article gives the wrong impression. High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is a specific term where DRAM and main chip is packaged on a silicon interposer. This allows for a 1024-bit bus to be routed within the silicon interposer. This is not possible with a regular substrate. The DRAM on the M1 are just LPDDR4X-4266.

7 points by gostsamo 6y ago

I used to like The Register more when there was a separate UK site. It felt less homogenized. They still have articles which are better than most, like this one - whereas other sites just parrot the same things without detail, The Register actually expands on things. We know that physically moving the memory to the top of the CPU carrier speeds it up, but other articles about the M1 just comment that it's not upgradable and that's all. We need more sources like The Register.

gostsamo 6y ago
Yep, most of the industry is just republishing press releases. The Register at least have some personality and some really good stuff there. Regarding the chip, I wondered if Apple had suddenly became all that good chip makers, but it seems that they've traded some of the tradeoffs that others are not. We will see if it will pay off.

coldtea 6y ago

>The downside of this design is that expandability is traded for performance. Users cannot simply add more memory to the configuration; they cannot plug more memory DIMMs into carriers as there are no carriers and DIMM technology isn't used. Most users never add any more memory, even on machines that can do it, so that's fine...

im3w1l 6y ago

So is this awesome enough to bring computer gamers over?

xsmasher 6y ago
Chicken and egg problem. Gamers will come if the games are there, games will appear if the gamers come. Unless Apple makes some investment in courting developers I don't expect an influx of games. Very few developers will take the chance on their own; why take on the technical burden for such a very small market? I'm sure dropping 32 bit support burned a lot of bridges too. Half of my mac games on steam are still not playable in Catalina, including Valve's flagship products.
MR4D 6y ago
Not fortnite players, unfortunately.
anaganisk 6y ago
I dont think so, because AAA titles which majority of casual gamers play, pretty much dont deal with MAC.

coreblocks 6y ago

This article gives the wrong impression. High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) is a specific term where DRAM and main chip is packaged on a silicon interposer. This allows for a 1024-bit bus to be routed within the silicon interposer. This is not possible with a regular substrate. The DRAM on the M1 are just LPDDR4X-4266.