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I agree that the advantage has been exaggerated, but to be fair the M1 is a laptop class processor that is performing just slightly less than a gaming CPU. Your

I agree that the advantage has been exaggerated, but to be fair the M1 is a laptop class processor that is performing just slightly less than a gaming CPU. Your CPU cooler is probably close to half the size of a mac mini alone, and the CPU alone probably draws a lot more power than an entire mac mini. When the M2 comes out with a big heatsink and fan, it is going to be extremely competitive. Although AMD might be on 5nm by then.

sudosysgen 6y ago
The per-core power consumption of an M1 and a (edit:)5990X is actually almost identical.
- teruakohatu 6y ago
  The TDP of the 5900 is 105w with 12 cores. So let's say 8.75w/core. A 5950X is slightly higher per core wattage. The M1 has a maximum power consumption of 15.1w (13.8w + 1.3w) so for the high powered cores that is 3.45w/core and a miniscule amount for the low power cores. A mac mini tops out at around 20w during 8-core CPU benchmarks. While a 5950X PC will draw around 96w at the wall when idle. I know a Ryzen desktop CPU probably won't necessarily draw its entire TDP but it is not in the same league as an low powered CPU such as the M1 or the latest Ryzen mobile CPUs in terms of power consumption.
  - sudosysgen 6y ago
    Sorry - I meant 5990X. The 5950X is solidly within the "diminishing returns" frequency/voltage range. The 5990X is at 4.37W/core at its maximum power consumption - 280W/64 cores. This is from full TDP, which yes it very rarely touches, and when it does it's crunching way more numbers than most benchmarks use.
  - imtringued 6y ago
    This is completely irrelevant. The multicore TDP of a Ryzen can be as low as 5W per core and as high as 20W per core if you boost it a lot. It's purely a matter of what you are setting the frequency to. The M1 core is not that far away. A single core can boost up to 15W or more. The reason why laptops catch up to desktops in single core benchmarks is because their single core power budget is almost exactly the same but every time people act as if there is still a 4x energy efficiency gain left to be exploited when there isn't. Idle power is a matter of how integrated your system is. The M1 is highly integrated so it will consume less power just like any other integrated SoC. When people buy desktops they want to get as far away from an integrated system as possible.
- sliken 6y ago
  Yes, but the per core performance favors the M1.
  - sudosysgen 6y ago
    Not in the benchmarks I've seen.

sudosysgen 6y ago

The per-core power consumption of an M1 and a (edit:)5990X is actually almost identical.

teruakohatu 6y ago
The TDP of the 5900 is 105w with 12 cores. So let's say 8.75w/core. A 5950X is slightly higher per core wattage. The M1 has a maximum power consumption of 15.1w (13.8w + 1.3w) so for the high powered cores that is 3.45w/core and a miniscule amount for the low power cores. A mac mini tops out at around 20w during 8-core CPU benchmarks. While a 5950X PC will draw around 96w at the wall when idle. I know a Ryzen desktop CPU probably won't necessarily draw its entire TDP but it is not in the same league as an low powered CPU such as the M1 or the latest Ryzen mobile CPUs in terms of power consumption.
- sudosysgen 6y ago
  Sorry - I meant 5990X. The 5950X is solidly within the "diminishing returns" frequency/voltage range. The 5990X is at 4.37W/core at its maximum power consumption - 280W/64 cores. This is from full TDP, which yes it very rarely touches, and when it does it's crunching way more numbers than most benchmarks use.
- imtringued 6y ago
  This is completely irrelevant. The multicore TDP of a Ryzen can be as low as 5W per core and as high as 20W per core if you boost it a lot. It's purely a matter of what you are setting the frequency to. The M1 core is not that far away. A single core can boost up to 15W or more. The reason why laptops catch up to desktops in single core benchmarks is because their single core power budget is almost exactly the same but every time people act as if there is still a 4x energy efficiency gain left to be exploited when there isn't. Idle power is a matter of how integrated your system is. The M1 is highly integrated so it will consume less power just like any other integrated SoC. When people buy desktops they want to get as far away from an integrated system as possible.
sliken 6y ago
Yes, but the per core performance favors the M1.
- sudosysgen 6y ago
  Not in the benchmarks I've seen.