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> Another intriguing aspect is the separate CPU and GPU design. If true, this essentially means M5 will not use a unified memory architecture (UMA) shared betwe
by wtallis 2y ago
> Another intriguing aspect is the separate CPU and GPU design. If true, this essentially means M5 will not use a unified memory architecture (UMA) shared between the CPU and the GPU.
This does not follow. Intel is shipping unified memory processors with CPU cores and GPU cores on separate chiplets but still sharing the same memory controller (on a third chiplet, for Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake). AMD is about to launch Strix Halo, a high-end mobile processor that is rumored to consist of one or two CPU chiplets and an IO die with a big GPU and 256-bit memory controller.
- jsheard 2y agoPlus Apple themselves are already kind of doing it with the M Ultras - those are two chiplets glued together, each of which is only connected to half of the systems memory directly, but it still behaves like unified memory even though half of the memory traffic has to be routed via the other chiplet.
- wtallis 2y agoAnd in the datacenter space, AMD has taken things even further with the MI300A: > Twenty-four x86-architecture ‘Zen 4’ cores in three chiplets > Six accelerated compute dies (XCDs) with 38 compute units (CUs), each with 32 KB of L1 cache, 4 MB L2 cache shared across CUs, and 256 MB AMD Infinity Cache™ shared between XCDs and CPUs > 128 GB of HBM3 memory shared coherently between CPUs and GPUs with 5.3 TB/s on-package peak throughput
- sliken 2y agoIndeed. Very similar to the grace + hopper, grace + dual hopper, and grace + dual blackwell.
- j45 2y agoMaybe Apple has figured out something better than a unified memory architecture. It's hard to rule out their ability to create silicon that is a step change.
- wtallis 2y agoI wasn't really trying to comment on what Apple could or could not pull off. Just pointing out that Notebookcheck seems to be misunderstanding what they're reporting on from Ming-chi Kuo, and the headline itself seems to be something Notebookcheck made up rather than something from Kuo's rumors. So this whole thread is even more baseless than it appears at first glance, but it would still be interesting to have an informed discussion about the pros and cons of unified memory for consumer SoCs, and alternatives.
- TiredOfLife 2y agoThey didn't even figure out unified memory - even original xbox (20+ years ago) had that.
- ksec 2y agoAgree. Here is an article on SoIC from Anandtech [1]. Edit: [2] The tweet doesn't even mention about UMA. The interpretation is entirely made up by Notebookcheck, I feel like I am reading WCCFtech again making stuff up. I am just thinking if this allow Apple to do something crazy like 1024bit LPDDR5x or HBM3e memory solution. [1] https://www.anandtech.com/show/21414/tsmcs-3d-stacked-soic-packaging-making-quick-progress-3um-pitch-in-2027 https://www.anandtech.com/show/21414/tsmcs-3d-stacked-soic-p... [2] https://x.com/mingchikuo/status/1871185666362745227?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1871185666362745227%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=notebookcheck.com https://x.com/mingchikuo/status/1871185666362745227?ref_src=...