All hail the eight cores! Samsung announces Exynos 5 Octa mobile processor
0. phoneArena posted on 09 Jan 2013, 11:44
The latest member of the 5-series has been done with frugality/performance ratio in mind, as the chief of Samsung Electronics Stephen Woo admitted that the task to up performance while decreasing power consumption has been the one bothering him, and keeping him awake at night...
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144. richardyarrell2011 (banned) posted on 10 Jan 2013, 08:04 0 1
The funny part is Samsung is the creator of the drawing board. What's discussed and shown today won't be discussed and shown 6 months from now. Samsung is the industry leader in this space for a reason. They never rest on there laurels that's why they are innovative.
154. Hunt3rj2 posted on 11 Jan 2013, 19:34 0 0
Samsung doesn't create the drawing board, not when their chipsets are still using CPU cores licensed from ARM, and also license their GPU cores from ARM or PowerVR.
The "competition" is pretty much just Qualcomm in the phone space, and Samsung most certainly won't sell Exynos to OEMs that Samsung Mobile competes with.
7. Tre-Nitty posted on 09 Jan 2013, 11:59 3 18
No it didn't, no one cares beyond phonearena! You think a 30 year old woman is walking around talking how many cores her phone has? You dont think other companies can do this? Smh
20. fanboy1974 posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:11 4 3
Exactly! Same reason why Apple is releasing a iphone 5s/cheaper model with the same OS. People don't care and Apple knows they have a huge following.
23. moronman66 posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:14 6 0
Unfortunately, the number of cores is more of a marketing point now, you don't really need a quad-core processor (granted, I would absolutely looooove having one, for the somewhat future-proofing aspect of it), and this octa-core processor is excessive, but it's increasing the possibilities of the mobile industry. Onwards, my increasingly smaller and more powerful processors, use less power and do more stuff for me!
117. joey_sfb posted on 09 Jan 2013, 22:04 1 0
In term of processing speed no amount could be deem excessive. Some expert ever deem that an average person would never need anything more than a 386 processor. Now you are saying the exact same conclusion.
25. mick25 (banned) posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:21 0 0
Saying the average consumer doesn't care about how many cores the processor has is like saying the average consumer isn't enticed by Apple's "retina display" buzzword.
12. sbr999 posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:03 12 2
Your comment is useless. Innovation is ALWAYS good. If it was after people like you, we'd still have phones with 1024 kb memory for photos and ringtones.
102. belovedson posted on 09 Jan 2013, 16:38 0 0
It's a matter of when phones with have resolutions as close to perfect as possible. I the higher red will require higher end cpu/guys. Also the recent updates to gs3 and note hint towards multi app multi Window operating os's which will push the device further.
There are endless amount of possibilities.
9. cncrim posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:00 1 0
WEeeeeee, but will be there any developer devote time to optimized app for this kind power?
10. Jyakotu posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:00 4 0
Not to be a Debby Downer, but do phones or tablets really need 8 cores?
17. Commentator posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:08 5 2
They do if they want to continue to bridge the gap between mobile devices and fully-fledged PCs.
13. jibraihimi posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:05 0 0
Hope sammy is in better position to optimize, this Octo core processor with Android, and this don't give out problems like Nvidia's Tegra three where fifth core was mostly doing all the working, and other four cores, doesn't wake up from sleep when they were needed more......... But I have high hopes from samsung, as they do the optimizations better than other OEM's and give goof user experience.......... Now waiting for Galaxy S4 and Note 3..........
18. Commentator posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:10 0 0
Well, only goofy people would want a goof user experience, but I can see what you're getting at.
63. jibraihimi posted on 09 Jan 2013, 13:23 0 0
Hahahaha........ I wrote 'good user experience', but hell with this autocorrect, they always goof up.......... :)
15. lallolu posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:07 1 5
Soc manufacturers are always lying about the power consumption. They are always talking about 70% - 90% less power consumption which has not materialised up till now. If an soc like samsung's is really as power frugal as they claim then 1000mah up time battery will be equivalent to more than that of 3000mah.
BS
30. mick25 (banned) posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:26 1 1
Looks like we have an armchair engineer here.
33. remixfa posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:32 3 0
all claims are on theoretical limits based on whatever comparison they are making. You need to read into the details of the comparison. However, they are rarely "lies". In a blank world, CPU to CPU the consumption ratios are probably quite true. However when you add OS's, bloatware, and most of all, the end user to the equation consumption ratios flux quite rapidly.
39. taz89 posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:40 2 1
they are not lying its not as simple as hey ifs its 70% battery friwmdly then you will get longer battery...you need to take into account that 1080p screens draw much more energy casue it needs to push more pixels aswel as larger screens = more backlight needed...so when these companies say its 70% more efficemt it means you will see same or similar battery life with newer techs such as 1080p... i can bet that a 1080p screen on the s3 will destroy the battery life where as a 1080p screen with thia new core will give you the same battery as the s3 which has a 720p...now i bet if the s3 with 720p screen was using this new core then you will see improvments in battery life as you will be using 720p screena that need less battery with a new soc that is more efficient
54. tedkord posted on 09 Jan 2013, 13:01 4 1
Stop it, Samsung said it so it must be a lie. Quit trying to defend Samsung by throwing out facts and information, we're not falling for your tricks.
Oooooh. Wait a minute. Apple is announcing that their new processors are 70-90% more power efficient. iNnovation!
16. _Bone_ posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:08 1 0
Why can't they just underclock the A15 like PCs underclock CPUs?
94. tedkord posted on 09 Jan 2013, 16:29 0 0
They do. Install CPU Spy and you can see that the CPUs are throttled. The governor installed will control this. They don't run at full speed all the time.
22. Commentator posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:12 0 0
Finally. The past month has been the slowest in mobile news that I can remember.
27. dakalter posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:23 4 0
I don't know why this hasn't been pointed out yet but the processor NEVER runs off of all 8 cores. its a quad core processor with a quadcore co-processor for low power tasks. so in effect it is not a octocore processor in the performance point of view only in the literal "there are 8 cores" point of view. this is purely for drawing less power.
29. KingKurogiii posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:26 0 0
well damn, the SoC's of this year are making the progress made with last year's SoC's look like nothing. o:
129. Hunt3rj2 posted on 09 Jan 2013, 23:40 0 0
Incorrect. This is completely baseband dependent. The MDM9x15 series supported voice without needing a Qualcomm SoC, but future versions may or may not. All comes down to how things go.
140. remixfa posted on 10 Jan 2013, 06:43 0 0
hi.. my name is hunt3r, and I just want to argue with anything you say.. just because I really missed you remix..
AWWWW... thanks jackass, I missed you too..
no.. not really.
Yea, because samsung is busting hump to become qualcomm radio independent... just to go back to using Q radios. You make no sense. What's a matter, get tired of arguing with the walls?
149. Hunt3rj2 posted on 11 Jan 2013, 19:24 0 0
No, not really.
Samsung doesn't have any radio tech yet. Of course, their grand vertical integration strategy means it will eventually happen, but right now Qualcomm's radios are still the only game in town.
Nice to know that you get frustrated with facts though. Nice try at the ad hominem argument too, maybe you should get your facts straight instead of trying to look like you're 12 on XBL.
37. CreeDiddy posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:36 3 3
Benchmarks tell you that the Apple A-series processors are still architecturally a better processor. Although manufactured by Samsung they A chips are engineered by Apple. The A7 should be head shoulders over any quad core Exynos chip today. Regardless of 8 cores if the software does not take advantage of multi-threading technology then it just a waste of cores. That is why a quad core i7 is light years better than any AMD FX 8 core processor in h264 encoding/decoding, multitasking, and any other benchmark. It's due to the better architecture of how the processor is built. Same way goes for the A series processors from Apple.
What's funny is Apple should market their processors better than Android manufacturer's. However, they believe in keeping the ingredients in sauce rather than mention to consumers about what ingredients that makes the sauce great. The A6X dual core will provide just is much more if not more power, speed, and less power consumption than any quad core through TI or Samsung.
This is a great achievement and advancement in technology, but its up to Android to take advantage of the multiple cores to really make the OS and apps shine.
41. Tsepz_GP posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:41 1 1
+1, so true, it's now down to the software to take advantage of this incredible HW.
42. mick25 (banned) posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:41 1 2
"Benchmarks tell you that the Apple A-series processors are still architecturally a better processor."
Go look at Exynos 5 performance on Chrome OS then come back.
67. CreeDiddy posted on 09 Jan 2013, 13:57 1 0
Chromebook vs. iPhone 5 isn't Apples to Apples comparison. The Exynos uses a low power Cortex-A15 architecture (similar to A6), but still has ways to go to touch Intel and AMD. A better comparison is the i3 vs. Exynos 5250/5450 since you are talking netbooks. The Exynos Cortex-A15 may eventually wind up in tablets in smartphones this year.
69. remixfa posted on 09 Jan 2013, 14:00 2 1
A15 and intel are not in the same competition.. ARM is not trying to get "up to touch intel".. Intel is trying to figure out how to compete with ARM... and is so far failing at it.
Exynos 5 is already in tablets, its what powers the Nexus10. It (or the exynos5 quad) will be in the Galaxy4 this year.
93. CreeDiddy posted on 09 Jan 2013, 16:18 0 3
The A6 is just as fast as the Nexus 10 in most benchmarks. Let alone the A6X should be much improved over the A6. So as impressive as you think the Exynos A15 processor is, the A series is still a better architecture in all phases PassMark, CPUMark, Memory, Disk Mark.
96. remixfa posted on 09 Jan 2013, 16:30 0 0
The A6 is an A9 based chip with some change outs. Also, its running a different OS and different phone stats. The best comparisons are apple to apple comparisons.. very similar phone set ups on the same OS. The Nexus 10 is also running a much higher resolution than the iphone5 and many other variables. Memory and Disk Mark are tests of RAM and memory cache performance, not CPU tests. Show me the tests for the rest.
No one said the A6 chip was bad, in fact its a very nice chip.
Keep your fruit lovin thongs on kid.
124. Hemlocke posted on 09 Jan 2013, 23:11 1 1
You couldn't be more wrong. Research is your friend, so you should get acquainted.
Exynos is a marketing term for a stock ARM design core and instruction set, with the kind of slight modification any ARM licensee can perform. Minor things, at best. It conforms to the A7/A9/A15/Etc. standard. The Mali GPU is a stock ARM design, and nothing more.
The A6 is neither A9 or A15, because unlike Samsung, Apple has an architecture license and they have designed a completely new core (same as Krait for Qualcomm). They use the ARM instruction set, but the core design is completely custom.
130. Hunt3rj2 posted on 09 Jan 2013, 23:43 1 0
The A6 chip is basically a design that looks like Krait, and is only broadly similar to the Cortex A9 design.
I personally don't care, but semantics matter. A7 will probably launch on iPhone 5S in response to Cortex A15.
57. tedkord posted on 09 Jan 2013, 13:06 0 1
Whether from Apple or Samsung, the cpus are engineered by ARM. Apple and Samsung then decide things like number of cores, what GPU to pair it with (also designed by someone else), amount of cache, etc...
But at the core (no pun intended), their ARM designed A15s, or A9s, or whatever they choose.
125. Hemlocke posted on 09 Jan 2013, 23:13 0 0
No, they are not. Samsung's are, but Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Apple all have architecture licenses, so they all use their own in-house, custom silicon. They utilize the ARM instruction set, but they use custom cores that were not designed by ARM. Samsung doesn't have the big boy license, so they just fab what others tell them to fab.
142. remixfa posted on 10 Jan 2013, 06:45 0 0
look, here's an article from way back when, when samsung got that license you say they lack. Considering you posted the same thing like 20 times, you would think that you would look it up first... fool.
http://www.design-reuse.com/news/560/samsung-licenses-arm-microprocessor-cores-agreement-samsung-800mhz-standard-products.html
150. Hunt3rj2 posted on 11 Jan 2013, 19:25 0 0
I don't even know why you posted that, because your link just says Samsung is licensing an ARM core design.
66. remixfa posted on 09 Jan 2013, 13:55 1 2
Apple takes Samsung's Exynos design and modifies it. They are literal sister chips and were identical except in GPU up until the latest A6 where Apple finally got creative enough to do slight modifications. The design for both chips comes from the same place, Imagination tech.
Android has been multithreading since Honeycomb 3.0. Talk to Apple about an OS not built for such things.
131. Hunt3rj2 posted on 09 Jan 2013, 23:45 0 0
You are so, so wrong. Apple designed their own CPU from the ground up and licensed their own GPU tech. The memory bus has nothing in common with Exynos chips. Samsung Exynos doesn't even use Imagination PowerVR at all. There has literally been zero collaboration between Apple and Samsung Exynos since the original A4 chip that was vaguely similar to the Hummingbird/Exynos 3.
Stop spreading misinformation.
119. joey_sfb posted on 09 Jan 2013, 22:21 0 1
Any thing worse than apple fan boy is a vocal 'know it all' apple fan boy. To me, comparing apple device hardware to Android is silly. iOS devices will never run the vastly superior Android 4/5 OS.
Its like comparing a bicycle (iOS) to a F16 fighter jet (Android obviously!)
38. Tsepz_GP posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:38 7 3
Hahahahah! WOW! Samsung has just pretty much crushed the competition with this one, the other day I wondered to myself how awesome it would be if the S4 came with some +5 core chip, but it was just a very wild thought. Can't wait to see how this chip runs in a final product, I wonder if the A7 chips also help out if the A15s get maxed out, would also love to know more about its GPU.
What a beast of a mobile chip! Great job Samsung, can't wait for the S4 now.
40. tech-head posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:40 0 0
Any chance this chip is put into the Galaxy SIV?
46. AbhiD posted on 09 Jan 2013, 12:48 1 1
forget abt these processors coming out in any actual device...
this is totally an insider info(and is pretty accurate too).
right now samsung has 3 galaxy s4 prototypes undergoing testing... one has A9 quad core 2ghz processor, 2nd one has A15 1.5ghz dual core, 3rd one has A15 900mhz/1ghz quad core.
the final galaxy s4 will be equipped with either one of these processors... don't expect anything spectacular!!!
Samsung is facing a huge battery life challenge right now with it's A15 processors, that's why it's going with scaled down versions...
it entirely depends on u guys to believe it or not... but i'm here and u guys are here too... let's see what happens in the end!!!
72. AshishRomea posted on 09 Jan 2013, 14:06 0 0
u have said it , inputing such processors in phones will result in puttin 4000mah batteries too , atleast 2500mah - 3000mah required !
such chips are btr for TABLETS!
92. remixfa posted on 09 Jan 2013, 16:05 1 0
Actually, these chips sip power way more than current and last generation chips ever have.
132. Hunt3rj2 posted on 09 Jan 2013, 23:47 0 0
Nope. Not at peak load.
When given identical workloads, if the next gen SoCs can get to idle power state modes long enough to make back the extra power used, it will use less power. If this is not true, next gen SoCs use more power.
So it's not as clear cut as you make it to be.
139. remixfa posted on 10 Jan 2013, 06:38 0 0
yes, it really is. I think you missed me.. come at me bro. lol.
4 cores doing the same work as 2 cores of a similar makeup will use less power.
a CPU that is smaller die cast will pull less work of an equal CPU at a larger cast.
What you have is a CPU that is QUADRUPLE (2 vs 8) the amount of cores of the current exynos5 chipset in the Nexus 10. In very general terms if they all split the workload equally, it will be far less power consumption. If they are individually clock controlled then it should be even less consumption. That's basic multicore chip dynamics 101 pal.
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