Qualcomm's CEO says mobile processor core wars pointless already, disses Samsung's octo-core claims

posted by Daniel P. / Jan 17, 2013, 3:15 AM

Qualcomm's CEO says mobile processor core wars pointless already, disses Samsung's octo-core claims

Qualcomm's outspoken CEO Paul Jacobs was caught on tape at a Born Mobile presentation in China to say that Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa eight-core mobile chip that got announced at CES uses a meaningless number for a publicity stunt, and the more cores you add, the more challenging it becomes to manage them, from an energy and thermal standpoint.

Not that we don't agree with him that the number of mobile CPU cores game that chip makers have been playing for the last two years is silly, especially after the first dual-cores popped up, but Samsung's creation utilizes the big.LITTLE architecture of ARM to preserve battery life while keeping performance, which is the main point of mobile CPU advancements.

Qualcomm's chief quipped that the core wars will subside going forward, and focus should be shifting to real advantages for the end user, like speedier downloads, smooth interface performance and precise positioning as things with more tangible added value.

source: Tech.sina.com.cn via AllAboutPhones.nl

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62 Comments

1. _Bone_

Posts: 2155; Member since: Oct 29, 2012

I smell jealousy. bigLITTLE is an excellent power-saving idea and it's basically a quad-core system, something Qualcomm also pushes as a great thing.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 3:20 AM 22

6. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

I don't know why people keep saying something just coming from guessing, like somebody bashed Samsung due to the lack of polycarbonat on S3 or Pentile on Note 2 without any simple searches. Big.LITTLE's eight cores can run simultaneousy according to the speech of ARM in CES

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 3:30 AM 9

9. _Bone_

Posts: 2155; Member since: Oct 29, 2012

It doesn't operate as an octa-core, one just speeds up to take over then the other shuts down, that was explained during Samsung's event.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 3:42 AM 11

22. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

From ARM’s documentation “Since a big.LITTLE system containing Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 is fully coherent through CCI-400 another logical use-model is to allow both Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 to be powered on and simultaneously executing code. This is termed big.LITTLE MP, which is fully heterogeneous scheduling.Whether a big processor needs to be powered on is determined by performance requirements of tasks currently executing. If there are demanding tasks, then a big processor can be powered on to execute them. Low demand tasks can execute on a LITTLE processor. Finally, any processors that are not being used can be powered down. This ensures that cores, big or LITTLE, are only active when they are needed, and that the appropriate core is used to execute any given workload.” So only when is there no task that needs a Cortex A7 core, that core can be off. If there are so many threads (full-load), all cores are running

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 4:43 AM 3

33. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/09/arm-interview/ Watch the interview. About 1m30, the president of ARM clearly said that all 8 CPU run at the same time.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:13 AM 1

24. darac

Posts: 2156; Member since: Oct 17, 2011

Whatever the case, the main point with these 8 cores is to actually SAVE POWER. Up to 71% less draw than Exynos 5 dual is brilliant.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 4:48 AM 9

23. zazori08

Posts: 113; Member since: Dec 21, 2011

i'll give you an example, because your description is wrong. it's like this. the are 4 A15 Cores and 4 A9 Cores right? the pattern goes like this. when your doing normal smartphone tasks like browsing, messaging, calling, etc. you won't need speedy A15 cores to do the job. that's the task of the A9 cores in the exynos 5 octa. then if you do smartphone addict-like things such as opening so many apps all at once. the A9 cores power down and the A15 cores take over so you won't miss a beat about what you're doing. It's mechanics is just like Nvidia's Tegra. The tegra like the one in the 3 or 4 has 4 cores either A7 for tegra 3 or A15 for tegra 4. has one power saving core to do exactly what the Exynos 5 octa was designed to do. It's just impossible to run 8 cores on a phone that has like 2500 mAh without charging relentlessly.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 4:45 AM 0

26. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

That's from guessing or from any reliable evidence? Did they say that big.LITTLE and 4-PLUS-1 have the same idea or just simirlar idea with different implementations?

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 4:58 AM 1

29. zazori08

Posts: 113; Member since: Dec 21, 2011

yes! wanna bet?

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:06 AM 0

32. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/09/arm-interview/ Watch the interview. About 1m30, the president of ARM clearly said that all 8 CPU can run at the same time.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:13 AM 2

34. zazori08

Posts: 113; Member since: Dec 21, 2011

i mean yes it's from a reliable evidence said by samsung themselves link:http://www.phonearena.com/news/Samsung-confirmed-to-use-ARMs-big.LITTLE-chip-architecture-for-frugal-Exynos-in-2012_id23291

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:14 AM 0

35. zazori08

Posts: 113; Member since: Dec 21, 2011

the first sentence clearly states: "The new chip paradigm does what some chipmakers like NVIDIA or TI have been doing with their multicores for a while."

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:16 AM 0

37. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

The word "paradigm" is just a way of thought: using energy efficient processor for low tasks, and stronger CPUs for heavy tasks, but the implementation can be different. Basically the technology is belonged to ARM, so the source of the ARM's president is reliable, not from something you guessed.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:23 AM 2

38. zazori08

Posts: 113; Member since: Dec 21, 2011

da hell! i guessed? i showed you an article from phonearena and you're saying i guessed! you gotta have you head checked. and paradigm being a way of thought. grab a giant dictionary because paradigm is just an english word for pattern.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:45 AM 0

42. MeoCao unregistered

PA is not absolute authority in tech dude, try wiki.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 6:04 AM 1

43. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

Because of the sentence "The new chip paradigm does what some chipmakers like NVIDIA or TI have been doing with their multicores for a while.", you asserted Tegra 3 and big.LITTLE have the same implementation, and then Samsung Exynos 5 Octa cannot have 8 cores running at the same time. Oh so it's not guessing huh? Just linking evidences "logically" right? And are you sure that it's easier to understand than the clear explanation that 8 cores can run at the same time from ARM's President?

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 6:05 AM 1

40. MeoCao unregistered

I agree, theoretically 8 cores can run at the same time. but this will make switching management system very complicated, and the processing power of little cores is limited so the popular implementation is pairing 1 big core with 1 little core and those cores can't run at the same time.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:57 AM 1

55. NexusKoolaid

Posts: 493; Member since: Oct 24, 2011

It's not theoretical - depending on the big.LITTLE implementation all cores can operate at the same time. An ARM whitepaper describes two implementation models - the 'task migration' model and the 'mp' model. The Task Migration model is where only the A15 or the A7 can be active active any given time, where in MP model both can operate concurrently. If Samsung opted for the MP model, then Exynos can run on all 8 cores at once. (Edit: looks like hung2900 beat me to the punch - reply #22 is pretty much spot-on) http://www.arm.com/files/downloads/big.LITTLE_Final.pdf

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 10:16 AM 1

28. zazori08

Posts: 113; Member since: Dec 21, 2011

woops replace all the A9s there with A7s

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:03 AM 0

14. MeoCao unregistered

Qualcomm is pushing its own Krait architecture instead of ARM's A15 and they are doing very well. I think it's good that Qualcomm has its own approach and they are not copying ARM, this is healthy competition. Qualcomm has proved that Krait dual core can be just as good as A9 quadcore so it can prove again that its own S800 (quad core I guess) can compete with SS's octocore. So lets wait and see.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 4:00 AM 5

17. darkkjedii

Posts: 31286; Member since: Feb 05, 2011

U actually said something unbiased, and that makes complete sense. I agree with u too.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 4:13 AM 0

21. PhoneArenaUser

Posts: 5498; Member since: Aug 05, 2011

I want to correct you Krait is ARM-based. ;) And yes, competition is good for us, consumers. :)

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 4:35 AM 3

27. MeoCao unregistered

who says not? it's like forking ARM

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:01 AM 0

46. mick25

Posts: 110; Member since: Nov 12, 2012

"Qualcomm has proved that Krait dual core can be just as good as A9 quadcore" No they didn't. Not sure what you're smoking there.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 7:20 AM 1

49. MeoCao unregistered

Many reviews I read said US verion (Krait dual core) and international version (A9 quad core) of GS3 have similar performance.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 7:54 AM 2

48. Hemlocke unregistered

Krait is still ARM-based, but it is not using rigid interpretations of core design in designing their own, like Samsung has to, since Samsung doesn't have an architecture license.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 7:42 AM 0

20. PhoneArenaUser

Posts: 5498; Member since: Aug 05, 2011

"Qualcomm's CEO says mobile processor core wars pointless already..." When Samsung anounces octo-core then Qualcomm's CEO shouts that it is pointless, but if octo-core was anounced by Qualcomm then Qualcomm's CEO woud't say that it is pointless.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 4:29 AM 1

30. MeoCao unregistered

He is doing his job, and that's telling people Qualcomm's chips can be just as good with fewer cores. It would be disaster for Qualcomm if the public care only about the number of cores.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:07 AM 3

31. PhoneArenaUser

Posts: 5498; Member since: Aug 05, 2011

"He is doing his job..." I know, it is business.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 5:10 AM 0

47. OHaZZaR

Posts: 131; Member since: Aug 19, 2011

They also have bragging rights, calling themselves the first chip producers with an octa-core processor, even though it is technically a pair of quad-cores, each with unique operations. I think this marketing stunt is actually working, and sooner or later other chipmakers will come up with an octa-core and when they do what'll qualcomm do, dismiss everything they said? Even qualcomm will someday bring an octa-core to the table.

posted on Jan 17, 2013, 7:27 AM 0

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