The Apple's latest A9X chipset that will be found in the recently launched iPad Pro was discovered having 12-core GPU and is made by TSMC. The silicon experts at chipworks were the ones who have dissected this Apple's chipset.
According to Apple Insider, the Apple's new A9X processor that supplies power for its latest 12.9-inch iPad Pro has been exposed of carrying custom 12-cluster GPU, that doubles the graphics power of the base A9 processor that will be seen in the iPhone 6s.The silicon experts at Chipworks had a closer look inside the A9X chip, and the X-ray of the processor said to reveal two CPU cores and 12 GPU clusters, that are paired in twos.
That GPU design was reported remarkable since the Imagination Technologies, which is the Apple's graphics partner only offers its Series7XT graphics in cluster sizes of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 16. Thus, it signifies that the GPU in the A9X is a semi-custom design built by Apple.
The A9X was stated as the first dedicated ARM tablet SoC that will be released on a leading-edge FinFET process. Moreover, it's being paired with Apple's first large-format tablet which modifies the rules of the game in some ways, Anandtech noted.
Other information revealed that the A9x processor that was torn down by Chipworks was also discovered that it has been made by TSMC. It's uncertain if all of the A9X processors are being manufactured by the same company, since Apple has decided to split manufacturing of the A9 chip between TSMC and Samsung.
The company has also said that its new A9X chip is 1.5 times faster than a comparable desktop processor. Moreover, it is twice as fast as the A8X CPU in the 2014 iPad Air 2 in terms of graphics performance.
On the other hand, a report from Arstechnica says that the A9X design seemed odd for not having an L3 cache, the small bit of memory that has been utilized in the A9 chips, the A7-series, A8-series as well as in several CPUs from many other companies, that will save the CPU and GPU some trips out to the main system memory.
It is being speculated that a larger L2 cache, faster LPDDR4 memory as well as the wider 128-bit memory bus might all have speed things up enough in order to diminish the necessity for an L3 cache.
The latest Apple iPad Pro that bears the latest A9X chip made by TSMC is also an Apple iPad which comes faster than 80 percent of the portable PCs that were shipped in the last 12 months. It also boasts its 10 hours of battery life on a single charge.
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