Potential Apple D1 CPU leak shows performance lead over flagship Ryzen desktop chips

[rcmaehl]

Summary

A CPU-Monkey result spotted by keen eyed users shows a seemingly experimental Apple Desktop CPU with 40% faster Multi-Core performance than the 5950X

 

Quotes

Quote

An apparent benchmark listing for a so-called Apple D1 CPU may have given us a glimpse at next-generation Apple Silicon. The leak shows an Apple D1 with 16 cores/32 threads, an increase over the M1's 8 and the M1X's 12. The leaked benchmarks, which are said to come from a “pre-sample” of the D1, suggests the processor will feature a 64-core GPU with 1024 execution units. On Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core) the D1 posts scores above the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X desktop processor. D1 — 40,121, AMD Ryzen 9 5950X — 28,782. The M1, found in Apple’s latest MacBook Pro and MacBook Air devices, features an 8-core GPU with 128 execution units, which suggests that could provide up to 8 times the graphics performance improvement. The Apple D1 apparently features a TDP of 160W, according to the listing, and support for up to 4TB of DDR4 ECC memory and PCIe 4.0. The chip will reportedly still be clocked at 4.2 GHz and will be based on a 5nm production process. It is expected the chip will also come with the Secure Enclave, a high-performance storage controller with AES encryption hardware, and hardware‑verified secure boot. For hardware-verified secure boot, which is designed to ensure that only Apple-signed code can run on a device (even if an attacker has physical access), an expert pointed out that similar features have been available on Apple’s phone for a while and “it makes sense for them to add those to their desktops and other devices.” The M1 laptop chip has already blown away the competition, and testing shows that it has embarrassingly superior performance to older MacBooks that are powered by Intel chips. If this chip performs similarly in comparison to We’re going to end up with one ridiculously powerful chip on our hands. The D1 is supposed to debut as part of the new Mac Pro 2021, which is expected to arrive later this year. Strangely, current word of mouth claims that Apple will be announcing the new machine with as little fanfare as possible — with a simple press release and no flashy launch event. Tech companies love to brag, and Apple is no exception. So if the D1 chip really is this powerful, you’d have thought Tim Cook and friends would want to tell everyone about it themselves. The D1 isn't the only ARM-based processor Apple is working on. According to rumors, the company is also developing lower and mid tier in-house CPUs that boast 8 to 16 cores, with 16-core or 32-core GPUs. Of course, it's impossible to  verify whether the specifications are accurate, so we'd advise to take these leaked specs with a pinch of salt for now. 

 

My thoughts

It looks like we might be getting a new Mac Pro after all but with an even more locked down system. It appears that Apple bringing on their in-house chip design war to all fronts, maybe we'll start seeing Apple Server chips soon. I highly doubt anyone would buy an Apple Server CPU though as Apple has a history of being extremely locked down, and really only designing the chips to be used with MacOS. There's also the additional complication that this entire thing is an April Fools post, so there's that.

 

Sources

Tech Radar (quote source)
Tom's Guide

[brentdahamster]

I knew it 

 

[Deus Voltage]

[rcmaehl]

2 minutes ago, brentdahamster said:

I knew it 

 

I think most people saw this coming. Since Apple seems really keen on developing their own chips, it's likely the only thing holding up a new Mac Pro

[RejZoR]

Interesting. Looking forward in seeing actual product with such performance level.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

29 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

I highly doubt anyone would buy an Apple Server CPU though as Apple has a history of being extremely locked down, and really only designing the chips to be used with MacOS.

...you can boot linux on existing M1 Mac's already 

[rcmaehl]

6 minutes ago, Ashley MLP Fangirl said:

...you can boot linux on existing M1 Mac's already 

Yes, but you'd likely get no Support from Apple as it's not MacOS

[Spindel]

Might be true, but i have doubts that this one is true. 

 

Firstly; CPU Monkey has been wrong before regarding AS, just a couple of moths back there where "scores" for M1X or M2 or what ever it will be called and they where completely fabricated. 

 

Secondly; 16 cores 32 threads. 

[Sauron]

Not that unbelievable with a 60% higher TDP... it would be better compared to a higher core count TR chip with a similar TDP, but for that we'll likely have to wait for the next release from AMD since current TR is still "only" zen2 and the TDP is significantly higher.

 

And of course, mountains of salt everywhere.

[LAwLz]

Mark my words. When the high end Apple silicon SoC comes out it will beat Zen 3 if we compare similar amounts of cores or similar TDP.

^{Let's see how many read sources before they reply.}

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, rcmaehl said:

The Apple D1 apparently features a TDP of 160W

Well that's a quite a lot higher TDP than I thought Apple would be targeting, at least any time soon anyway. Still hoping to see a 40W-80W soon, little more interesting I recon.

[leadeater]

47 minutes ago, Spindel said:

Secondly; 16 cores 32 threads. 

Well unless that's changed the Firestorm cores are not SMT2 so....

 

Edit:

1 hour ago, rcmaehl said:

The chip will reportedly still be clocked at 4.2 GHz and will be based on a 5nm production process.

Upon further inspection, um what? If these are still Firestorm cores this will only murder power efficiency, just.. add... more.. cores..

 

Of course that's if the cores on that process can clock up that high, tbh couldn't really guess at that.

 

Seems like a Wishlist/Hopes and Dreams than actual legitimate specifications 

[Arika]

 

25 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Let's see how many read sources before they reply.

I think people are idiots.

[leadeater]

4 minutes ago, Arika S said:

I think people are idiots.

_{I'm offended you'd call me that}

[Arika]

Just now, leadeater said:

_{I'm offended you'd call me that}

I offended myself by calling you that

[leadeater]

2 minutes ago, Arika S said:

I offended myself by calling you that

_{I always enjoy today due to where I live, ruins smart ass links hehe}

Spoiler

 

Hah I win?

 

[rcmaehl]

10 minutes ago, leadeater said:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Hah I win?

 

Darn time travellers

[Tan3l6]

1 minute ago, rcmaehl said:

Darn time travellers

I cant hear what you are saying?

[Spindel]

i'm an idiot confirmed

 

[Sauron]

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

it will beat Zen 3 if we compare similar amounts of cores or similar TDP.

So if we pick whichever one suits your pre-existing opinion, got it...

1 hour ago, Arika S said:

I think people are idiots.

I'm offended by you calling me "people" 

[rcmaehl]

8 minutes ago, Sauron said:

So if we pick whichever one suits your pre-existing opinion, got it...

I'm offended by you calling me "people" 

So you're not a people person?

[LAwLz]

43 minutes ago, Sauron said:

So if we pick whichever one suits your pre-existing opinion, got it...

I was half joking to keep the discussion alive. I originally said "nice sources OP" but didn't want to tip off people that it was a joke. 

I do believe that Firestorm cores are superior to zen 3 though, if they can scale to higher TDPs, which I think they will. 

[rcmaehl]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

I was half joking to keep the discussion alive. I originally said "nice sources OP" but didn't want to tip off people that it was a joke. 

I do believe that Firestorm cores are superior to zen 3 though, if they can scale to higher TDPs, which I think they will. 

I have no doubt if/when Apple makes an M1 for Desktop it'll be highly competitive against Ryzen... but with ARM.

[Sarra]

5 hours ago, Tan3l6 said:

I cant hear what you are saying?

omg you whippersnappers making me get me 5" thick bottlecap based reading glasses out arrrrarrrrrarrrrghghghghgh!!! *Flails really slowly, still shatters a hip*

 

My geezerness aside

 

I actually hope that Apple can make this chip. Maybe it will push AMD to make something even more bonkers than the 5000 series.

 

It would make me laugh if Apple launched this exact thing, and AMD launches it's 6000 series a week later, and it just obliterates the Apple stuff.