Samsung Announces new Exynos 8 Chip with custom CPU Cores

[AlTech]

Note - All info here is Anandtech's work. And is not by me!

QOUTE:

 

In an unexpected and surprise announcement, Samsung today revealed its new generation flagship SoC - the Exynos 8. The Exynos 8890 to be more specific, is the successor to the Exynos 7420 that we've come to know very well in this year's Galaxy flagships such as the Galaxy S6 or the Note5.

The Exynos 8890 is still an 4+4 big.LITTLE design using four Cortex A53 cores in the little cluster, but on the big cluster we see for the first time Samsung's own custom developed CPU architecture deployed in silicon. The new core, officially called the Exynos M1, is the first fruit of years-long efforts by Samsung's Austin R&D Center to try to create an in-house CPU architecture. What we do know of the M1 is that it's still very similar to ARM's big core architectures (And thus might be a derivative) such as the A72: It's still a 3-wide OoO design with the same amount of execution pipelines and similar, although not quite identical pipeline stages on the execution units.

Samsung is claiming the Exynos 8890 will provide up to 30% higher performance and 10% better power efficiency than the Exynos 7420's - although the wording is a bit vague and doesn't specify if we're talking about a pure architectural comparison or actual implementation comparison, as previous PR numbers on the Exynos 7420 also didn't quite represent the full improvements of the chipset.

 

On the GPU side, we see usage of an ARM Mali T880MP12. This is the biggest Mali core implementation to date and increases the number of cores by 50% compared to the Exynos 7420's MP8 configuration. Keeping in mind that the T880 also increases ALU pipelines per core by 50%, we're looking at an 2.25x increase in computational power assuming Samsung kept the clock frequencies equal. Alternatively, they could go lower in frequency for much improved power efficiency. Samsung advertises 4K as an option for this SoC so likely we're looking at a very powerful GPU setup.

The Exynos 8890 is announced to enter mass production in late 2015. With just six weeks left in the calendar year this likely means we're already seeing silicon being etched as we speak, just in time for Samsung's new Galaxy flagship early next year.

Source: Anandtech http://anandtech.com/show/9781/samsung-announces-exynos-8890-with-cat1213-modem-and-custom-cpu

 

UNQOUTE:

 

YAY, I was always a big fan of Exynos Chips but now I absolutely love them! All the flagships next year need this!  IMo this is worlds better than S810,, S808 or  S805. The S820 is unproven and as such I'll wait to jump to a conclusion.

[Kherm]

You're supposed to quote and paraphrase. And provide some personal thoughts. 

[captain cactus]

So instead of optimizing a core Samsung opts to just jam in more cores, both with CPU and GPU. Even the SD820 went back to being "just" a quad core (actually a 2x2 design). And Samsung is using its own 14 nm FinFET setup which we know from the A9 "Chipgate" isn't as efficient as it can be, so that will be interesting.

[AlTech]

So instead of optimizing a core Samsung opts to just jam in more cores, both with CPU and GPU. Even the SD820 went back to being "just" a quad core (actually a 2x2 design). And Samsung is using its own 14 nm FinFET setup which we know from the A9 "Chipgate" isn't as efficient as it can be, so that will be interesting.

No. It has just as many cores as Last gen Exynos. With custom cores instead of off the shelf cortex A57s

[Bouzoo]

YAY, I was always a big fan of Exynos Chips but now I absolutely love them! All the flagships next year need this!  IMo this is worlds better than S810,, S808 or  S805. The S820 is unproven and as such I'll wait to jump to a conclusion.

 

7420 was already better than all of those chips, so not point really to compare 8890 with them as well. 

For some reason I think it's gonna beat the 820. Just a hunch. 

[AlTech]

7420 was already better than all of those chips, so not point really to compare 8890 with them as well. 

For some reason I think it's gonna beat the 820. Just a hunch. 

It'll definitely win in "Low power" mode. Not too sure about "High performance" mode

[Bouzoo]

So instead of optimizing a core Samsung opts to just jam in more cores, both with CPU and GPU. Even the SD820 went back to being "just" a quad core (actually a 2x2 design). And Samsung is using its own 14 nm FinFET setup which we know from the A9 "Chipgate" isn't as efficient as it can be, so that will be interesting.

 

Iirc someone did a test with 20 iPhones with different chips and they all were almost the same. I'll have to look it up to be sure, on phone atm. 

[Doobeedoo]

I wonder how well those M1 cores will be as far as single threaded performance.

[TechStyle]

Always preferred the Exynos series over the Snapdragons. Let's see how they compete with the A-series though.

[bcredeur97]

So instead of optimizing a core Samsung opts to just jam in more cores, both with CPU and GPU. Even the SD820 went back to being "just" a quad core (actually a 2x2 design). And Samsung is using its own 14 nm FinFET setup which we know from the A9 "Chipgate" isn't as efficient as it can be, so that will be interesting.

i have a samsung A9 in my phone. it almost makes me hate it lol

 

 

my phone overheated the other day when I was using the GPS in my car, now to be fair the sun was beating down on it, but I had to wonder whether the TSMC chip would of been better lol

[LAwLz]

Looks like a very interesting chip. Maybe I have gotten used to being spoiled with huge performance increases on a yearly basis in phones, but 30% higher performance and 10% better efficiency seems rather low to me. I wonder when it is 10% more efficient. Is it all the time, only with the M1 cores or with the A53 cores?

 

That GPU though... We are going from an 8 core T760 to a 12 core T880.

According to ARM themselves the T880 got 80% higher performance and is 40% more efficient than the T760. That should put it quite far ahead of the iPhone 6S, (assuming no other bottlenecks appear).

 

 

 

So instead of optimizing a core Samsung opts to just jam in more cores, both with CPU and GPU. Even the SD820 went back to being "just" a quad core (actually a 2x2 design). And Samsung is using its own 14 nm FinFET setup which we know from the A9 "Chipgate" isn't as efficient as it can be, so that will be interesting.

I like how you're already complaining when we know next to nothing about it. They didn't "jam in more cores". They kept the core count the same as their current 7420.

It will be fun to see how this stacks up against the SD820.

 

 

i have a samsung A9 in my phone. it almost makes me hate it lol

 

my phone overheated the other day when I was using the GPS in my car, now to be fair the sun was beating down on it, but I had to wonder whether the TSMC chip would of been better lol

It is worth noting that there is a very high possibility that there are Samsung A9s that are better than TSMC A9 chips. It all depends on how lucky you were. If you wanna blame someone then blame Apple for allowing too wide variations.

[TechStyle]

i have a samsung A9 in my phone. it almost makes me hate it lol

 

 

my phone overheated the other day when I was using the GPS in my car, now to be fair the sun was beating down on it, but I had to wonder whether the TSMC chip would of been better lol

 

My iPhone 5 did that while driving around. One of the great things about metal phones is that it dissipates heat from electronics. The bad thing is that it can also absorb a lot of heat from the sun. 

[bcredeur97]

My iPhone 5 did that while driving around. One of the great things about metal phones is that it dissipates heat from electronics. The bad thing is that it can also absorb a lot of heat from the sun. 

yep! Smothering it in a case doesn't help either lol

[Guest Kloaked]

You're supposed to quote and paraphrase. And provide some personal thoughts. 

 

And make the post decently formatted.

[AlTech]

Looks like a very interesting chip. Maybe I have gotten used to being spoiled with huge performance increases on a yearly basis in phones, but 30% higher performance and 10% better efficiency seems rather low to me. I wonder when it is 10% more efficient. Is it all the time, only with the M1 cores or with the A53 cores?

 

That GPU though... We are going from an 8 core T760 to a 12 core T880.

According to ARM themselves the T880 got 80% higher performance and is 40% more efficient than the T760. That should put it quite far ahead of the iPhone 6S, (assuming no other bottlenecks appear).

 

 

 

I like how you're already complaining when we know next to nothing about it. They didn't "jam in more cores". They kept the core count the same as their current 7420.

It will be fun to see how this stacks up against the SD820.

 

 

It is worth noting that there is a very high possibility that there are Samsung A9s that are better than TSMC A9 chips. It all depends on how lucky you were. If you wanna blame someone then blame Apple for allowing too wide variations.

It is the same as last year's performance from Quad core A15s to A57s. The good news is that samsung will get better battery life in "low power" mode compared to Snapdragon 820 (uses A53s as low power cores instead of just 4 high performance cores)

[thecreativename]

i have a samsung A9 in my phone. it almost makes me hate it lol

my phone overheated the other day when I was using the GPS in my car, now to be fair the sun was beating down on it, but I had to wonder whether the TSMC chip would of been better lol

No, you wouldn't. It's been proven many many times that there is no significant difference between the two. Both chips have a range of power draws, on some tests Samsung did better, other tests, tmsc did better. In real world useage, reviewers found 5-10 minute differences in battery life. Samsung has been found to run 1-2 degree hotter but I'd say that's within The margin of error. Some favor Samsung some favor tmsc. Bottom line the only people who still believe in Chipgate are those who are out of the loop or just hate Samsung with a dying passion.