wraggster
March 13th, 2011, 21:48
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2011/03/20110302-10190807--img4518.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/12/ipad-2-specs-discerned-900mhz-arm-cortex-a9-and-powervr-sgx543m/)
iFixit may have physically uncovered (http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/11/ifixit-has-an-ipad-2-and-theyre-ripping-it-apart/) Apple's latest silicon, but it's the processor gurus that have discovered what's truly inside -- using software benchmarks, they've unearthed the speeds and feeds of the Apple A5. As you'll no doubt be aware having read our headline above, there actually isn't a 1GHz CPU at the helm, as AnandTech and IOSnoops report the dual-core ARM chip is dynamically clocked around 900MHz, likely in search of reduced power consumption. Perhaps more interestingly for all you gamers in the audience, the iPad 2 reports that it has a dual-core PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU on the dieas originally foretold (http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/more-details-emerge-on-apples-a5-chip-for-upcoming-ipad-2-and-i/) -- and, spoiler alert -- it mops the floor with both the original iPad and the Motorola Xoom (http://www.engadget.com/tag/MotorolaXoom/). Though the new chip didn't quite demonstrate 9X the graphical prowess of its predecessor, it rendered 57.6 frames per second in a GLBenchmark test where the (admittedly higher-res) Tegra 2 tablet managed only 26.7fps, and last year's iPad pulled only 17.6fps. That's some serious Tai Chi (http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/03/imagination-technologies-powervr-sgx543mp2-really-is-faster-be/). Hit up our source links to see the difference it can make in games like Infinity Blade (http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/09/app-review-infinity-blade-iphone/).
Update: Though it sure sounds like there's a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 in there, that's not yet a proven fact -- we only know that it's a dual-core ARM v7 chip which performs relatively similarly in non-graphical tests. [Thanks, Jim]
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/12/ipad-2-specs-discerned-900mhz-arm-cortex-a9-and-powervr-sgx543m/
iFixit may have physically uncovered (http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/11/ifixit-has-an-ipad-2-and-theyre-ripping-it-apart/) Apple's latest silicon, but it's the processor gurus that have discovered what's truly inside -- using software benchmarks, they've unearthed the speeds and feeds of the Apple A5. As you'll no doubt be aware having read our headline above, there actually isn't a 1GHz CPU at the helm, as AnandTech and IOSnoops report the dual-core ARM chip is dynamically clocked around 900MHz, likely in search of reduced power consumption. Perhaps more interestingly for all you gamers in the audience, the iPad 2 reports that it has a dual-core PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU on the dieas originally foretold (http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/17/more-details-emerge-on-apples-a5-chip-for-upcoming-ipad-2-and-i/) -- and, spoiler alert -- it mops the floor with both the original iPad and the Motorola Xoom (http://www.engadget.com/tag/MotorolaXoom/). Though the new chip didn't quite demonstrate 9X the graphical prowess of its predecessor, it rendered 57.6 frames per second in a GLBenchmark test where the (admittedly higher-res) Tegra 2 tablet managed only 26.7fps, and last year's iPad pulled only 17.6fps. That's some serious Tai Chi (http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/03/imagination-technologies-powervr-sgx543mp2-really-is-faster-be/). Hit up our source links to see the difference it can make in games like Infinity Blade (http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/09/app-review-infinity-blade-iphone/).
Update: Though it sure sounds like there's a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 in there, that's not yet a proven fact -- we only know that it's a dual-core ARM v7 chip which performs relatively similarly in non-graphical tests. [Thanks, Jim]
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/12/ipad-2-specs-discerned-900mhz-arm-cortex-a9-and-powervr-sgx543m/