Yesterday Samsung announced that it had added Heterogeneous Multi-Processing to the Exynos 5 Octa for true 8-core support, today Meizu have announced the same for the MX3
The Samsung Exynos 5 Octa might be the first octa-core processor to be seen in smartphones and tablets, but as it is it doesn’t support use of all 8 cores simultaneously. Yesterday though, the Korean Android giant announce Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) which will allow the Exynos 5 Octa to run all 8-cores at once!
Gizchina News of the week
Although Samsung didn’t make it clear if this was a hardware or software update, today’s announcement from Meizu suggests that it will come in the form of a kernel/driver change that would make its way on to all 8-core Meizu MX3 phones.
Recent benchmarks of the MX3 showed the phone is capable of around 29,000 points on Antutu, this update could break the 30,000 point mark, but will it come at the price of battery performance?
[ Meizu ]
Very Nice! I just finished reading the article on Anandtech, this would be great to see running on future device 😀
I think the more exciting bit is only turning on what you need though, i.e. only using 2 cores out of the 8 cores :3
For those looking for the article.
anandtech. com/show/7313/samsung-announces-biglittle-mp-support-in-exynos-5420
Yap, that technology sure worked well with AMD and Intel (Not).
8 cores for phone is gimmick at best.
Only because AMD and Intel don’t use it.
Dude, at least do some reading before commenting.
One does not simply discredit a bunch of engineers over at ARM because by your claim, it’s a gimmick.
Oh they use it on one of the most advanced and oldest CPU tech in the world. It still guzzle power like no other.
But go on and dream your 8-cores phone will last as long as 4-cores phones, but hey, it’s 8 right? 8>4 no matter how useless it is on a mobile phone. Bragging rights!
You’re literarily talking out of your ass right now.
They’re running on different architectures. Totally different, that you can’t even compare them side by side like that. You know nothing of big.LITTLE technology apparently, and seem quite close minded on the matter. Nothing much I can do about that.
It’s not just a numbers game, as they’re not 8 high powered Cores.
As I mentioned before, the S4 is the Exynos 5410 that uses different methods of implementation of big.LITTLE, which is the cluster migration method, meaning that at any time, all 4 cores will be used (despite being called Octa core). these are split to 4 high powered cores, and 4 low powered cores, unlike desktop counter parts that have no concern much for power consumption.
It’s also a known fact that Samsung rushed the development of the 5410 in time for the S4, and that led to the use of the PowerVR SGX544MP3 as opposed to the usual Mali offering. While powerful in it’s own right, the PowerVR chip wasn’t made to work as well as ARM’s own offering.
Now, if you’ve been reading, then you’d know that this is interesting because the Exynos 5420 will be using HMP instead of CM. This means that while it’s possible to hit all 8 cores of usage at any given point, it doesn’t work that way, in fact it works by turning on the cores you need to use at any given time, making it possible to even use a single core (perhaps in idle/ screen off state) despite being able to reach a full 8 core processing speed. For the most part as well, the A15’s are utilised for high peak/ workload scenarios, where the A7’s then take over.
Now, again, if you were reading, you would know all this, instead of playing a rather silly and trivial game of making me believe that 8 > 4 duhurr.
Please educate yourself on these matters. Direct comparisons between ARM’s architecture and traditional X86 architecture and Intel and AMD’s offering can’t be made, at least at this point.
Read again what I said. Architecture play little part on the theory of “using cores only when it’s needed”, which is already used on x86 for long before ARM even thought about it.
And you know what? It doesn’t really work well since application and OS behave far too unpredictable for the core to accommodate the change, most energy saving contributed on today’s CPU came from the sinking down of lithography.
But hey, 8 CORES!
It’s not do much about 8 cores as much as it is about dynamic allocation of cores. It could be 2+2 to make a quad, or 4+2 for really all I care.
What you’re referring to is hot plugging, and yes, it’s done ages ago, but not big.LITTLE.
I hardly Believe that oses or programs are unpredictable. In the end they’re human made and designed, and asa programmer, if I said that I made my program and it ended up unpredictable then that’s just a massive failure.
Pure 8 cores may be a waste, like the new mediatek chip, but I believe that big. LITTE has valid applications.
So, with a simple kernel/driver change or update Meizu’s 5410 SoC will be able to run all 8 cores simultaneously? Cause, if I’m not mistaken the new 5420 SoC will run all cores simultaneously and not the 5410. Andi, do you know if Meizu MX3 will incorporate the new 5420 SoC?
They possibly will, I’ll try to confirm it
5410 uses cluster migration level of big.LITTLE, so yeah, you won’t be using all 8 cores at once, just either a set of 4 A15’s or 4 A7’s. The thing is though that all 4 cores will be active at any given time.
the 5420 is using as per above, heterogeneous multi processing, which means that if lets say you’re not doing anything, maybe even a single or double A7 is used, but on high load/ peak periods, the A15’s kick in for a while before reverting back to A7’s.
While I think it’s TECHNICALLY possible to run all 8 cores at once, that’s really not what it’s built for. The A15’s are more of like turbo chargers for when they’re needed, meaning that in the real world, you get similar performance to say Quad A15’s but with THEORATICALLY, a lot less power drain as you can switch cores off at will.
But sorry for sidetracking, yes it would be interesting to see if it’s merely just a kernel level/ driver change. 😛
Ever use big.LITTLE S4 in real life? See how well that theory worked for that phone.
Do you even read or are you here to troll.
FYI, the S4 uses the 5410, and admittedly yes, it’s a flawed design, and I know that.
Still doesn’t mean that any other implementation of it’s methods are invalid, and to simply toss them aside as hogwash gimmick marketing is simply myopic.
This is why the 5420 is exciting, but yes, again, it’s all theory. But again, it’s exciting because it was big.LITTLE the way it was meant to be, even by ARM’s design. Samsung just screwed up with their implementation of it.
Partly to ridicule the notion of 8 cores on an effin mobile phones. But sure go on and keep dreaming about it.
Meanwhile battery tech, which is arguably way more important than this retarded MOAR CORES races, move on a snail pace and no one cares (i.e. pouring research money) about it.
There is no dream of 8 cores, just efficient devices. They don’t deal much with battery tech, so they on their end, can only do what they can.
For that matter, I much prefer the Snapdragon 800 at this point, but from a technological enhancement standpoint, big. Little has interesting ideas and a valid premise.
Turning on and off processors works well on smart devices so far, as even my note 2 does it. 36 hours battery life is not particularly a complaint
Whats a bigger deal, 8 cores, or 64 bit?
How well did the Meizu MX3 launch go in China ?