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iPad Air 2's A8X Chip Includes Semi-Custom Series6XT Graphics With Eight Cores

New details have come to light regarding the iPad Air 2's graphics processing power since its launch last month (http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/22/ipad-air-2-mini-3-arriving/), with a new report from AnandTech (http://www.anandtech.com/show/8716/apple-a8xs-gpu-gxa6850-even-better-than-i-thought) revealing the new tablet's graphics are even more powerful than previously thought.
 
 Benchmarks (http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/21/ipad-air-2-a8x-triple-core-2gb-ram/) and teardowns (http://www.macrumors.com/2014/10/22/ifixit-ipad-air-2-teardown/) on the tablet revealed details on the inner workings of the iPad Air 2 in the days following its launch, but a new image of the A8X die provided to AnandTech reveals the layout of the Apple-designed chip. The die photo shows the A8X includes eight-core graphics, even larger than the 6-core GX6650 graphics from Imagination Technologies previously assumed to be in the chip.

To get right down to business then, the die shot confirms what we had begun suspecting: that A8X has an 8 cluster Series6XT configuration. All 8 GPU clusters are clearly visible, and perhaps unsurprisingly it looks a lot like the GPU layout of the GX6450. To put it in words, imagine A8’s GX6450 with another GX6450 placed right above it, and that would be the A8X’s 8 cluster GPU.

AnandTech was unable to share the source's actual image of the die, but Chipworks (http://www.chipworks.com) has just provided MacRumors with a similar image showing the eight graphics cores taking up a substantial portion of the A8X's die. The photo also shows the new triple-core CPU and a number of other features included on the chip.
 
 (http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2014/11/a8x_die_photo.jpg)<center>A8X die photo from Chipworks (http://www.chipworks.com)</center>
 Uncertainty over the A8X graphics stems from Imagination's public list of Series6XT graphics offerings, which tops out with the 6-core GX6650, but the new die photo reveals that Apple has employed a semi-custom design essentially pairing two quad-core packages on the chip to yield eight-core graphics.
 
 Thanks to its licensing agreements with Imagination, Apple is free to modify the GPU designs developed by the graphics company, and Apple's position as a key investor in Imagination almost certainly gives it advance access to Imagination's pipeline, allowing such custom designs to be launched just nine months after Series6XT was announced (http://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/07/imagination-powervr-series6xt/).
 
 Other gathered information includes details about the A8X's size and design. The die shot places the A8X at roughly 128mm2, only a bit larger than the 123 mm2 A6X used the last time Apple developed a custom "X" chip for the iPad. Compared to other models on the market, the A8X is a bit larger than NVIDIA’s 118mm2 GK107 GPU but also smaller than Intel’s 130mm2 2C+GT2 Haswell CPU. Design-wise, the A8X otherwise appears to have not drastically changed much from the A8, besides slight tweaks to make the eight-cluster design functional and the addition of a third CPU core.
 
 Just yesterday, Imagination announced its next-generation Series7XT (http://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/10/imagination-powervr-series7/) designs, and given the timing of this year's announcements and releases, the new graphics are likely to make their way into Apple's A9-series chips for inclusion in its 2015 iOS devices.
 
 
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Source: iPad Air 2's A8X Chip Includes Semi-Custom Series6XT Graphics With Eight Cores (http://www.macrumors.com/2014/11/12/a8x-graphics-8-cores/)