Samsung's Exynos 5433 is an A57/A53 ARM SoC
by Andrei Frumusanu on September 16, 2014 11:40 AM EST- Posted in
- SoCs
- Samsung
- Arm
- exynos 5 octa
- Cortex A53
- Cortex A57
- ARMv8
- Exynos 5433
There has been a lot of confusion going on over the last few weeks on what exactly Samsung's Exynos 5433 is. Joshua and I were pretty much convinced that it was a standard big.LITTLE A15/A7 chip configuration due to naming consistencies and evidence in firmware. Even though the Note 4 was already announced with region-specific models employing this chip, Samsung S.LSI has yet to divulge any kind of official information on the matter or even publicly announce the chip.
With the release of new source code, we can now confirm that the Exynos 5433 is indeed the first Cortex A57/A53 SoC to market. We see a 4x Cortex A57, 4x Cortex A53 big.LITTLE CPU configuration employed in the part, here's a little overview of what we currently know:
| Samsung Exynos 5 Octa 2014 lineup | ||||
| SoC | Samsung Exynos 5422 |
Samsung Exynos 5430 |
Samsung Exynos 5433 |
|
| CPU |
4x Cortex A7 r0p5 @ 1.3GHz 4x Cortex A15 r2p4 @ 1.9GHz |
4x Cortex A7 r0p5 @ 1.3GHz 4x Cortex A15 r3p3 @ 1.8GHz |
4x Cortex A53 @ 4x Cortex A57 r1p0 @ |
|
| Memory Controller |
2x 32-bit @ 933MHz 14.9GB/s b/w |
2x 32-bit @ 1066MHz 17.0GB/s b/w |
2x 32-bit @ 825MHz 13.2GB/s b/w |
|
| GPU | Mali T628MP6 @ 533MHz |
Mali T628MP6 @ 600MHz |
Mali T760MP6 @ 700MHz |
|
| Mfc. Process |
Samsung 28nm HKMG |
Samsung 20nm HKMG |
Samsung 20nm HKMG |
|
The big question is why Samsung choose to name this chip Exynos 5433 and not market it as a 64-bit chip in a new product lineup? The answer could be simply that we won't ever see the 5433 running in AArch64 mode. The chip's firmware and drivers are running on a "CAL" / Chip-Abstraction-Layer on the lowest level of the driver stacks. In fact, beyond the CPU cores (and GPU), the Exynos 5433 looks very similar to the Exynos 5430 which employs A15/A7 cores.
While we won't be seeing the Exynos 5433 running 64-bit code any time soon, it still takes advantage of the architectural improvements of ARM's Cortex A57 and A53 cores and their ARMv8 instruction set (running in AArch32 mode). Power consumption should also be improved due to the new A50's power management and new retention features. The silicon, similarly to the 5430, is manufactured on Samsung's new 20nm process.
Atlas (A57) and Apollo (A53) cores in the power management drivers
Also employed for the first time is ARM's new Mali T760 GPU running at 700MHz. We already published an architectural dive into the T760 detailing what's new. I wasn't able to determine the number of cores on this GPU due to ARM's transparent and scalable driver architecture in regards to shader cores, this is something we'll have to wait for in the eventual official announcement or in a hands-on investigation. OpenCL information points out to 6 compute units, hence we can derive an MP6 configuration on the Mali (Shoutout to Lodix for his findings).
While the Exynos 5433 seems nothing more than a "brain-transplant" in terms of SoC design, the newer Exynos 7 chip is a genuinely new part. Over the last 3 weeks Samsung has been busy submitting patches to the Linux kernel mailing lists adding support for their new SoC lineup. The Exynos 7420 seems to be on track for Samsung's next flagship lineup, this time in full 64-bit AArch64 mode with Android L. The details of the chip are still sparse, but we'll be seeing the same A57/A53 CPU combination together with an Mali T760, powered by an LPDDR4-capable memory controller.
The Exynos 5433 is definitely a surprise that many didn't expect. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 isn't officially due until Q1 2015, and we don't know yet when we'll be seeing it in consumer devices. Here Samsung has quite a lead as the Note 4 variants with the 5433 are shipping in the coming weeks. While I'm still a bit perplexed at Samsung's silence and lack of announcements, the fact that many regions are supplied a Snapdragon S805 in the Note 4 may have to do something with it, as they wouldn't want to cause buyer's remorse.
Edit 22/10/2014: Mali MP6 configuration has been confirmed.
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MrCommunistGen - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
Interesting... my go to example of this concept is also the HD 4770 even though I'm sure that there are more modern examples of the concept.frostyfiredude - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
If I'm remembering correctly Apple make some die shrunk 32nm A5s for the iPod Touch and Apple TVs mid-cycle a handful of months prior to the A6's release. Same idea.melgross - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
But they didn't put them in new products. Just swapped them into current products that were a year old at the time.BoneAT - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
I'm also surprised why did they go quiet about, though with the Mobile Phone and other divisions being so far apart they are almost like different companies, I see how they didn't make a fuss about it, when they should've. Here they had the chance to equip ALL Note 4s and Edges with a genuine 64-bit nex-gen ARM-based SoC with the Android L update already in testing, but for some reason they sticked with the dual Snapdragon/Exynos release, and probably capped the 5433 bacause of it. Bit silly cause both the Octa-core CPU and the T760 GPU comfortably beats out the 805 and Andreni 420, both in performance AND efficiency and probably in heat management.I had the pleasure to play around with the 5430-based Galaxy Alpha with the T628 for a few days, and the hardware stayed cool, low-consuming and incredibly consistently top-performing under all circumstances. The 20nm process indeed brought major benefits, and without having to manufacture the A8 chips for Apple, I find it odd why didn't they go all out producing 5433s for all Notes and Edges and probably Tab S models too, especially with the integrated Intel Cat.6 LTE modem cause LTE was the only advantage of Snapdragons before.
Krysto - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
They went quiet because they don't want people to know what a dumb decision they made to continue using a 32-bit Qualcomm chip in US markets.bigstrudel - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
I've been warning people not to buy Android right now for just this reason. Brand new flagships that aren't even able to use ARMv8 in Android L.djvita - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
tell them to buy a phone after CES/MWC 2015 when we will have Samsung S6, HTC M9, Xperia Z4, LG G4 announced with L pre-installed. even the nexus 6 will use 32bit according to rumors.same goes for windoge 9
jjj - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
Qualcomm has pretty much a monopoly in the US phone market.If the US had any regulators maybe they would be curious to check IF carriers have any role in that and how legal that is.
melgross - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
Nonsense. Qualcomm simply makes better performing chips than Samsung. Performance means more here than it does in most other places. That why Samsung uses their chips here, and their own in less critical markets.lilmoe - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
Very uninformed.Samsung Mobile is sort of a "separate" division from Samsung Electronics/Semiconductor and they're not too loyal about using Exynos themselves even when they've always been generally better than Snapdragons (contrary to what you believe). Exynos has always had better CPUs, better ES 2.0 performing GPUs, better DACs, and more features (like fast charging since the GS4).
Qualcomm has always offered Samsung Mobile great pricing and good offers (to the point that LG and other OEMs publicly complained), and they also have the somewhat more advantage in the US and European in carrier approval for their modems and radios.
Benchmarks don't tell the whole story, and it is only recently that Samsung's software is being better optimized for Exynos to make better use of its features in general, and better utilize big.LITTLE in particular.