Apple Announces M1 Ultra CPU, Mac Studio and Studio Display

[CaseySJ]

I would like to see a photo of the wafer itself. There are at least two ways to fabricate the M1 Ultra. Because the two M1 Max SoCs are rotated 180 degrees with respect to each other, it imposes some manufacturing constraints.

• A multi-die reticle can be used in which two M1 Max die are etched in the rotated fashion. The lithography tool (immersion or EUV scanner) will step across the wafer, exposing this dual configuration at each step. So we’ll clearly see these pairs of rotated die on the wafer. It’s possible to include the UltraFusion fabric on the same reticle, but that means the two M1 Max die are — from a manufacturing perspective— a single monolithic die. This affects yield rates.
• Another option is to use a single die reticle with the UltraFusion fabric on one side of the SoC. All die are exposed on the wafer in the same orientation and hence there are no visible die pairs on the wafer. The wafer will look homogeneous. This approach means that the process of rotating and fusing two M1 Max die is done at the packaging step and not at the wafer fabrication step.

My guess is that this is being done at the packaging step because interposer technology typically implies precision alignment and bonding of two separate substrates in either 2D or 3D. In fact, TSV (through silicon via) and backside bonding (micro bumps) have been in use for some time to fuse separate substrates. Imagine the delicate alignment and planarization tasks involved, not to mention control of thermal and mechanical stresses.

 

[pastrychef]

I would like to see a photo of the wafer itself. There are at least two ways to fabricate the M1 Ultra. Because the two M1 Max SoCs are flipped 180 degrees with respect to each other, it imposes some manufacturing constraints.

• A multi-die reticle can be used in which two M1 Max die are etched in the rotated fashion. The lithography tool (immersion or EUV scanner) will step across the wafer, exposing this dual configuration at each step. So we’ll clearly see these pairs of rotated die on the wafer. It’s possible to include the UltraFusion fabric on the same reticle, but that means the two M1 Max die are — from a manufacturing perspective— a single monolithic die. This affects yield rates.
• Another option is to use a single die reticle with the UltraFusion fabric on one side of the SoC. All die are exposed on the wafer in the same orientation and hence there are no visible die pairs on the wafer. The wafer will look homogeneous. This approach means that the process of rotating and fusing two M1 Max die is done at the packaging step and not at the wafer fabrication step.

My guess is that this is being done at the packaging step because interposer technology typically implies precision alignment and bonding of two separate substrates in either 2D or 3D. In fact, TSV (through silicon via) and backside bonding (micro bumps) have been in use for some time to fuse separate substrates. Imagine the delicate alignment and planarization tasks involved, not to mention control of thermal and mechanical stresses.

Assuming that the M1 Ultras will be much lower volume products, it's not inconceivable to have the wafer etched in a mirroring fashion with only the SoCs along the hemisphere of the wafer being M1 Ultras while everything else being M1 Pro/Maxes.

 

[CaseySJ]

Examples of Single Die and Dual Die Reticles, and what the printed wafer will look like in each case. A reticle is, in effect, the unit of repetition.

We can see that M1 Ultra consists of two M1 Max die that are 180-degrees rotated with respect to each other:

 

[CaseySJ]

I feel the Mac Studios are the best Mac bargains since the MacPro3,1.

Agreed. It's even more compelling when we look at this:

• 24" 4K iMac with standard M1 (8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores) and 16GB RAM is $1899
• If we bring our own keyboard, mouse and monitor, the entry level Mac Studio at $1999 gets us:
  • M1 Max CPU (w/dedicated media engines)
  • 2x more performance cores (8 vs 4), but half as many efficiency cores (2 vs 4) that we don't care about!
  • 3x more GPU cores
  • 2x more memory
  • 10x faster Ethernet port
  • 2x more Thunderbolt 4 ports
  • 2 additional USB ports (two Type A) -- iMac has two USB-C ports and two Thunderbolt 4 ports
  • HDMI port
  • SDXC card slot
  • Presumably much less thermal throttling
• And only $100 more.

 

[etorix]

My left hand "looks like" it has five fingers because it DOES have five fingers.

My left hand looks like it has four fingers… because one is folded out of sight right now.
A bonobono (Pan paniscus) looks a chimpanzee (P. troglodytes), but these are two distinct species, with opposite social organisations.
Nothing is necessarily what it merely "looks like". (And I would hate that this began to "look like" an argument.)

 

[trs96]

Despite the fact we don't know all the details, CaseySJ demonstrated above that Apple has figured out how to give us more performance per dollar. That's all that matters. Intel couldn't produce a chip for the iPhone that was low power, that could stay cool enough. Jobs/Apple went elsewhere and then eventually started making their A series chips for phones and tablets. Fast forward ten years. Intel chips can't stay cool enough to keep Macbooks from overheating. Apple makes it's own Arm based M series chips and cuts out Intel. As long as they pass some of the savings along to customers, I'm glad to see that. It's not the best for us hackintoshers that Intel Macs will be phased out and support dropped, but it was inevitable.

 

[pastrychef]

My left hand looks like it has four fingers… because one is folded out of sight right now.
A bonobono (Pan paniscus) looks a chimpanzee (P. troglodytes), but these are two distinct species, with opposite social organisations.
Nothing is necessarily what it merely "looks like". (And I would hate that this began to "look like" an argument.)

It definitely looks like you need glasses.

You remind me of the dude in M Butterfly. The main character, not the other one...

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Despite the fact we don't know all the details, CaseySJ demonstrated above that Apple has figured out how to give us more performance per dollar. That's all that matters. Intel couldn't produce a chip for the iPhone that was low power, that could stay cool enough. Jobs/Apple went elsewhere and then eventually started making their A series chips for phones and tablets. Fast forward ten years. Intel chips can't stay cool enough to keep Macbooks from overheating. Apple makes it's own Arm based M series chips and cuts out Intel. As long as they pass some of the savings along to customers, I'm glad to see that. It's not the best for us hackintoshers that Intel Macs will be phased out and support dropped, but it was inevitable.

Good points, well made.

And perhaps now people could stop blaming Apple for switching architectures, and instead blame Intel for sitting smugly on their laurels for too long!

Hackintoshing has been great for many years, well 17 I think. The chances of macOS ever being released as a stand-alone product now have diminished even further...

 

[pastrychef]

Agreed. It's even more compelling when we look at this:

• 24" 4K iMac with standard M1 (8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores) and 16GB RAM is $1899
• If we bring our own keyboard, mouse and monitor, the entry level Mac Studio at $1999 gets us:
  • M1 Max CPU (w/dedicated media engines)
  • 2x more performance cores (8 vs 4), but half as many efficiency cores (2 vs 4) that we don't care about!
  • 3x more GPU cores
  • 2x more memory
  • 10x faster Ethernet port
  • 2x more Thunderbolt 4 ports
  • 2 additional USB ports (two Type A) -- iMac has two USB-C ports and two Thunderbolt 4 ports
  • HDMI port
  • SDXC card slot
  • Presumably much less thermal throttling
• And only $100 more.

View attachment 543779

A Mac mini with same specs costs $1099. $800 seems a lot to ask for a 24" monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

 

[hisartwork]

A Mac mini with same specs costs $1099. $800 seems a lot to ask for a 24" monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Agree. But fair to add iMac comes with webcam and the fact that you technically save desk space with the all in one. That said it’s still not as good of a deal IMO.