[AndrewDB]

Hi everybody,
I am creating this thread so that we can post information about the new Actions Semiconductor ATM7029 quad-core SoC. Apparently as of October 12, it is the latest SoC to reach the Chinese tablet market and both Ramos and Ainol are basing some of their new tablets on this chip.

Here is a picture of a tablet main circuit board with the ATM7029 occupying the main spot (extracted from Charbax's video which I already linked to). I labelled the main chips visible on the picture.

[Tzul]

The two large chips at the bottom left of that image are Micron MLC NAND Flash (8GB each), the four smaller ones in a row are Hynix DDR3 SDRAM (256MB each).
The one on the right definitely bears the Actions logo. Do they make audio chips? Could also be a power management unit.
Pity that the writing on the WiFi module is illegible, I would have liked to know what it is.

So, the ATM7029 apparently supports USB 3.0. That's nice, but I wonder if it's actually going to be useful. I mean, if the speeds of the internal flash or micro SD card don't exceed the USB2 limits, then what's the point?
Anyway, if it means that the WiFi module in future Ainol tablets won't be connected via SDIO and will achieve respectable transfer speeds, then I'm all for it.

[Maverik18]

What haves me intrigued is the gpu performance of this SoC. Any of you have a link to some benchmarks or comparison with known gpu's?

[Roman2025]

I did a short write-up about this processor (with respect to Ainol). I did share my thoughts directly about the Vivante GC1000... I am not exactly all that keen about it

Folks that are interested can read it here, interested to get some feedback.

You can read it here: http://www.topnotcht...ts.com/articles

Title:
"AINOL'S NEW CHOICE FOR A QUAD-CORE, THE "ACT-ACT7029" - JUST A MARKETING MOVE?"

Regards,

Roman

[munka]

I'm not sold yet that it even is a gc1000. I've come across some specs on a Ramos tablet using the atm7029 and they claim it is a Mali 400. Until someone actually sees and tests one were all just going off what a Google search comes up with.

agreed though if it is a gc1000 it will be a flop that doesn't get the same enthusiast community support.

[Roman2025]

Ditto :-)

I am hoping it is the Mali chipset. Google does know all though :-)

Regards,

Roman

Sent from my SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2

[Tzul]

New info:
A German reseller with contacts to Ainol was told that the ATM7029 is released only on December 14th. Ainol is currently playing around with 10 sample/prototype boards. The GPU is said to be a Mali-450 MP4.
Kernel sources expected in March 2013.

[max1001]

Tzul, on 07 November 2012 - 11:52 AM, said:

New info:
A German reseller with contacts to Ainol was told that the ATM7029 is released only on December 14th. Ainol is currently playing around with 10 sample/prototype boards. The GPU is said to be a Mali-450 MP4.
Kernel sources expected in March 2013.

Preorder started already and they list it as mali400 but you know it's all taken with a grain of salt.
I am hoping it's at least 4 cores Mali 450.

[Tzul]

max1001, on 07 November 2012 - 01:02 PM, said:

Preorder started already and they list it as mali400 but you know it's all taken with a grain of salt.

Who is "they"? If you're referring to a reseller such as ainol-novo.com, then yeah, they might be taking preorders already, but that doesn't mean they know more than we do. There's so much misinformation on that site that you need an entire barrel of salt. Respectable stores will probably want to wait taking preoders until the specifications are finalized.

Anyway, I trust that source a lot more than the likes of ainol-novo.com (who claim to be THE official Ainol store but are more likely just an authorized reseller). But yes, so far nothing is definite. That's why I worded my previous post as I did (was told, is said to be...).

This post has been edited by Tzul: 07 November 2012 - 02:29 PM

[Nickos-V]

Tzul, on 07 November 2012 - 11:52 AM, said:

that the ATM7029 is released only on December 14th. Ainol is currently playing around with 10 sample/prototype boards. The GPU is said to be a Mali-450 MP4.
Kernel sources expected in March 2013.

OK. There really is no way to know for certain what GPU it comes with. We will know for sure when the tablet is released. Too much misinformation happens in China to know what is real and what is not. ie. sometimes they lie. Could be multi-core Mali450, Mali400, GC1000 or GC2000.

Time will tell us for sure. But if chip is still in production, then very good chance they may have gone with Mali450 GPUs. Fingers crossed and waiting to see what happens.

[buzz86us]

can't wait to see how this performs odd that china is taking so long to roll out quad-core processors

[Roman2025]

@buzz

Not too odd. Processor wise china has always been about 6 months to a year behind the rest of the market. The all winner a10 and rk2918 were out right around the same time the tegra 11 dual core had been out for some time. RK3066 hits well after the time the quad core Tegra 3 and now cortex a15 is upon us and we are finally seeing some quad a9s from china. It about as expected :-)

[Nickos-V]

Roman2025, on 09 December 2012 - 06:11 PM, said:

Not too odd. Processor wise china has always been about 6 months to a year behind the rest of the market.

RK3066 hits well after the time the quad core Tegra 3 and now cortex a15 is upon us and we are finally seeing some quad a9s from china. It about as expected :-)

Very true! Tegra4 is coming out around March-April 2013. Also, Exynos5 & OMAP5 were just released recently too. All of them are using newer Cortex A15s. =)

In any case, there is good chance that Ainol may have dropped ATM7029 and went with A31 instead. Just a rumor. Just have to sit back and wait. Chinese Tablet makers talk about their new products about 1.5 months before they get released to get hype going and attract buyers to them. ie. builds up demand and lets them charge higher prices from the get go.

Ainol may have decided that ATM7029 was not as good as expected and may have swapped it out for A31 or RK3188. Time will tell us for sure if I am right or wrong on that. =) Later,

Edit: new tablets with A31 or RK3188 should be out in about 1.5-2 months time.

This post has been edited by Nickos-V: 09 December 2012 - 07:26 PM