http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1121740,00.asp
Not very promising, at least the part about the PPC 970's OS X performance being on par with the G4. I had thought that a 970 was estimated to be about twice as fast as a similarly clocked G4. Could lack of 64 bit optimizations (and whatever other optimizations are needed) cut the 970's performance in half? Doesn't seem likely. If this article is true, then the 970 won't be the stellar leap in performance we've been anticipating, rather it will be no more than the performance from a 1.8 GHz G4 if Moto could scale it that high. A nice boost to be sure, but nothing that will put Apple in direct competition with Wintels.
Quote:
Apple Computer Inc. is nearing the release of desktop systems featuring IBM's 64-bit PowerPC 970 chip, sources report?but a 64-bit version of Mac OS X may lag behind by a month or two.
Sources said that the IBM chip will make its first appearance in a new Power Mac known internally as Q37. However, sources said, Q37 won't ship with a 64-bit version of Mac OS X, limiting OS performance gains in the initial release. Instead, Q37 will launch with a special build train of the current Mac OS X Version 10.2, a k a Jaguar.
This build, code-named Smeagol, will run on the new chip but won't take advantage of many of its key features, including 64-bit support. Sources said Apple's goal for Smeagol is to deliver Mac OS X performance at least "on par" with what Jaguar could achieve on Motorola G4 chips running at the same speed; the move will allow Apple to ship the new hardware before Mac OS X 10.3, a k a Panther, can take advantage of all the new processor's capabilities.
Sources said that the IBM chip will make its first appearance in a new Power Mac known internally as Q37. However, sources said, Q37 won't ship with a 64-bit version of Mac OS X, limiting OS performance gains in the initial release. Instead, Q37 will launch with a special build train of the current Mac OS X Version 10.2, a k a Jaguar.
This build, code-named Smeagol, will run on the new chip but won't take advantage of many of its key features, including 64-bit support. Sources said Apple's goal for Smeagol is to deliver Mac OS X performance at least "on par" with what Jaguar could achieve on Motorola G4 chips running at the same speed; the move will allow Apple to ship the new hardware before Mac OS X 10.3, a k a Panther, can take advantage of all the new processor's capabilities.
Not very promising, at least the part about the PPC 970's OS X performance being on par with the G4. I had thought that a 970 was estimated to be about twice as fast as a similarly clocked G4. Could lack of 64 bit optimizations (and whatever other optimizations are needed) cut the 970's performance in half? Doesn't seem likely. If this article is true, then the 970 won't be the stellar leap in performance we've been anticipating, rather it will be no more than the performance from a 1.8 GHz G4 if Moto could scale it that high. A nice boost to be sure, but nothing that will put Apple in direct competition with Wintels.
