POWER4 influences on G5?
In an Ars forum in the not-too-distant past, I was intrigued by the following remarks from MrNSX:
[quote]While the actual Power4 chip won't appear on any desktops, not even a SC version, a lot of the technology is being filtered down to the next consumer level variant. In other words, it will have a huge impact on upcoming PPC designs. I'm afraid I can't really elaborate. Although this can be considered a little more longterm, there are other short-term goodies coming down the pipe. <hr></blockquote>
(<a href="http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=8300945231&m=6650972682&r= 2270979682#2270979682" target="_blank">Ars POWER4 thread</a>)
Should we presume that he's talking about the G5 here? If so, then this in turn would suggest that it's not coming out as soon as we hope. Or perhaps he's talking about a 64-bit variant of the G5.
Comments?
[quote]While the actual Power4 chip won't appear on any desktops, not even a SC version, a lot of the technology is being filtered down to the next consumer level variant. In other words, it will have a huge impact on upcoming PPC designs. I'm afraid I can't really elaborate. Although this can be considered a little more longterm, there are other short-term goodies coming down the pipe. <hr></blockquote>
(<a href="http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=8300945231&m=6650972682&r= 2270979682#2270979682" target="_blank">Ars POWER4 thread</a>)
Should we presume that he's talking about the G5 here? If so, then this in turn would suggest that it's not coming out as soon as we hope. Or perhaps he's talking about a 64-bit variant of the G5.
Comments?
Comments
[ 11-13-2001: Message edited by: macway ]</p>
G-News
<strong>unlikely, the Power4 has a die size about the size of a bathroom tile and costs about as much as a mid ranged iMac.
G-News</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yes, but that's probably due to the multicore nature of it and the highspeed busses along with monster caches it employs.
<strong>MrNSX is cool :-)
[ 11-13-2001: Message edited by: macway ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Yeah, but since he's supposedly "only" working for ATI, I kinda wonder where he'd get inside information on upcoming IBM processors from?
Bye,
RazzFazz
That's a bit of an exaggeration.
[quote]400 mm2 die<hr></blockquote>
<a href="http://www.realworldtech.com/page.cfm?section=columns&AID=RWT101600000000&date= 10-16-2000" target="_blank">From here.</a> 400 sq.mm. at .18um, which never shipped, is significantly less at .13um, which is shipping.
[quote]and costs about as much as a mid ranged iMac.<hr></blockquote>
That's a bit of an understatement. If I remember right from its launch, POWER4's are not currently being used in systems costing less than about half a million bucks. And it won't be going below the mid-range UNIX workstation in any recognizable form; and by mid-range I mean $40,000+.
POWER4 in a Mac, in any recognizable form, is not going to happen.
I meant he cost of the chip, not of the systems. Aparently one chip costs around 2000-2500$.
G-News
This isn't surprising. It's an extremely complex piece of machinery. And a 5200+ pincount is no small amount.
By contrast, the northbridge for the AMD 760MPX chipset is somewhere between 900 and 1100 pins.
An interesting idea: that the G5 is similar to a POWER4 but with only one core per CPU, fewer execution units and cache. Anyone know how closely related G3/G4 and POWER3 are?
Anyone know if G5 can have multiple cores per chip?