970 Production info

transcendental octothorpetranscendental octothorpe
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Hi all,



I recieved some info from someone working on the 970 at IBM a while back. EDIT: to clarify, the info came to me a while back. The source was currently working on the 970.

Here is the jist:



-Design phase complete

-970 to start production in March

-Production to begin at 0.13um

-East Fishkill line isn't up and running well enough for it to start production there. When it is, however, the 970 will move there, and probably to 0.09nm quickly.



Obviously the key point for us is the March production date.



Just thought you'd all like to know :cool:



Can anyone else comfirm or deny this info?



[ 01-06-2003: Message edited by: Transcendental Octothorpe ]</p>
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 199
    lemon bon bonlemon bon bon Posts: 2,383member
    SMOKIIIIN'!



    Lemon Bon Bon :cool:
  • Reply 2 of 199
    t'hain esh kelcht'hain esh kelch Posts: 1,274member
    1st march, or 31st march?



    <img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />
  • Reply 3 of 199
    screedscreed Posts: 1,077member
    March?

    Hm, okay MWNY (The Final Chapter) is too far away. Ditto for WWDC.

    Well what do you know!?

    National Broadcasters Association in <a href="http://www.nab.org/conventions/nab2003"; target="_blank">April</a>!



    Screed
  • Reply 4 of 199
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Intoduction tomorrow with a 2 month wait.
  • Reply 5 of 199
    the cool gutthe cool gut Posts: 1,714member
    Don't they have to ramp up production? Doesn't that alone take 2-3 months? That would mean they woudn't be at full capacity until June. Looks like there will on of Steve's famous "Available next month" speeches, with actuall delivery in October. <img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
  • Reply 6 of 199
    programmerprogrammer Posts: 3,458member
    More likely is that Apple has to accumulate a fair stockpile of processors before beginning production of the Macs that the 970 will go into. I still say July-Sept.
  • Reply 7 of 199
    t'hain esh kelcht'hain esh kelch Posts: 1,274member
    [quote]Originally posted by Programmer:

    <strong>More likely is that Apple has to accumulate a fair stockpile of processors before beginning production of the Macs that the 970 will go into. I still say July-Sept.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    Agreed. These will sell like hot-cakes and Steve knows it.
  • Reply 8 of 199
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    They did announce the original 7450 PowerMacs (the 733MHz model) almost exactly when Motorola was ramping up production. With a two month lag, of course.
  • Reply 9 of 199
    drewpropsdrewprops Posts: 2,321member
    You know, it'll be REALLY sad if Apple DOESN'T go with the 970.....we're all salivating at the thought with no assurance that the company is headed in that direction, as obvious a direction as it may seem.



    D
  • Reply 10 of 199
    brussellbrussell Posts: 9,812member
    [quote]Originally posted by Amorph:

    <strong>They did announce the original 7450 PowerMacs (the 733MHz model) almost exactly when Motorola was ramping up production. With a two month lag, of course.</strong><hr></blockquote>But the 667 (also a 7450) was also announced at the same time, and was available sooner than 2 months. They also introduced the 7410 processor, which was available immediately in the low-end PowerMacs and the new Powerbook. That was the best keynote in memory.
  • Reply 11 of 199
    croutoncrouton Posts: 14member
    [quote]Originally posted by drewprops:

    <strong>You know, it'll be REALLY sad if Apple DOESN'T go with the 970.....we're all salivating at the thought with no assurance that the company is headed in that direction, as obvious a direction as it may seem.



    D</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Yeah, just like when everyone thought for SURE that Apple was going to buy Be and use that OS for the basis of it's new OS. I sure remember thinking that back then. It was a shocker when they said that they had bought Next!



    Who knows, maybe that will happen again and Apple will announce that they are switching over to the VIA C3 processor!

    <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
  • Reply 12 of 199
    whoamiwhoami Posts: 301member
    so how crazy would it be for the 970 to be announced tomorrow? i think they understand that the 970 is expected by everyone in the know! we'll see tomorrow!
  • Reply 13 of 199
    matsumatsu Posts: 6,558member
    March? Hmmm... Apple has had a long pre-order lead time in the past, and it may just happen again. Remember way back when (around IBM 970 microprocessor forum time) we were all trying to pin down a realistic PPC970 debut. At that time I said that if there were any plausible way that 970's would be ready within 4 months of MWSF, we'd see it demo'd and Steve would take pre-orders for it. It took Apple nearly to April to get FP iMacs into full availability (of all models) and we already know that 1.25Ghz DP G4's WILL still be available to customers after MWSF. So that's one of three models. It's not like they'll have nothing to sell pro customers as the DP1.25 migtrates to the bottom of the line-up. In the inverse of the iMac situation, you'll have to wait for the high-end machines, but Steve will show you how great they are in a bake-off. And like all bake-offs they'll be a debateable element about it -- probably he'll show it smoking a currently available top line P4, even though the 970 won't be anyone's hands untill April and by that time X86 will have something faster on offer. No matter, any pros with a significant Mac investment will have heard all they need to hear, they'll put down their money and wait, and Apple will have stemmed the tide of Pro Switchers (to the wintel camp).



    It really fits Apple's pattern of selling you today what isn't quite available yet, and comparing future performance to current X86.



    The wait is on and PM sales are all but dead. It isn't just the mac-web that's grown impatient, TV analysts have too -- not in the typical Apple's in trouble way, but rather more than once now I've read and seen main stream news asking very specifically about the status of the next processor and the "aging" G4. Mild G4 bumps won't bring the pro customers back for the top rung machines, a 1.25Ghz entry PM would sell like gangbusters for the 2-4 months in between (if priced like the DP867) and won't infringe on 3000+ PPC970 preorders. (two different customers in that range)



    I think we may see (and order) if not touch a PPC970 sooner rather than later. Customers who would pay top line PM prices will wait if they're gtting something competitive.



    We've heard that quite possibly Apple is sitting on iMacs for another couple of weeks to clear out inventory, I hope they eat it and choke on it, they have to have realized that machines only become less saleable as time passes.
  • Reply 14 of 199
    kcmackcmac Posts: 1,051member
    In this economy, wouldn't pre-orders be a good thing for Apple? They do it anyway, why not really do it this time!
  • Reply 15 of 199
    transcendental octothorpetranscendental octothorpe Posts: 188member
    [quote]Originally posted by drewprops:

    <strong>You know, it'll be REALLY sad if Apple DOESN'T go with the 970.....we're all salivating at the thought with no assurance that the company is headed in that direction, as obvious a direction as it may seem.



    D</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Apple will use this chip.



    Oh, and I don't know if it's the 1st or 31st of March.



    [ 01-06-2003: Message edited by: Transcendental Octothorpe ]</p>
  • Reply 16 of 199
    outsideroutsider Posts: 6,008member
    Apple can use the HYPE of the 970 to sell G4s. Here's how: Introduce a new line up of 4 PowerMacs models, the low-end using 7457 processors in speeds of 1.2 and 1.4GHz with 200MHz buses. The other 2 high-end models are 970 machines due in March running at 1.6 and 1.8GHz with 800 and 900MHz buses respectively. They hype the 970 machines during the expo but they will have the 7457 machines in there available immediately to quench their thirst.
  • Reply 17 of 199
    producerproducer Posts: 283member
    The question is how expensive will these chips be at first? Also just curious if it was your decision (whoever is reading this) and assuming that the software problems would be minumal....would you choose AMD hammer or the IBM 970 for Apple?



    Also an interesting article about Sony using Rambus for there new playstion which will contain the IBM Cell chip...I know programmer is a big fan of Rambus technology...the article states that cell will scale down to consumer electronics and up to high end computing...if it scales up then why wouldn't this chip be viable for Apple? Plus Apple will be more and more into consumer electronics themselves by then and programming should be similar to powerpc...



    I still say but too tired to go into the many reasons...Apple should port OS X to the Playstation III and sell a cheap computer upgrade kit for it...it's the only way Apple will be able to take over the lowend computing segment and increase market share by a significant amount...
  • Reply 18 of 199
    transcendental octothorpetranscendental octothorpe Posts: 188member
    I have new info that I, unfortunately can't share here, but suffice it to say:







    Maybe I'll be able to share a little bit more info as time goes on.



    Oh, anyone know what a VSP interface is?
  • Reply 19 of 199
    lemon bon bonlemon bon bon Posts: 2,383member
    [quote]I have new info that I, unfortunately can't share here, but suffice it to say:





    <hr></blockquote>



    I've gone weak at the knees.



    HOTDOG!!!



    Lemon Bon Bon <img src="graemlins/cancer.gif" border="0" alt="[cancer]" />
  • Reply 20 of 199
    kidredkidred Posts: 2,402member
    [quote]Originally posted by Transcendental Octothorpe:

    <strong>I have new info that I, unfortunately can't share here, but suffice it to say:







    Maybe I'll be able to share a little bit more info as time goes on.



    Oh, anyone know what a VSP interface is?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Ok, you can't say but can you hint at what is new compared to your previous statement? Like you said production in march, is that still right?
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