macminute has a post about the 970 at 2.5 coming friday

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
http://www.macminute.com/2004/02/13/powerpc



macminute never has rumors...i would say this nails it, but we shall see soon





g



i especially like this line in the cnet article:



To make the new PowerPCs, IBM is combining layers of silicon on insulator (SOI) and strained silicon. Together, the two technologies allow manufacturers to improve energy efficiency or performance: They can either make processors that run as fast as current models but consume far less power; or they can produce chips that use the same amount of power but run at higher clock speeds





fast, hotter chips in the PM

slower, cooler chips in the PB??
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 87
    msanttimsantti Posts: 1,377member
    Well, IBM should be announcing something today.



    I thought it was going to be next week though.



    I am sure Apple has hardware ready to go, just waiting on a stockpile of CPU's.
  • Reply 2 of 87
    Quote:

    Originally posted by msantti

    Well, IBM should be announcing something today.



    I thought it was going to be next week though.



    I am sure Apple has hardware ready to go, just waiting on a stockpile of CPU's.




    announcing today, describing next week is how i read it



    g





    bring on the faster PMs

    bring on the new iMac G5

    wait a little longer for the G5 PB??
  • Reply 3 of 87
    joekjoek Posts: 93member
    strange logic.



    Because MacMinute links to a CNet article doesn't make it more true.



    The fact that CNet reports it stands a little more on its own than random site... but even so, it looks like CNet just copied it from the microprocessor report guy



    http://forums.appleinsider.com/showt...threadid=38155



    The big news appears to be IBM's announcement.
  • Reply 4 of 87
    rickagrickag Posts: 1,626member
    Forbes is now reporting in an article titled,"IBM says new chip-making method boosts performance". Strained silicon, hmmmm, very interesting. Note this article explicitly is discussing the IBM 970FX which is, according to at least one post on Arestechnica, is shipping.



    Combined with the SoC comment from the Manager of IBM's ASCI Division, things are beginning to look up for Apple. Low power, very fast, northbridge. At least the iMac may be upgraded soon with a G5? possibly a Powerbook? and my hope a headless iMac
  • Reply 5 of 87
    kedakeda Posts: 722member
    Ahhhh, very good!



    I am getting a dual G5 here at work whenever the second generation is announced. Whoot!



    My G4/500 is feeling kinda slow.
  • Reply 6 of 87
    rickagrickag Posts: 1,626member




    Quote:

    "...said Richard Doherty, research director at Envisioneering. Given the chip's reduced need for power, which means longer battery life, Apple may consider it for use in a notebook computer for gaming enthusiasts, Doherty said.



    "It's logical that Apple would select the flexibility of this chip for a next-generation notebook computer," Doherty said."




    notebook computer for gaming enthusiats
  • Reply 7 of 87
    If IBM are going to present more details of the 970fx at that conference next week they will give cpu speeds for people to drool over.. so that means apple will announce the new g5's before that.



  • Reply 8 of 87
    rickagrickag Posts: 1,626member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by gsxrboy

    If IBM are going to present more details of the 970fx at that conference next week they will give cpu speeds for people to drool over.. so that means apple will announce the new g5's before that.







    Maybe, maybe not, I believe IBM published a pdf describing the 970 long before Apple announced they were going to use it. This is a little different, in that Apple is now using the G5, but at least food for thought.
  • Reply 9 of 87
    forbes breaks it



    click age for you all





    g
  • Reply 10 of 87
    If only they did release a G5 Powerbook next week as well... I know, highly unlikely, but pretty soon I will have my money saved up for a new Powerbook and will be sitting on it until they at least speed bump the current line, but I may be inclined to wait until they put a G5 in it. Selling my Cube in a week or two, so I could be macless for awhile. Ahh the pain.
  • Reply 11 of 87
    smirclesmircle Posts: 1,035member
    What most people here seem to be missing (and this is really jaw-dropping) ist that IBM seems to have succeeded in implementing SOI on strained silicon (SSOI) about one full year ahead of schedule. This speaks volumes about their ability to implement high-end processes.



    In the light of this announcement, the MS XBOX2 switch to PPC seems much more likely.
  • Reply 12 of 87
    IBM tends to overestimate things quite a it. It's not surprising that they delivered promised technology early. However, the fact that they delivered it a full year ahead of time is.



    It's also cool because we know Intel has been having a hard time ramping up Prescott and getting to 90nm. I'm sure in a few years that IBM will be far ahead there.
  • Reply 13 of 87
    jcgjcg Posts: 777member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by gsxrboy

    If IBM are going to present more details of the 970fx at that conference next week they will give cpu speeds for people to drool over.. so that means apple will announce the new g5's before that.







    Maybe not, IBM has delivered faster speeds than they anounced in the past so they wont neccessarly announce the fastest chip they have.
  • Reply 14 of 87
    snoopysnoopy Posts: 1,901member
    A Register article includes this insight into the strained silicon process at IBM:



    "Now, where IBM differs from Intel is in the use of silicon-on-insulator (SOI), which conveniently aids the implementation of strained silicon. As it announced last September , IBM removes the SiGe layer before fabrication, after applying the strained silicon onto the insulator. The upshot: it gains benefits of strained silicon using what is essentially its standard SOI process. By removing the SiGe layer, it doesn't have to integrate that material into the chip fabrication process per se. It calls the new technique, Strained Silicon Directly on Insulator (SSDOI)."



    The full article is at:



    http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/39/35556.html
  • Reply 15 of 87
    flounderflounder Posts: 2,674member
    And everyone was getting their panties all in a bunch!

    Upgrades are coming and they're coming soon



    4-11 days, I reckon
  • Reply 16 of 87
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Good! Something needs to replace those idiot Pepsi bottles on the homepage. Ugh!



    Ugliest/tackiest Apple's site has looked in a while. Not to mention, kinda boring and "so what"? It was old and tired within two days of the Super Bowl.







    At this point, I'll take anything as long as it changes the homepage. A picture of Phil mowing his yard would be cooler than those bottles.
  • Reply 17 of 87
    Quote:

    Good! Something needs to replace those idiot Pepsi bottles on the homepage. Ugh!



    Ugliest/tackiest Apple's site has looked in a while. Not to mention, kinda boring and "so what"? It was old and tired within two days of the Super Bowl.







    At this point, I'll take anything as long as it changes the homepage. A picture of Phil mowing his yard would be cooler than those bottles.







    Lemon Bon Bon
  • Reply 18 of 87
    Hmmm, I'm pleased at the vast reduction in chip size and power use.



    However, with a chip controller running at upto 1.4 gig, surely we could be seeing 2.8 gig 970fxs?



    And surely at that speed they'd still be far off the cheynobal heat signature of Prescott..?



    Is the system controller holding back the 970 fx higher speed grades?



    2.5 is a nice bump. That's an extra 1 gig extra over the current dual 2 gig. And you get extra bandwidth.



    But I was kinda hoping for 2.6 or 2.8.



    Still, it's very exciting news. It really puts it to Intel and AMD. IBM is running the Pentium 4 down. At 2.5 gig, we're only 700 mhz behind! A year ago? Apple was 1.6 gig behind!!! That's one hell of a claw back. Steve was right when he said Apple would make up the ground and close the gap.



    And aren't AMD dependent on IBM for the 0.09 process? Aren't AMD only set to deliver the 0.09 by 2nd half 2004?



    I read Intel have put back the 4 gig Prescott to early 2005! If Apple can deliver 3.2 gig Power 5 derived 970fxs by September and Intel are stuck on 3.6 gig...then the gap is closed to 400mhz! Astounding if it comes to pass! Then you got the system bandwidth.



    The G5 is going to be the Pentium 5 slayer!



    Lemon Bon Bon
  • Reply 19 of 87
    Another point. What might be the ace in the pack is not only the 970 fx but the IBM compilers recently launched!



    Could we be seeing 30-40% improvements as Apple recompile 'X' for 10.4? Adobe recompiling Photoshop? Newtek recompiling Lightwave?



    It's this that maybe intrigues me the most... I'd love to see IBM finally rundown those Intel compilers that fix the benchmarks in Intel's favour. Apple can say, 'Okay, we used the best Intel compilers...so we used the best IBM compilers for our chip...and guess what...'



    Apple had a news item on their site about it a while back...but it's gone surprisingly quiet on that front...



    Lemon Bon Bon
  • Reply 20 of 87
    rickagrickag Posts: 1,626member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Lemon Bon Bon



    ....If Apple can deliver 3.2 gig Power 5 derived 970fxs by September.....



    That doesn't excite me as much as the possibility of a dual core and on die memory controller. Dual G5's @ 3.0GHz., each being dual core with an on die memory controller, hmmm. Low end single G5's with single core for iMac's, Powerbooks and eMacs and the oft' mentioned/desired headless iMacs.
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