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Motorola: G5 microprocessors will hit speeds of 2GHz

Shrek

Shrek

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 23, 2002
1,118
0
Nashville, Tennessee USA
This news is kind of old, but I thought I'd post it anyway, just in case. ;)

http://e-www.motorola.com/collateral/PPCRMAP.pdf
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/9909/24.g5.shtml
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0009/27.mot.shtml

Motorola: G5 microprocessors will hit speeds of 2GHz
by Dennis Sellers, dsellers@maccentral.com
September 24, 1999, 11:00 pm ET


G4 production problems or not, Motorola is already planning its next versions of PowerPC chips that will run on the Macintosh line -- and they'll be faster than expected, according to the company's "Power PC Microprocessor Strategy."

In fact, the G5 chip will scream at speeds of over to 2GHz if Motorola's predictions are on target. The microprocessor -- which should see the light of day by 2002 at the latest -- will come in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors, and so would sport the ability to "transparently" run present 32-bit applications. For the technically minded, the chip will have an extensible architecture, a new pipeline, new bus topology, and a 0.10 micron processor with SOI. The G5 is described as a "high performance microprocessor targeting computing and high-end embedded" markets.

Less is known about the G6, but it's on Motorola's roadmap. An arrival date of two to three years after the G5 rollout is feasible. Interestingly, the company plans to continue manufacturing the G3 and G4 chips along with the G5 and G6. In fact, the "Microprocessor Strategy" says G4 development should see it reach speeds of up to 1GHz.
Click to expand...

Motorola: G5 chip will achieve 2 GHz
by Dennis Sellers, dsellers@maccentral.com
September 27, 2000, 7:00 am ET

Want to know what Motorola's got up its sleeve for their next generation of Power PC processors? We thought you did.

According to a recently revived "Motorola PowerPC Microprocessor Strategy" document, The G5 will have an extensible architecture, new pipeline, and new bus topology. It will support 64 and 32 bit products with backward compatibility. The G5 will have a 0.10 micron manufacturing process that will integrate Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology. How fast will it run? Up to 2 GHz, according to Motorola's document.

SOI has transistors sitting atop a glass layer instead of on traditional silicon. The use of glass prevents electrons that flow through a transistor from escaping, increasing efficiency and reducing power consumption. IBM, which also makes Power PC chips for the Mac, announced IBM announced the industry's first semiconductor manufacturing process combining silicon-on-insulator (SOI) and copper interconnects in August 1998. IBM's SOI technology alone can provide a 30 percent performance improvement.

IBM shipped the world's first production PowerPC-based microchips made of SOI transistors and copper wiring in May. These SOI-copper PowerPC processors power IBM AS/400e servers. IBM also has a new semiconductor manufacturing technique that shields millions of individual copper circuits on a chip, reducing electrical "crosstalk" between wires that can hinder chip performance and waste power. It's called low-k dielectric technology and was announced in April 2000.

Meanwhile, the current G4 chip still hasn't topped out. According to the "Motorola PowerPC Microprocessor Strategy" report, it should top out at speeds of up to 1GHz. The G4 will stay with AltiVec, get an on-die L2 cache, and move to a 0.15 micron copper manufacturing process that will eventually integrate SOI technology.

AltiVec is the PowerPC extension technology that Apple has branded as Velocity Engine. It dramatically accelerates certain multimedia functions.

There aren't, as far as we know, details on IBM's Power PC plans regarding SOI and AltiVec in regards to Mac systems. Still, Apple, IBM, and Motorola have long cooperated (and sometimes disagreed) on chip development. The three companies jointly developed the PowerPC chip. However, Motorola and IBM's new chip advances could positively influence the Mac market given the companies' past and current relationship with Apple.
Click to expand...

Finally some definite proof of the G5's technology! :D
 
cb911

cb911

macrumors 601
Mar 12, 2002
4,128
4
BrisVegas, Australia
isn't Apple still deciding whether or not to go to IBM? i thought that i heard something about Moto reaching the end of their processor developing capabilities.
 
Geert

Geert

macrumors 6502a
May 28, 2001
513
0
.be
Did somebody bother to check the dates on those articles???
jeez, 1999 and 2000.

Hello, we're 2002 now, any other, 'more recent' articles, that confirm these older ones?
 
scem0

scem0

macrumors 604
Jul 16, 2002
7,028
1
back in NYC!
I think this thread is in the right place. But NEways

This is not a suprise. If moto couldnt get the g5 above 2 GHz I think it would be the death of apple. By the time we get a 2 GHz PM Intel will have a 3.5 GHz p4 :)( ) - i dont like it any more then yall do.... Apple needs megahertz because not all people will switch just because of iApps, other PC users telling them to, and the OS.
 
G4scott

G4scott

macrumors 68020
Jan 9, 2002
2,225
5
USA_WA
OK. lets face it. The G4 is way behind on the Mhz scale. Most people are saying that 1.4-1.5ghz for the next generation PowerMacs is too big of a speed jump, but in reality, it's not even enough. Anyone who's skeptical of anything greater than 1.2 ghz because 'Apple doesn't do 400mhz speed bumps' can stop complaining about how much faster the p4 is. But... If the G5 is more powerful than the G4, and we get one next hear running at 2+ Ghz, we will have at least a 2x performance gain, and with a dual processor config, it should be able to compete with a 4ghz P4.

My question is, how much faster can intel make the pentium 4?
 
M

mrMahann

macrumors newbie
Mar 28, 2002
25
0
agreed need for speed

1.4, 1.6 is about the LEAST jump we should be getting to remain even relevant. that way, we'll only be HALF of what is going on the intel side.

yeah, yeah, what about work that gets done and who really needs all that speed but so many just look at the numbers. w/ X being as good as t'is, should we get some rockin' hardware, market share could very well double in a year or so.

and, w/ the gap so much even teh p4 is doing more work at the high end.
 
E

ewinemiller

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2001
445
0
west of Philly
Originally posted by G4scott
My question is, how much faster can intel make the pentium 4?
Click to expand...

I seem to remember that when the p4 was introduced, Intel was saying that the p4's architecture would allow it to scale to about 10ghz. I don't remember when they expected to get there. Seeing as the PIII's core started out in the Pentium Pro at 150mhz and ended up at 1.4ghz with the tualatins (sp?), it certainly seems believable.
 
B

boom-boom

macrumors member
Aug 4, 2002
34
0
Yeah the P4 may go up to 10 GHz but if moto can release a 64 bit 2 GHz processor late next year it will be competing against the Itanium2 which is only at 1 GHz at the moment it would be perfect for the xServe

http://www.itanium.com/products/ser...ndex.htm?iid=ipp_browse+srvrprocess_itanium2&

and BSD already supports 64 bit processors. In fact I dont think there is any processor manufacturer that has managed to get a 64 bit processor much above 1 GHz.
 
D

ddtlm

macrumors 65816
Aug 20, 2001
1,184
0
boom-boom:

Yeah, the highest clocked 64-bit CPU is the power4 at 1.3ghz, but the low clock has nothing to do with the 64-bit-ness. Being 64-bit is really not a big deal at all, all it means is that the CPU can easily address more memory.

Also, the "G5" will not compete with Itanium just cause they may both be 64-bit. Irrelevant. AMD's Hammer is 64-bit too, and will be available at SAM's Club a year from now. Ooooo.

Moto will be lucky if they can outperform the Itanium as time goes by, let alone keep at a higher clock speed. Intel means business, and the Itanium II is a powerful chip.
 
B

boom-boom

macrumors member
Aug 4, 2002
34
0
What I am trying to say is when you start to get more powerful processors and other hardware inside the box you don't need high clock speeds, look at the sgi severs for example, I believe the Origin servers are running at approx 500 MHz but the other hardware that makes up the rest of the server is what counts. For professional machines Apple was going in the right direction advertising the MHz or should that be GHz myth but unfortuanly they failed to back up the campaign with the power, I would be quite happy to pay $20,000 for a mac system that did the job, but I am not willing to spend a penny on a system that won't do the job!
 
Shrek

Shrek

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 23, 2002
1,118
0
Nashville, Tennessee USA
Original news article
The microprocessor -- which should see the light of day by 2002 at the latest -- will come in 32-bit and 64-bit flavors, and so would sport the ability to "transparently" run present 32-bit applications.
Click to expand...

If Motorola released a 2GHz 64-bit, backward compatible, G5 processor in the very near future (sometime this year), then both Apple and Motorola would be way ahead of Intel and AMD!!!

CHEER FOR MOTOROLA & APPLE!!! WOOHOO!!! WOOHOO!!!

:D :D :D

I know, I'm so optimistic, aren't I? :p
 
M

Malus120

macrumors 6502a
Jun 28, 2002
678
1,410
Re: agreed need for speed

Originally posted by mrMahann
1.4, 1.6 is about the LEAST jump we should be getting to remain even relevant. that way, we'll only be HALF of what is going on the intel side.

yeah, yeah, what about work that gets done and who really needs all that speed but so many just look at the numbers. w/ X being as good as t'is, should we get some rockin' hardware, market share could very well double in a year or so.

and, w/ the gap so much even teh p4 is doing more work at the high end.
Click to expand...

:sigh: Why does everyone think that the 2.53Ghz P4 is like Standard, ITS NOT. Jeese are you guys forgetting the AMD is only running at around 1.6-1.8 on their FASTEST chips, yet because they are so much more efficiant they can easily match all but the 2.53Ghz P4(and thats probably just cause of the 533 Bus and the fact that i think the athalon is still at .18 or .15 Micron while P4 is at .13 or .10). BTW do you even know how much one of those 2.53Ghz P4 Systems cost its like $2500+. Anyway my point is that with a faster bus and 1.4 to 1.6 Max Clock would be MORE than enough to combat intels best(especailly in Duel configs) and would easily be about equal in terms of price/performance(wounldnt that be a mirical). Heck if they get a faster bus even a max of 1.2 would be okay if the whole Proline went DP.
 
D

davidc2182

macrumors regular
Nov 8, 2001
168
0
Sin City
wow do they need an update

apple needs to update the whole line, just in terms of keeping pace with the wintel world, the pro line needs to have a major distinction over prosumer lineup power macs need to be running @ 1.5/1.6, they need to bump the new imacs to around 1.2ghz, the emac to 933/1ghz, they need the sahara chips burning in the old imacs @ 1ghz+, they need to get the damn powerbook above 800 measley mhz and the ibook needs a major revamp its so slow! apple needs to pump their new switch ads heavily with an added something like, with the most powerful macs available switching is even faster, etc. and i mean the next update should be like boom not one or 2 updates, update the whole friggen matrix, introduce DDR ram in pro line, faster bus speeds, they need that whole store page to have little new icons next to everything, and then they should be like (oh by the way) here's that pda or tablet pc you've always wanted. Yes apple is a software company but they need to compete in hardware until their market share gets to a point where they can let people create clones and not lose money!! sledge o' matic!
 
-hh

-hh

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2001
2,550
336
NJ Highlands, Earth
Re: wow do they need an update

Originally posted by davidc2182
apple needs to update the whole line, just in terms of keeping pace with the wintel world, the pro line needs to have a major distinction over prosumer lineup power macs ... and i mean the next update should be like boom not one or 2 updates ... sledge o' matic!
Click to expand...


I've been thinking about this a bit, and I agree.

Afterall, if you look at a 800MHz PowerMac + 17" LCD, its more expensive than an iMac 17", so why the heck should I buy it?

If this buyer was interested in digital video, the PowerMac doesn't even have the DVD capability of a Superdrive, so you need to pay another $200 to add that. If you add in all of the other little widgets to "even up" the Specs between the two systems, you're talking about a PowerMac that's close to $3K to equal a $2K iMac 17". The only meaningful advantage that you would get are a real 17" instead of a widescreen 17", and PCI slots. Whoop-ti-doo :eek: I'd still buy the iMac 17".

And that's what a buyer who just goes to look at Apple's website to spec out a system is going to conclude.

Anyone else in the world has already heard the rumors are that the new PowerMac's have been "ready" and so forth for awhile now, so if they want the bottom end current machine, they know that its price will get better as soon as the new stuff is released. If they want something better, the same still applies.

So Apple is stuck.

Apple can't go on just trying to push back the introduction date forever, because that day will never come. It would seem that sales have either been really bad (wonder how many PowerMac's Apple's selling per day right now? <1000?), or Apple is holding back such a major jump that they know that they have little chance of moving the current PowerMac inventory.

I'm hoping for the latter like the rest of us, but if it were correct, I suspect that Apple would be holding a major fire sale right now.

But this assumes "something a lot better" in the pipeline. The fact that Apple's not been aggressive with pricing infers to me that we're in for not much more than a small speed bump.


If Apple really wanted to more aggressively clear their inventory, they could throw in 3 years of service on .MAC for free.


Just my $.02,

-hh
 
M

macwannabe

macrumors newbie
May 12, 2002
27
0
Wales
Even if a 2.5GHz P4 is $2500+ it is still much cheaper than a top of the range Mac. The "Fastest" PowerMac (not even the ultimate) is £2500 over here ie about $4000!!!
 
E

ewinemiller

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2001
445
0
west of Philly
Originally posted by macwannabe
Even if a 2.5GHz P4 is $2500+ it is still much cheaper than a top of the range Mac. The "Fastest" PowerMac (not even the ultimate) is £2500 over here ie about $4000!!!
Click to expand...

I think the $2500 is quite a bit exaggerated. I just priced out a Dell 4500 at 2.5GHz with components to match the dual Ghz G4 and it only came up to $1707. If you backed off a little and only picked the 2.26 Ghz you could save yourself an additional $260. Seeing as my 2.26 does my renderings in about 65% of the time of my dual 800 G4, you'd probably still be a little ahead in performance for most applications.
 
B

BB2

macrumors newbie
Aug 7, 2002
1
0
I know what the new generation PowerMac are

I know what the new generation PM G4 are
going to be.
You can't order 800 Mghz and 933 Mghz anymore,
because the so called "new generation Mac" is just going
to be a replacement of those two macs with the already wellknown dual processors 1Ghz
Apples aim is to optimize "OsX"so that "Os X" will work full power.

Added to that just you can count on the usual upgrade dvdbunners, more memory ......
etc...

No G5, just dual processors.
 
M

mrMahann

macrumors newbie
Mar 28, 2002
25
0
Re: agreed need for speed: perception!

Originally posted by Malus120


:sigh: Why does everyone think that the 2.53Ghz P4 is like Standard, ITS NOT. Jeese are you guys forgetting the AMD is only running at around 1.6-1.8 on their FASTEST chips, yet because they are so .... Heck if they get a faster bus even a max of 1.2 would be okay if the whole Proline went DP.
Click to expand...

perception! people just look at the top numbers, "hey, intel's at 2.5GHz... mac's way back at 1GHz..." if we were closer, then it would be less an issue. people would be much more likely to consider a purchase. "oh, well, mac is 1.8GHz... not too bad... hmmm but really, all i need is this one running at..."

i know about AMD... the machine on which this message is being written is a 1.47GHz athlon. it SIZZLES. i consider an AMD box the best value in hardware today.

when next i purchase a mac, its cause i know it will be fast enuf for my purposes, and the most important thing, the value is the OS. soooo much agreed if they fix the bottlenecks we'll get a real increase, have said so many times previously. 1.2, even dualie will be more than enuf horsepower.

but, the key is perception.. and the GHz is the driving force behind that. to get people to come over, they need to see big numbers, at least in striking distance of the opposition.
 
-hh

-hh

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2001
2,550
336
NJ Highlands, Earth
Re: I know what the new generation PowerMac are

Originally posted by BB2
You can't order 800 Mghz and 933 Mghz anymore,...
Click to expand...


Just tried a config/build on Apple's website and it let me save it without any warnings/errors.

Of course, I was doing this with the 733MHz PowerMac that's available on the Educational Discount page for $1252.


Now if they still have 733's laying around to be sold...egads. :(



-hh
 
tjwett

tjwett

macrumors 68000
May 6, 2002
1,880
0
Brooklyn, NYC
hello! this is from 1999. didn't Moto Canada just recently state that they have no future develop plan laid out for the G4 or G5. the Moto chips inside Macs will soon be a thing of the past. now that's a rumor!
 
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