UltraSparc 1.2GHz on Wed

[arn]

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-958367.html

The processor, to be announced at the SunNetwork 2002 conference in San Francisco, is built by Texas Instruments with a manufacturing process that permits 130-nanometer features, a smaller size than the current 150-nanometer process. Having smaller features means a smaller overall chip, which in turn means that power consumption decreases while the clock speed increases.

[Pants]

yep at 53 watts its impressive....I'll be very interested to see next years sparcV.

also of note is suns decision to start selling cheap, quality pcs..

[Mr. Anderson]

I haven't had a chance to play in the SunSparc arena in quite a few years, but how do these stack up against PCs and Macs? We have a couple UltraSparcs here at work for the guys doing the heavy signal processing, but is it worth the expense for these machines?

D

[ddtlm]

I'm all about competition and having lots of processor architectures and OS's available, but I just don't see how Sparc and Solaris are compeditive. I'm pretty sure that Sparcs are faster than G4's at a given clock in most code, but G4's don't cost $20000 for a good dual CPU machine either (that was a rough price).

If Apple ever gets a 64-bit processor Sun will probably find it that much harder to sell Sparc workstations.

[Pants]

Originally posted by dukestreet
I haven't had a chance to play in the SunSparc arena in quite a few years, but how do these stack up against PCs and Macs? We have a couple UltraSparcs here at work for the guys doing the heavy signal processing, but is it worth the expense for these machines?

D

for doing tasks such as signal processing - yep! its a variety of features - teh first being build quality - ever tried picking an ultra 10 up? also, maths wise, they really do stack up well - the 'boss' works in DSP research with radar and tracking malarky, and she won't have anything else (and, yeah, what she wants...sheesh! ). On a pure cost basis, yes they are expensive, but I have a sparc 5 under my desk keeping my feet warm, and i really can't say when it was last turned off (years back!!), so yeah, I'd say it hasn't cost *that* much in comparison.

[Pants]

Originally posted by ddtlm
I'm all about competition and having lots of processor architectures and OS's available, but I just don't see how Sparc and Solaris are compeditive. I'm pretty sure that Sparcs are faster than G4's at a given clock in most code, but G4's don't cost $20000 for a good dual CPU machine either (that was a rough price).

If Apple ever gets a 64-bit processor Sun will probably find it that much harder to sell Sparc workstations.

i sunno about that - today they announced the ultra 6 and 7 are in 'design'. These machines are very much orientated for specialist science/design type markets, and I cant see sun be worried about loss of market to AMD or apple..