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new powermac architecture

k2k koos

k2k koos

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 21, 2003
611
242
Somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow
Hey all out there, perhaps someone can enlighten me with this:
If Apple is (very secretly) concerned about the performance of their Powermacs (which I think are gorgeous regardless of the fact that they are a little slower than top spec PC's, and on average they just work very well, but hey it's a Mac isn't it!) Why not put the Power4 processor in it instead of developing a spin off called 970.... I mean isn't that CPU allready out there, or would it not work that well, i'm a bit confused, don't know that much about CPU's but I am curious, so is there anyone who can tell me that I am
A: an idiot and should not have come up with this stupid question, or
B: a genius who should be employed by Apple as a 'bright idea man'....
C: think too different....
 
Put a Power4 into a consumer desktop system? I don't think you have any idea of the price of a Power4 chip. The pricing would be outrageous. Maybe for a high-end workstation, but not a normal desktop...
 
This has been gone over about a thousand times but suffice to say the POWER4 is too costly. Unless you want to pay $50 000 for your next powermac you don't want it using a POWER4.
 
aside from pricing, the power4 is very power hungry and very large. It is not suitable in any way for a desktop application. If the power4 was a suitable desktop chip, IBM would have just used that for its products instead of developing the 970 (remember, its IBM thats making the 970, not apple. Apple has nothing to do with the chip design)
 
Originally posted by strider42
aside from pricing, the power4 is very power hungry and very large. It is not suitable in any way for a desktop application. If the power4 was a suitable desktop chip, IBM would have just used that for its products instead of developing the 970 (remember, its IBM thats making the 970, not apple. Apple has nothing to do with the chip design)
Click to expand...
Dont be so sure it is using the same instruction set as altivec 162
 
Originally posted by Dont Hurt Me
Dont be so sure it is using the same instruction set as altivec 162
Click to expand...

apple didn't invent altivec either. Its possible they may have had some input into IBM including the vector processing unit, but they still have nothing to do with the design of the chip. Apple doesn't know anything about it, and apple is not the reason this chip is going to exist (IBM itself will be a major user of it)
 
Originally posted by FelixDerKater
Take a look there for some basic pricing. Of course an Apple desktop would have less RAM and HD size, but the price is still too high.

http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseries/hardware/workstations/
Click to expand...

On this page there is a computer RS/6000 43P Model 150. Can anyone tell me why this thing is soo expensive when it is using a 604e powerpc processor? Did i miss a certain feature or is this computer just a really expensive box using a processor that was used back in the ANS 700 and from the PowerMac 7600 through 9600?
 
Originally posted by Vector
On this page there is a computer RS/6000 43P Model 150. Can anyone tell me why this thing is soo expensive when it is using a 604e powerpc processor? Did i miss a certain feature or is this computer just a really expensive box using a processor that was used back in the ANS 700 and from the PowerMac 7600 through 9600?
Click to expand...
They have onboard L2 of 1 MB! Plus, they run AIX, not Linux.

I think this is the very reason that IBM is developing the 970, 980, and 990--their workstations are getting old and expensive: no one's buying it, I'd guess.
 
Originally posted by Vector


On this page there is a computer RS/6000 43P Model 150. Can anyone tell me why this thing is soo expensive when it is using a 604e powerpc processor? Did i miss a certain feature or is this computer just a really expensive box using a processor that was used back in the ANS 700 and from the PowerMac 7600 through 9600?
Click to expand...

This machine is pre-configured with the operating system and unlimited licenses. The ready-to-go models are more expensive.

There is also the matter of the graphics hardware which, while entry level, would probably be over $800 otherwise.

Serial Storage Architecture is included in the basic design of the machine.

IBM's always excellent hardware diagnostics are included, complete with front panel status lights. The Wintel PCs from IBM do not get anything like this and would cost much more if they had them.

Btw, what's an ANS 700? (looks like a silly question to me) :)
 
IMB Intellastation?

One question. At these insane prices, who uses this type of computer. The ad mentions 3D, CAD, and visualization. What can they do that a high end Mac can't do. I can't imagine spending that much for something that becomes obsolete in two or three years.
 
Originally posted by pgwalsh
Price is no object. I'm ready to put my ski mask on and run out of the store with it.
Click to expand...

With that kind of price that is the only way the Power4 is gonna make it off the shelves.

The Power4 is a very power hungry chip, it is needy and we don't like chips to be needy.

If we wanted we could use them on some Uber-High class xServe but not likely at all.
 
Originally posted by bousozoku


This machine is pre-configured with the operating system and unlimited licenses. The ready-to-go models are more expensive.

There is also the matter of the graphics hardware which, while entry level, would probably be over $800 otherwise.

Serial Storage Architecture is included in the basic design of the machine.

IBM's always excellent hardware diagnostics are included, complete with front panel status lights. The Wintel PCs from IBM do not get anything like this and would cost much more if they had them.

Btw, what's an ANS 700? (looks like a silly question to me) :)
Click to expand...

Ok thanks now it makes more sense.

The ANS 700 is the Apple Network Server 700. It was released bay Apple in Feb. 1996 and discontinued in April 1997. It used AIX running on a 604e powerpc with 1MB of L2 cache ,512 MB of ram max, everything was hot swappable ie. power supplies, fans, drives. It had 7 drive bays on the front and I think you could put more inside but they were less accessible. It started at around 15k and was based on the ANS 500.
 

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