Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

PowerPC 970 up to 2.5GHz?

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,145
38,923
This IBM press release on their new PowerPC Blade servers reveals details on upcoming PowerPC 970 processors.


The new IBM PowerPC 970 is the heart of the PowerPC Blade. It is based on the 64-Bit Power 4 architecture which is also used in the processors of the IBM eServer pSeries. The 64-bit microprozessor

Offers full symmetrical multi-processing
Has a high reliability (with parity L1, ECC L2 and parity checked system bus)
Is manufactured in the latest 0,13 micrometer Copper/SOI CMOS technology
Runs at frequences ranging from 1.8 GHz - 2.5 Ghz

Therefore the IBMPowerPC 970 is the fastest PowerPC so far.
Click to expand...

The IBM PowerPC 970 was originally detailed to start at a speed of 1.4 to 1.8GHz. No timeframe is provided for the delivery of these speeds (1.8GHz-2.5GHz)
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2003/02/27/powerpc-970-up-to-2-5ghz/
Boy, would that be some good news. It would remove a big perception gap out there, and I bet with Apple's engineering of the new 64 bit motherboard and OS, the effective speed would make it the fastest computer on the market.
 
I'll have you all know that when the 970 was announced, I believed it would debut at speeds higher than those announced.

Let's hope we Apple folk get some trickle down, quick.
 
The good thing about another vendor using the same processor as Apple is that if Apple doesn't use the best available, we all will know it (unless the other vendor holds back as well).
ie. IBM G3
 
Boooyah !

If that CPU is anything it's hyped up to be, AND if it is running at those frequencies, wow that is pretty good news for the Apple community. So so sweet.

Last question: when are we gonna see those babies in a mac???

NicoMan
 
If I recall correctly, IBM at MPF 2002 said that the clockspeed announced there (1.8Ghz) was a conservative estimate.

Seems it was very conservative.

Bring on a 2Ghz 17" Powerbook!
 
2.5 GHZ nice.

Okay IBM you have the hype around the chip. Time to realease it. :D
Giving all the specs of a chip is very un-PowerPC like.

I like to here the news like that but can someone please give me the chip already? :rolleyes:

If the 1.8 chip is fall(2003)-2004. The 2.5 chips well be (...?) well into 2004-and 2005.

Ech... :(

This chip NEEDS to be put out now.

Edit: it seems I was unclear about the 1.8 chip, sorry.
 
Originally posted by MrMacman
If the 1.8 chip is fall-2004. The 2.5 chips well be (...?) well into 2004-and 2005.

Ech... :(

This chip NEEDS to be put out now.
Click to expand...

Ummm ... the 1.8 chip is supposed to be fall-2003 to Q1 2004, and that date estimate seems to be moving more towards Fall 2003.

If IBM is claiming the 970 in their soon-to-debut PowerPC Blade servers runs up to 2.5GHz, then you can expect that at most there will be a 3-month delay between general introduction and 2.5GHz parts being available. IBM tends to not play games with press releases.

Therefore, assuming that this press release was not a typo, we can expect 2.5GHz parts no later than this time next year (March 2004).

If the 1.8GHz part gets the estimated SPEC scores, the 2.5GHz part should get approximately (although not exactly) 40% higher scores. This is some very good news. If nothing else, IBM's blade servers should be selling like hotcakes!
 
what if....

OMG.....

Can anybody imagine what will happen if Apple weren't to use these procs????? The hype (we all made) around the PPC 970 is so huge....
 
Very cool.

I would finally be able to put my goodol' DEC XP1000 to rest, and do serious number-crunching on my desktop OSX!

Wish they come up with cooler (underclocked?) version. I would put one in my Cube.
 
I hadn't said anything, but had been told that the initial clock speeds would be higher. I'm glad to see it was true here. When IBM switches over to .09 micron we should se a greater increase.

The thing to wonder is how much do these puppies draw? The 1.2 GHZ chip was at 19 watts. Wonder if IBM drove down some of the others or not. It'd certainly be nice to have a 1.8 or even 2 GHZ chip in a Powerbook. That would throw a definite advantage in speed to the Mac.

Actually, 2.5 GHZ may favor the Mac with the architecture of the 970. The only thing superior is the multi-threading found in Intel's high end P4s. Interesting.
 
and ...

Further technical highlights of the PowerPC 970:

· Onchip 512 KB L2 Cache
· Altivec ™ Vector/SIMD unit
· 6,4 GB/s I/O system bus throughput
 
Nice, now deliver them Apple!

Damn, that would be a nice machine in dual or possibly more cpu cores. :D

That's the order of magnitude processing power that I've waiting for.

D
 
YEAH!!! ***** YEAH!!!!

This is what we needed. A miracle! The 2.5GHz PPC970, if used by Apple (which I am pretty sure they will) will show up any, and I mean any pentium system. Go Apple!!!

This is gonna rock...

But I'm going ot have to change my user name...
 
Apple can innovate all they like (an innovate they do - like no other company I've seen!) but this is what they really need - SPEEED!!!!

Apple have everthing else in place. When these processors arrive, they will be the industry leader on ALL counts!

I can't wait! :D


-
After reading MacRumors for almost 2 years now, I thought I'd finally register! So, here's a big hello to all! :)
 
When will they be in the machines you think?

I am looking to get a new PowerBook in about 2 - 3 months, obviously these processors or any fast processors will not be in the powerbooks but would you say it is better to wait a while. Until something better/cheaper comes out? Like I said it will be 3 months from now so??
 
Originally posted by Mr. MacPhisto
I hadn't said anything, but had been told that the initial clock speeds would be higher. I'm glad to see it was true here. When IBM switches over to .09 micron we should se a greater increase.

The thing to wonder is how much do these puppies draw? The 1.2 GHZ chip was at 19 watts. Wonder if IBM drove down some of the others or not. It'd certainly be nice to have a 1.8 or even 2 GHZ chip in a Powerbook. That would throw a definite advantage in speed to the Mac.

Actually, 2.5 GHZ may favor the Mac with the architecture of the 970. The only thing superior is the multi-threading found in Intel's high end P4s. Interesting.
Click to expand...
This is great news, I think this chip has apple written all over it. the 1.8 ghz was pulling 40 watts if im not mistaken. Now the question is how soon for apple to use these and it what products? I would love a shocker this summer like apple saying its moved all the new architecture machines to a 970 in one giant swoop. 1.2 in the the imac/powerbooks and 1.4- 2.0 in the powermacs. Any chance of this becoming a reality this year?
 
Re: what if....

Originally posted by MacsRgr8
OMG.....

Can anybody imagine what will happen if Apple weren't to use these procs????? The hype (we all made) around the PPC 970 is so huge....
Click to expand...


That's what I'm starting to think about. I hate to be a pessimist or a curmudgen, but the 970 rumors have been floating around on the rumors beach like some dead seaweed, and its starting to have a distinct odor of decay.

Yeah, I know that things take time to develop, but supposedly, the IBM project had been hush-hush working on things all through 2002 (at least). I'm beginning to be very much inclined to say "enough with the R&D, where's the product roll-out?"

Say what we want about product rolloouts that are logical with IBM's new fab plant and so forth, but the sad reality is that Apple probably needs to announce the 970 no later than July, or else they'll miss the time window in which the Educational Market finalizes their 03/04 school year purchase plans, etc. Otherwise, they miss the budget window of this customer.

FWIW, I just went through this last fall with a piece of test equipment. We knew the manufacturer had a new/better model coming "any day now", but our money was going to go belly-up, so we had to make a decision...


-hh
 
Originally posted by G4scott
YEAH!!! ***** YEAH!!!!

This is what we needed. A miracle! The 2.5GHz PPC970, if used by Apple (which I am pretty sure they will) will show up any, and I mean any pentium system. Go Apple!!!

This is gonna rock...

But I'm going ot have to change my user name...
Click to expand...
There is no miracle here. It is simply quality engineering by a reputable company.
 
I wonder if the architecture changes made in the powerbooks/xserve/powerrmac and 1 gig imac were prepping those machines for this cpu? any comments? Also here is a chip that is allready scaling up and will so even more with smaller process. Yet you look at motorola and what they have done and you have to wonder?Maybe they really never did care for the chip they were making for Mac.
 
It's intersting to note... that these CPU's will be shipping around the same time the 17" Powerbooks do... Now if we only knew when that was... :rolleyes:

2.5GHz would be amazing, but with the full symmetrical multi-processing you have to wonder if they'll be doing dual systems.
drool....
 
When will this happen?

Hey guys. I'm new to the forum, but I have been lurking for a while due to my interest in macs. I have considered getting a mac for quite a while, but the cpu/speed issue has held me back. IMO, macs need these chips now! If macs get a 2.5 ghz chip in 2004, so what? Macs will be in the same boat as they are now. The P4s will probably be clocking at 4-4.5 ghz. 2.5 ghz with a development path that is at least at parity with AMD and Intel would be good NOW, not next year.

Still, I like macs. I think they are pretty cool. I want macs to do well. I want there to be at least some competition for M$. We need it. I would love to see Macs trounce any PC they go up against in terms of performance no matter who does the testing. For macs to compete, we need action, not anticipation and waiting around.

I dont want to be a stick in the mud with this post, but I just really would like to see these chips in Macs NOW.
 
If IBM were to release a 2.0 Ghz chip in July, then would Apple actually use it, or move up slowly to 2.0Ghz? I am not so sure Apple would use the highest speed chips?

What do you guys think?
 
Welcome Stormcrow! The 970 is 64-bit, so it should have no trouble outperforming a P4 running at double the clockspeed. The P4 is not as fast as the MHz numbers would indicate; they just have a really, really long prefetch queue. This has already been discussed at length in many other threads on this site.

It is still an open question whether Apple will use the chip at all. To say the chip "has Apple written all over it" is a bit hubristic. We are hopeful, however.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back