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[Web] IBM PowerPC BladeANN.lu
Posted on 28-Feb-2003 02:19 GMT by Hagge12 comments
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IBM has released some information about the new IBM PowerPC Blade. The text mentions 1.8-2.5GHz PPC 970 cpues and also mentions AltiVec, so I guess that solves the old "what kind of instructions will it support"-issue. But maybe that one has been solved since a long time ago? This is also discussed at slashdot.
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 1 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by tarbos on 28-Feb-2003 02:21 GMT
Indeed the altivec-or-not issue was officially resolved back in December:
http://www-3.ibm.com/chips/products/powerpc/newsletter/dec2002/newproductfocus2.html
The new frequency range of PPC970 either hints at IBM being overly conservative
with their earlier numbers (despite the long pipelines) or they keep the 1.8-2.5
GHz CPUs for themselves and only ship 1.4-1.8 GHz PPC to other parties this year.
:-)
An obstacle for a quick launch of this most interesting processor could be the
availability of a taylored northbridge (if IBM don´t do it themselves for a
broad Linux/desktop campaign) with an adequate RAM bandwidth for 1/2 core
clock FSB (dual channel? DDR2?) and the challenge of a usable stable and optimized GCC version.
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 2 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by Atheist2 on 28-Feb-2003 06:34 GMT
You think you're sick and tired of your favourite company and mine, making and unfortunately breaking announcements. I'm sick of moto and IBM announcing stuff that is

1) Unavailable - they've been talking about it for almost a year
2) No set date - or am I wrong
3) TOOOOOO expensive - for sure
AND
4) Unusable!!! - Articia "?" when?

What's THEIR excuse? They're multi-billion dollar companies.

Amiga! Don't point fingers.
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 3 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by Denis Troller on 28-Feb-2003 06:40 GMT
In reply to Comment 1 (tarbos):
I thought the new PPC were supposed to use the new architecture with a northbridge included on chip ? (don't remember the name of this technology, but it seemed to be the "next great thing" about microprocessors when I read about it, and not only for PPC, but for x86 too).

Well, IIRC, it was about Motorola's G5, not IBM 970, but ...
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 4 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 28-Feb-2003 07:40 GMT
In reply to Comment 2 (Atheist2):
You are talking about the A1? ;-)
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 5 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by priest on 28-Feb-2003 07:45 GMT
In reply to Comment 2 (Atheist2):
1) Since October last year, so not "almost a year"...
2) I did not find date, but I remember reading that they aim at 2H 2003.
3) Most likely not more expensive as other high end PPC CPUs.
4) I think it's anyway better than be stuck in G4 generation @ 1.3Ghz forever.

Btw... IBM is now talking also about Power5 and it's multithreading desktop variant...

Will PPC970 have hyperthreading/multithreading?
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 6 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by Atheist2 on 28-Feb-2003 07:51 GMT
In reply to Comment 4 (Anonymous):
Ouch! I should have read my post....

Amiga! ???????
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 7 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by Graham on 28-Feb-2003 13:06 GMT
In reply to Comment 5 (priest):
POWER5 will emerge eventually in the low end as the PowerPC 980.
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 8 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 28-Feb-2003 16:37 GMT
In reply to Comment 2 (Atheist2):
>1) Unavailable - they've been talking about it for almost a year

Half a year maybe. Do you know how long they talked about AMD Hammer??
Or Merced/IA-64 and it´s still not implemented into desktop PCs.

>2) No set date - or am I wrong

2H 2003 with samples in 2Q 2003 iirc.

>3) TOOOOOO expensive - for sure

Why? Afair IBM manufactured cheapo CPUs before - Cyrix/M2.
PPC970 shouldn´t be so much more expensive to make than e.g. P4.

>AND
>4) Unusable!!! - Articia "?" when?

How will IBM use them?
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 9 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 28-Feb-2003 16:40 GMT
In reply to Comment 5 (priest):
>Will PPC970 have hyperthreading/multithreading?

No.
Hey that would be something for Shawn, _real_ simultaneous multitasking inside
the CPU and no faked timeslicing method! ;-)
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 10 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by Anonymous on 28-Feb-2003 16:52 GMT
In reply to Comment 3 (Denis Troller):
>I thought the new PPC were supposed to use the new architecture with a
>northbridge included on chip ?

No, the PPC970 is basically a regular Power4 spinoff with addition of altivec.
AMD Hammer has a memory controller onchip, so does Power5 and Motorola G5 (rumored) and maybe the next G4 with DDR and RapidIO (if there will be one).
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 11 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by Anony on 01-Mar-2003 21:58 GMT
Imagine a Bewoulf Cluster of these running Amiga OS v5 on them. Yeah AI is making it though some people are trying to upgrade AROS and PegaOS to work too!
IBM PowerPC Blade : Comment 12 of 12ANN.lu
Posted by phillip on 04-Mar-2003 12:37 GMT
In reply to Comment 8 (Anonymous):
Well IBM said it would actually be cheaper than G3 to manufacture due
to its smaller size.
They also hint at a downsized version of their Power5 to be used in Desktop.

What I still haven't seen or heard of is a machine, linux, pegasos or anything else being actually tested with it.
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