what about IBM making cpu's?

C

couch potato

Registered
well, first off, hey all. im new.


anyway, i was reading a while back in macaddict i think something about IBM making cpu's that go up to 1.8 ghz? sorry if someone already posted about this, but does someone else know what im talking about? thanks :)
 
Hi Couch Potato, welcome to MacOSX.com.

This has actually been about what about 25% of all messages in the News and Rumors board has been about over the past few months. Just look for anything about the IBM PPC 970.

I won't waste any more space or time by trying to repeat or summarize what the other threads have said, there's a LOT of it.

Rip
 
I am looking forward to even faster processors. Knowing Apple, they will be working on the next generation high performance computers for their faithful Mac Users. Just a matter of time when they release the news. We are due for a G5 update, but the slowed economy is preventing things from happening. The only consolation is that Apple is still making a small profit to sustain. So the whole laying off of staff and change in retail strategy is helping them stay afloat.

With news like these, Apple will have the financial capabilities to sustain the R&D dept to pour out more higher performance computers.
 
Originally posted by plastic
We are due for a G5 update, but the slowed economy is preventing things from happening. The only consolation is that Apple is still making a small profit to sustain. So the whole laying off of staff and change in retail strategy is helping them stay afloat.

With news like these, Apple will have the financial capabilities to sustain the R&D dept to pour out more higher performance computers.
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Yet they have enough to buy universal music :p
 
We are due for a G5 update, but the slowed economy is preventing things from happening.
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The slowed tech sector has actually benefitted Apple in quite a few ways. It has, however, no bearing on when/if the mythical "G5" appears.

The reasons behind the G5 having not materialized yet rest solely on the head of Motorola. Motorola had the G5 on the PPC roadmap. They had the designs drawn up, and from what I've read, had prototypes produced for internal testing. However, due to Motorola's concentration on embedded systems, it let the desktop version of the chip die on the vine. Apparently, there is much speculation about Apple possibly even suing Motorola over this issue, since Motorola, per the contract, was required to give Apple a years notice before ceasing production. This obviously didn't happen.

We can keep speculating (heck, even the Register today is reviving the Apple/AMD theories) on Apple's G5/next gen CPU til we're blue in the face. Luckily, we should know where Apple is at least headed by WWDC in June. Realistically, Apple has 2 options - the IBM 970, which is the logical choice, or a move to x86 (either AMD or Intel), which just isn't likely in the current environment.

Whichever road is chosen, we should find out in June.
 
Originally posted by serpicolugnut
...
The reasons behind the G5 having not materialized yet rest solely on the head of Motorola. Motorola had the G5 on the PPC roadmap. They had the designs drawn up, and from what I've read, had prototypes produced for internal testing. However, due to Motorola's concentration on embedded systems, it let the desktop version of the chip die on the vine. Apparently, there is much speculation about Apple possibly even suing Motorola over this issue, since Motorola, per the contract, was required to give Apple a years notice before ceasing production. This obviously didn't happen.
...
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One has to wonder how much of Motorola knowing about the 970 affected their behaviour on the G5. Motorola hasen't had their heart in the desktop cpu market for a while, and they might have seen the 970 as a good time to get out. I'm sure they'll be happy to continue to fab G4's, but they don't want the added expense of designing new cpus that have to fight with x86 and even IBM. Depending on what process is used with the 970, Mot might even fab them, taking a second source role, generating revenue, keeping the fabs busy but again without R&D costs.

As for their "one year notice" contract. Could be that Mot will argue that since they never actually put it into production, that there was no production to cease, thereby not running afoul of the contract (pure speculation of course since I've not actually read the contract, or be likely to understand it even if I did).
 
I doubt Moto would fab the 970's. The main problem with the G4 is Motos pathetic fabrication plants. Ever since the G4 debuted, they have had horrible problems with getting good yields of the higher clock speed CPUs. Remember when the G4 debuted at 400/450/500mhz? Moto couldn't get sufficient 500mhz chips for nearly 6 months after the launch. Then the G4 hovered at 500mhz for almost a year, again, due to Motos lackluster fabrication plants. During this span, the IBM G3 chips had passed the G4 in mhz, but Apple couldn't go back to the G3 for the pro line after it had touted Altivec so highly...
 
One has to wonder how much of Motorola knowing about the 970 affected their behaviour on the G5. Motorola hasen't had their heart in the desktop cpu market for a while, and they might have seen the 970 as a good time to get out.
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I believe the timings don't match. The G5 was on the roadmap back in 1998. It was produced in test quantities in 2001. It was supposed to be delivered in mid 2002....

The IBM 970 wasn't even rumored until early 2002, and IBM didn't release any specs until mid way through 2002. Thanks to it's lineage from the Power4, it's a chip that's been fastracked to market.

Motorola has not had their heart in the desktop CPU business since Apple killed the clone program, of which Motorola was a licensee. I'm not saying that's the only reason, but it factors in to the decision. The main reason is economics. Motorola makes about 95% of their CPU income on embedded CPU systems. That number could even be higher now. The desktop CPU market has been more of a nuisance for them than a profitable business, so in some ways, their actions are justified.

The IBM 970 was conceived, designed and created for the workstation market. IBM knew that Moto was pulling out of the desktop market, and saw a opportunity to fill a void. The 970 also gives IBM a way to take the ultra expensive and powerful Power4, scale it down, reconfigure it, and sell it as a desktop chip (970). It was just a natural extension of maximizing their R&D invesment of the PowerX Server series.
 
Well one question thats botherin me is who is making the current 900 Mhz G3's for the iBook? It would be good to hear if its IBM, and it definitely looks like we're getting 64-128 bit microprocessors in our computers this summer
 
Well one question thats botherin me is who is making the current 900 Mhz G3's for the iBook? It would be good to hear if its IBM, and it definitely looks like we're getting 64-128 bit microprocessors in our computers this summer
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I believe it's the IBM "Sahara" chip.
 
Erhm... It's been a fact that Apple is using IBM's PowerPC 750FX in the latest iBooks since the 700 MHz version. So the 900 MHz version should be the same Sahara processor. Higher frequencies are achieved in the later projects which are not as of yet used in desktop or notebook computers.
 
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