PowerPC 970 Info Thread

G4 is just and evolution of G3. Same processor with new capabilities.
970 is a 64 bits MCU. That's quite different. Unless it includes a G4 for compatibility, G3-G4 software will need a good layer of software emulation to operate on the 970.
 
Originally posted by chevy
G4 is just and evolution of G3. Same processor with new capabilities.
970 is a 64 bits MCU. That's quite different. Unless it includes a G4 for compatibility, G3-G4 software will need a good layer of software emulation to operate on the 970.
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I've heard the PPC 970 is 100% backwards compatible with the G4. We won't know anything for sure until they've released tech docs, though.
 
Wait and see.

Will the CPU be completely compatible ?
Will the OS that exploits the CPU new capabilities be completely compatible ?

Wait and see.
 
Originally posted by chevy
G4 is just and evolution of G3. Same processor with new capabilities.
970 is a 64 bits MCU. That's quite different. Unless it includes a G4 for compatibility, G3-G4 software will need a good layer of software emulation to operate on the 970.
Click to expand...

No, they both implement the PowerPC ISA, which means that at a fundamental level they'll be exactly the same. No different than the relationship between the 8086 (16bit) and the 80386 (32bit). Don't know about AltiVec though, I don't believe its officially part of the PPC ISA. Though the 970 is supposed to have extended floating point capabilities, which sounds a lot like another way of saying AltiVec (is AltiVec tm Motorola?).

Anyway, this particular discussion is moot. That the 970 could be an all new beast is meaningless with regards to pricing. Apple is not coming out with a $5000 pc that is only marginally faster than a $2000 pc, that would be stupid and nobody will buy it. I still contend that their pricing structure will stay pretty much as is, they have no choice.
 
i agree on the pricing structure

the economy is close to a recession and the US is about to be in war as well. I would think that Apple has to negotiate a way to get 970s at the same prices as a G4. which is possible - apple helps with R&D costs or mass quantity discounts or some sort of contract deal.

i think we'll see something of the same we see now:

3000+ fastest
2500+ faster
1700+ fast
 
Originally posted by binaryDigit
...Though the 970 is supposed to have extended floating point capabilities, which sounds a lot like another way of saying AltiVec (is AltiVec tm Motorola?)...
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Yes, AltiVec is tm Motorola, which is why Apple calls it Velovity Engine, and according to IBM, the 970's "extended floating point caapabilities" are fully AltiVec compatible, meaning that software compiled to take advantage of AltiVec will also get a boost on the 970.
 
Originally posted by Ripcord
"close to" a recession?

Hasn't it been a recession for 3 years? A pretty deep one?
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I'm sure it was a typo, the correct word would be depression. As these things are usually called about 6 to 9 months after the fact, you could pretty much figure that you could remove the close to part.
 
i'm not a economic geni-ass, didn't want to officially declare it anything

but yes, a recession and a depression if you say so


which means - cutting costs (like they did to the PM line last time) and they have no reason to raise it until they know demand is up
 
BTW, the latest Pentium CPU are also lower clock speed. Officialy for lower power, you can bet it is also for lower cost !
 
"i'm not a economic geni-ass, didn't want to officially declare it anything

but yes, a recession and a depression if you say so"

Recession, maybe - depending on what definition you use. According to the most common one - two quarters of falling GDP in a row, it's not a recession. Using Actual / Potential GDP, it might be, but then it's kind of mild.

Depression? No way - not even close.

Regards / GulGnu

-Stabil som fan!
 
...will surprise us, be it a posotive or a negative surprise, when they will unveil their PowerMac line... This fall, perharps, if not at the end of this summer? :rolleyes:

I can't wait for those 970(?) based PowerMacs! :D
 
Originally posted by fryke
Just imagining an installer that asks: "Do you want to break compatibility with your printer and scanner to gain 64bit support?" :p

But... Up until now, Apple has always broke most drivers with the big updates. So: No news. We will be waiting for HP, Brother, Canon and consorts, anyway... Sure, we hope that it'll not be the case... But I'd wait for beta testers' reviews before upgrading to 10.3, anyway, even on our 'old' 32bit hardware.
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The way an IBM engineer emphasized and defended the PowerPC 970 about being able to run a 32-bit OS on it is what caught my eye and why I think 10.3 will still be 32-bit. My best guess is that Apple will do what Sun did for a while, give you a choice between 64-bit or 32-bit. With the full knowledge that they don't yet have everything at 64-bit and running a 64-bit OS takes up a little more room than 32-bits. So late August we'll see 10.3 and the new 970 based Mac and because the 1.4GHz version of the 970 only uses 10 watts, you might even see a high end powerbook in Sept. I believe the "true" 64-bit version of OS X will be 10.4 and it will probably be released in January, along with new Xserves. I don't believe the 970 will be as expensive as everyone thinks, since it'll be about the size of the current G4 chip but on a 300mm wafer being built in a new fab line right here in NY.
 
MacWhispers had an interesting rumour recently...
A source inside one of the three OEM manufacturing companies now preparing bids on producing the two next generation PowerMac motherboards offered additional information about the new boards late Thursday.

According to our source, the new motherboards are designed around the IBM PPC 970 processor, with one board being a single processor design, and the other running two processors. This source states that he has seen and inspected pre-production board samples populated with the PPC 970 chips. Additionally, the bid deadline for constructing these boards was reaffirmed as March 28th, only one-week from today.
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I hope they are right.
 
so what are the odds that these new processors will be put to use in a powerbook at the onset? does anyone know how long after the g4 was introduced that they stuck one in a powerbook?
 
Originally posted by cf25
so what are the odds that these new processors will be put to use in a powerbook at the onset? does anyone know how long after the g4 was introduced that they stuck one in a powerbook?
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It was about a year and a half. Since cpu oomph isn't as important on the laptop front (i.e. they seem to be pushing them out the door just fine right now) so I would doubt that they would put a 970 in one right away. I assume that most of the r&d is going into sprucing up the towers since they are suffering the most because of the whole performance issue (that and everyone is sitting around waiting for these new machines to come out).
 
If speed is related to faster and parallel memory, room will be a challenge. Therefore it may be ok in a 17" PB, but not in a 12" !
 
Macworld.com is talking about IBM manufacturing Nvidia chips soon. I was wondering if there might be some tie-in with the IBM 970 and future Nvidia chips that would benefit us Mac users.

I'm just optimistically thinking maybe IBM would develop some kind of integrated CPU/graphics chip or tandem cooperative thing that would be extra-optimized. I don't know what I'm talking about, just tossing it out there as something of minor interest.
 
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