The Future of Processors for Apple

Stridder44

Universal Traveler
From Macrumors.com:


"The following information is from an unconfirmed and anonymous source. As such, authenticity is always uncertain, but due to the content of the piece, was felt to be of sufficient interest for publishing. Of interest, MacBidouille has posted similar (but fewer) details in their unconfirmed rumors of the PPC's timeline. This information below may represent corroboration -- or simply a common source. Take, as with all rumors, with an appropriate amount of skepticism.

Apple and IBM have been working on parallel development of the Power5 and PPC 980. The PPC 980 is a single core version of the Power 5. While prototype forms of this chip exist, it is almost a year away from shipping in Macs.

Improvements in the PPC 980 include Hyperthreading, eLiza error correction, and more massive parallelism. IBM's implementation of hyperthreading provides a 30% gain over Intel's. eLiza technology will reduce the bottlenecks when the branch prediction unit fails. Altivec will split into 3 pipelines (vs 2 in the 970), 4 Integer and 4 Floating point units. 980 will have to be built on a 90nm processor due to heat dissipation requirements.

Steve's comment of 3GHz in 1 year will not be accomplished with the G5 (970) - which will top out at 2.6-2.8GHz. The PPC 980 will start at speeds of 2.6-3GHz and top out around 4.5-5GHz. The G5 will make its way into PowerBook lines in Jan/Feb, Xserve's later this year, and iMacs in approximately one year.

Marklar's project size has decreased, but remains ongoing. There are four generations of the PowerPC including and beyond the 970 that are in development and planning. Besides the 980 chips (targetted at end of 2004), there are plans for 990 chips on a 65nm process in 2005/2006 @ 6GHz and scaling up to near 10GHz. Beyond this, the PPC 9900 starting on a 45nm process is targetted in 2007/2008 running up to 20-25GHz."
 
20-25 GHz!!!!!! Holy crap! Can they achive that much of a leap in just about 4/5 years?? I know this may all just be baloney, but it's still interesting:D
 
Yes, that seems realistic. Look at how speeds are booming. The speed increase accellerates for each year that passes.
I'm just happy about that "G5 in PowerBooks in january/february" comment, at least that means that if I buy a PowerBook in August it won't be obsolete right away...
 
I'm still waiting on Quantum computing. Yeah, I just used that word to sound cool, I haven't the slightest clue what I'm talking about :p

CPU cooling technology has to keep up with the pregression of CPU speed. We have a number of good solutions out there now: water cooling, heat pipe, heck I even saw images of a submersible motherboard.
 
The G5 will make its way into PowerBook lines in Jan/Feb
If true, could the announcement come in Paris or is that too soon. I'd jump at the first hint of a G5 PB (aside from the dodgy ebay offers). The G5 towers sound great, but I love the portability factors.
 
I want to buy a PowerBook soon but I'd like to get the G5 version. My dilemma is that what if they won't come out on til summer 2004 or later then I'd buy one now, but i don't want to get a G4 now and then there will be a G5 version in January, I can hold off til january...
What should I do....


Viktor
 
I think Apple knows that the G5 Powerbooks will be a huge seller...everyone seems to want one or want to wait for one! But I can't blame them!
 
OK.... i dont have proof on this but it was a while ago that i saw it.

Now that we bring up those speeds, a few years ago i saw a video documentary regarding nanoprocessors that would eventually be used in personal computers. according to that documentary it also stated that 2006 2007 was the year that many manufacturers would take on the new form of processing. apparantly it worked in a similar phisical way the human brain computes electrical currents from point A to point B, It was also said that they would enter arount the 20 to 25 Ghz speeds.

LOL, I know thats way out there but ill see if i can find somthing on it. But for now, dont take this seriously - unless somone else has heard of this......

cheers..



EDIT>>>



http://glendhu.com/ai/nanoprocessors/

 
Originally posted by iMan
I want to buy a PowerBook soon but I'd like to get the G5 version. My dilemma is that what if they won't come out on til summer 2004 or later then I'd buy one now, but i don't want to get a G4 now and then there will be a G5 version in January, I can hold off til january...
What should I do....


Viktor

Get the G4 PowerBook NOW! It rocks! I know! I have one! A TiBook 15"/1GHz/DVD-R... It's sweet and it can do EVERYTHING easily! Well, not so easy compared to a G5 but still... :rolleyes:

In general the future is too variable! I want the Dual G5/2GHz and I want it yesterday! :p :D
 
Yeah, but if it's going to be a couple of months, I'd take a few cold showers til then in order to get my hands wrapped around a G5 PB. Mommy stop me. :D
 
I had the thought that they'd be developing the PPC980 along side the Power5 as well. It makes complete economical sense.

Apple had IBM "convert" the Power4 because it was already developed, but there's no reason to wait till the Power5 is done and then convert it to a 980.

With IBM at the helm of future PPC development for the Mac, those speeds sound somewhat reasonable. If it were Motorola, I'd say "fat chance in hell!" ;)
 
Back
Top