Chip Performance & Information

G5 Production Problems - Irrelevant - The real issue is broadening Apple's market for pro machines. The groundwork is set with the G5, servers and the Unix underpinnings of OS-X. So why the lackluster sales? "Its the economy stupid". This is a push into the enterprise in a tough time. HP and Compaq have consolidated while Dell has hunkered down and Gateway is in a death spiral. Science and higher education are a small market, but yield some great press for Apple. Cluster sales are great, but a G5 iMac that could sell to the enterprise market would be better

IBM positive on IC yields, foundry demand - Apple Computer Inc. has recently complained that it is unable to obtain enough processors from foundry partner IBM, reportedly due to yields, analysts said. IBM is currently making several processors for Apple, including the G5, a 90-nm design for 64-bit computing applications.IBM's chip yields "are not quite where we would like them to be," said John Kelly III, senior vice president and group executive of IBM's Systems and Technology Group. "Lately, our defect densities have improved quite rapidly. We expect to do a better job to meet the demand of our customers,"

Intel's New Chips De-Emphasize Clock Speed - The world's largest chipmaker introduced Pentium M processors for laptops that it will market with a new numbering scheme--735, 745, and 755 model numbers--instead of according to the chips' frequency ratings or clock speeds. The shift is meant to convey to consumers and business PC buyers that Intel's newest products can deliver benefits such as additional memory or security features that aren't reflected in clock speed

Compilers create top PowerPC benchmarks - Freescale Semiconductor has used Green Hills Software's Multi C/C++ compilers to achieve record-setting performance on benchmarks recently certified by EEMBC Certification Laboratories

Analyst: Apple will have "a lot of say" in G5 Chip Development - It's reasonable to assume that Apple will have some input into the derivatives of the Power4 and Power5, particularly as low-power version are critical to Apple's future portable model lines, as well as XServe.

Speed Bump - While Moore's Law Isn't About to be Repealed Soon, We Might See It Slowing Down a Little - The only certainty in the computer industry for the last 30 years has been Moore's Law, which says that computing power doubles every 18 months. From time to time, it looks like Gordon Moore is going to be repealed by some technical limitation, then clever engineers think of a dodge, and we're safe for a few more years. While Moore's Law probably won't go on forever, we are certainly safe through at least the end of this decade

BusinessWeek Says IBM's Chip Problems May Be Over Soon - We agree with the analysts in the article; Apple and IBM are a good team, and if anyone can solve the problems that plague chip production, IBM can.That said, it is nonetheless frustrating, and at the same time heartening, to learn that the upgrade path for processors from IBM include some really big speed improvements over today's G

Apple's Chip Pain Will Ease -- Later - These days, IBM is the goat, as Apple clearly indicated in its Apr. 14 conference call. It's counting heavily on Big Blue for rapid improvements to G5 chips that could drive sales of the high-end PowerMac line. So IBM's troubles at Fishkill could hit Apple's bottom line hard because the high-range Macs are disproportionately profitable

To 3.6 GHz and Beyond: Why the New Pentium 4 Is a Yawner for Mac Users - Remember how long Macs were stuck at 500 MHz -- and how long the G5 has been stuck at 2.0 GHz? How doessixteen months with virtually no forward progress in CPU speed grab you? That's what Intel has been suffering through

Intel to launch 3.6GHz P4 in June - Intel Desktop Roadmap Intel will launch Its 'Grantsdale' and 'Alderwood' Pentium 4 chipsets during the fourth week of June, with an official announcement to that effect likely to be made at Computex Taiwan earlier that month, OEM sources have claimed.

Some new Motorola processors? - There is a 1.5 GHz chip. And also a 1.42 one.If Apple keep shipping its laptops with G4, no doubt those CPUs will be inside the new Powerbooks.

IBM confirms PowerPC G5 CPU yield problems - 'We do see demand, but we need to make the products,' Joyce said. 'We need to improve our yields in our 300-mm plant. Our yields did see some improvement, but not as fast (as the company had hoped).'"

IBM sells off low-end PowerPC chips - The deal, announced last night, focuses on three low-end (133-400MHz) parts pitched at embedded applications, the 400 series and the 440 family, amounting to some eight 32-bit CPUs in total. Some have on-chip SDRAM, others have built-in Ethernet controllers. All consume no more than 2W and in many cases a lot less than that

Intel launches Bulverde, Marathon - Bulverde will initially ship with a clock frequency of 312MHz, but the platform scales to 624MHz. With the current PXA255 chip already available at 400MHz, the PXA270's speed may disappoint some observers, but Intel is touting the superior performance the new processor offers through its improved architecture rather than raw clock speed

IBM takes Power chips onto the open road - By embracing this approach, IBM hopes to make its Power line of processors pervasive because it will allow a whole ecosystem of Power-related hardware and software to emerge in a way that has hitherto not been possible as IBM and Motorola have controlled the Power architecture

Processors: The Road To Tomorrow - Apple and IBM are playing their dual G5 plans close to the vest. Speculation is, however, that they will move to a 90-nanometer (90-nm) process and possibly a dual-core design

A developer's guide to the PowerPC architecture - The PowerPC architecture is broken up into three levels, or "books." By segmenting the architecture in this way, code compatibility can be maintained across implementations while leaving room for implementations to choose levels of complexity for price/performances trade-offs.

IBM Opens Its Power Line To A Future Of Customizable Processors - IBM today also demonstrated its POWER5 microprocessor, which has the ability to run different operating systems in so-called "virtual micropartitions."

IBM Unwraps New Power Processor Strategy - IBM on Wednesday said it plans to embark on a new "open collaboration" model for its Power processor architecture and create an ecosystem of developers, ISVs, solution providers and other partners that could resemble the company's efforts with Java and Linux.

Good Riddance, Gigahertz  - When Intel said last week that it plans to stop using gigahertz figures to market its microprocessors, analysts said it was about time. A chip's clock speed is almost irrelevant in determining the overall performance of a computer

Chip cooling technology struck by lightning - Finding new ways to dissipate the heat chips generate is one of the major challenges facing system designers. Water is a more efficient coolant than air, but has some rather obvious drawbacks.Now, a team at Purdue University in Indiana, funded by the US National Science Foundation, has developed an air-based technique that, at 40W/cm2 has a cooling rate comparable to that of water

Cutting-edge chips to transform computing - Specialized computers used largely in the corporate and scientific worlds have long boasted data-processing capabilities desktop machines can't match. Now that's about to change, some experts say, because of readily available processors from Advanced Micro Devices and IBM, the supplier for Apple Computer's new Power Mac G5 machines

IBM CPU sales rocket… - Intel took a whopping 80 per cent of the world microprocessor market last year, according to figures released by market watcher IC Insights.But while the chip giant unsurprisingly maintained its dominance of the market, IBM demonstrated the fastest growth, growing 160 per cent in 2003.

At the very least, Pentium 4 3.4 GHz generates impressive yawns/sec - We'll all recall that the 3.2 GHz Prescott was a snoozer. When it was released, it looked as though Intel had prematurely open the gates on its 90 nanometer treat, inasmuch as the CPU failed to perform strongly at the internal clockspeed of 3.2 GHz as compared to Intel's other offerings

IBM to charge up Power at chip event - IBM is planning to unfold the road map for its Power processor, the first public update in some time. The company's chip group, responsible for IBM PowerPC and Power server processors, has scheduled a March 31 event at the posh W Hotel in Manhattan to discuss the chips

Intel 'to adopt performance ratings' - Intel appears to have conceded at last that a processor's clock frequency isn't the be-all and end-all of chip performance. It is to begin adding performance ratings to its processors, the better to distinguish one model from another

Intel gives up the gigahertz - A new numbering system for Pentium and Celeron processors will abandon Intel's focus on clock speeds Intel plans to assign a new numbering system to its Pentium and Celeron processors in order to better illustrate their performance to consumers

Hot chips getting cooler - FASTER, cooler and more power-efficient chips are on the way for Apple Macs, and some are already being delivered. Stand by for some exciting announcements in the next few months, with both desktop and portable Macs getting a healthy new turn of speed

Motorola PowerPC Processor Delivers New Power Mgmt Features - System developers can rev up the performance of their embedded applications while staying within tight power budgets by using the MPC7447A processor from Motorola Inc. This high-performance, power-efficient 32-bit RISC device, operating in excess of 1.4GHz, is the latest and fastest member of the MPC74xx PowerPC processor family

Intel's gamble on high-speed computer chip not paying off - In its biggest strategic mistake in a decade, Intel has spent an estimated $2 billion creating a high-speed computer chip, the Itanium, that most customers don't want and don't need

Motorola: 1.4 GHz PowerPC processor consumes less than 20W - Motorola announced the MPC7447A processor. This high-performance, power-efficient 32-bit RISC device, operating in excess of 1.4 GHz, is the latest and fastest member of the MPC74xx PowerPC processor family. Th

Motorola Rolls Out New PowerPC G4 with Power-Saving Feature - Though initial samples have been clocked at 1.42 GHz, Motorola officials said the processor will reach 1.5GHz

Intel sneaks out 2.4GHz Prescott - That the company is offering a 2.4GHz part should come as no surprise. Clearly it is pumping out Prescotts that can't operate at 2.8GHz or above, so it may as well offer the CPU at a lower speed if it can. How

HyperWhat? Standards Path Is Set For The G6 - While it may sound like something from the Jetsons, HyperTransport is here today and here to stay. Long ago it was just a rumor on so many rumors sites of a proposed upgrade for Apple technology. Today now we recognize that it was HyperTransport technology that enabled IBM to build its vastly superior G5 with the kind of front side bus speeds that it has of 800 MHz and higher

On Intel v AMD, Intel v Mac, Intel v 90nm - In "Pentium 4 overkill - trio of chips compared", it is too bad that Anand did not do some more low level benchmarks as opposed to application benchmarks because his overall statement that the Prescott scales better than the Northwood is unjustified without it. What he really proved was at 3.2 GHz the Northwood design, even when coupled with the latest in memory technology, is really cache starved

IBM shows Itanic love with Power4 benchmark - It's easy to forget that IBM sells Itanium-based servers. The company has called Intel's chip a science project and tends to hide Itanic gear on its Web site. (Funny thing is that Intel has started hiding the Itanic too.)

IBM reveals chip process trinity - PowerPC 970FX chip can be used in PCs, laptops and networking equipment - Apple will be the first customer for the new chip. IBM and Apple confirmed that the XServe G5, announced in January at MacWorld, will use the 970FX. Apple will probably adopt the chip for a new series of PowerMac desktops to be released later this year.

IBM powers up 90-nanometre process - IBM has begun to produce PowerPC chips using a new manufacturing process that promises to improve their speed and energy efficiency. The tech giant plans to announce on Friday that it has started mass production of PowerPCs on the 90-nanometre process, which refers to the average feature size on the chips. (A nanometre is a billionth of a meter.) The PowerPC 970FX, which is used inside IBM's blade servers and Apple Computer's Xserve G5 server, is the first processor to be made with this manufacturing method

IBM Says New Chip-Making Method Boosts Performance - IBM, based in Armonk, New York, said that it was using the method, which combines three existing technologies used in chip manufacturing, to build its PowerPC 970FX microprocessor

Apple, IBM new G5 'best desktop processor' - IBM's PowerPC 970FX – the processor used in new Xserves from Apple – has been declared "the best desktop processor of 2003" by the industry's leading microprocessor title

IBM 90nm G5 chip to 'outrun' Prescott, Athlon 64 - IBM's technically as yet unannounced PowerPC 970FX has won the Microprocessor Report Analysts' Choice Award for Best Desktop Processor. And according to MR editor-in-chief Peter Glaskowsky, Intel and AMD had better watch out

Prescott's performance dictated by cash, not cache - Over the years, the Pentium name has been associated with a bewildering array of extensions. Who now remembers the Pentium Overdrive? The Pentium Pro? The Pentium II PE? But if there's anything more confusing than a random name change driven by inscrutable marketing departments, it's no name change at all when something big is happening. Intel has just brought forth the biggest technological upgrade for five years, with the 90nm Prescott finally appearing to take the place of the 130nm Northwood Pentium. Here's how to tell them apart: pay attention

First 65nm IBM PowerPC chip to be dual-core - IBM's first dual-core G5-class processor will be the PowerPC 976. It will also be the first PowerPC fabbed using a 65nm process. So claims web site TeamXbox following up on a San Jose Mercury story presenting leaked Xbox 2 specifications.

IBM claims massive power cut for 90nm G5 - While Intel continues to have problems with the power consumed by its 90nm 'Prescott' processor - 100W at around 3.2GHz - IBM's own documentation claims the 90nm 970 eats 24.5W at 2GHz. By comparison, the 130nm 970, currently used by Apple in its Power Mac G5 desktop line, consumes 51W at 1.8GHz

IBM G5 among 'best of the best' - Influential microprocessor industry publication Microprocessor Watch has announced the nominations for its 2003 Analysts' Choice Awards – and the G5 processor is up for a gong

Wolfson should be the Apple of your eye - Its chips are to be found in some of the fastest-selling consumer products around, including Apple’s phenomenally successful iPod, along with DVDs and scanners. Last year, the company introduced 16 new products and promises a further 23 over the next 12 months.

OpEd: 90nm G5s for all! - According to this this PowerPC G5 Whitepaper (PDF), Apple's new back-office iron, the G5 Xserve , ships with IBM's new 90nm 970 (aka G5) processor inside. With the success of Virginia Tech's Big Mac super cluster complete and rackmountable 64-bit G5 processors now a tick box on an order form, this pundit expects to see the super computing Top 50 gain a lot more chewy, Apple goodness

G5 vs. Opteron - While reading this Slashdot thread , I was led to a third party test of both the G5 and the Opteron. The results are interesting. Both the G5 and the Opteron have their strengths; however, the Opteron is purely a server chip. One should look at more tests between the G5 and the Athlon 64

Forbes: Faster, cooler G5s ready - Forbes reports that IBM is ready to deliver a new version of G5 -- known at Big Blue as the PowerPC 970fx -- by the end of this year , which should allow for speed-bumped PowerMacs at Macworld San Francisco (MWSF) or shortly thereafter

90nm 3GHz PPC 970FX by Summer - dmdimon sent in linkage to a Forbes story on the upcoming PPC chips and notes "IBM is said to be ready to deliver a new version of its PowerPC processor to Apple by the end of this year in from sizes of 130 nanometers to 90 nanometers

G5 chip award nomination - IBM's 64-bit PowerPC 970 processor (marketed as the G5 by Apple) is among the nominees for In-Stat/MDR's Fifth annual analysts' choice awards

NEC claims world's smallest transistor - apan's computer giant NEC Corp said it has developed the world's smallest transistor, a breakthrough that could make it possible to build a supercomputer the size of a personal computer.
An NEC spokesman confirmed earlier reports the the design is 1/18th the size of current transistors. It has a gate with a width of only 5 nanometers. A nanometer is a billionth of a meter

Tidbits: The End of Moore's Law - It's All About the Gate Essentially when the clock on a microprocessor (measured these days in thousands of megahertz) divides the electrical current running through a CPU into "On/Off" states tiny electrons are released from a "source" and go into a "drain". These electrons travel through a "gate" which fundamentally controls the passage of the electron from source to drain.

IBM gets chip circuits to draw themselves - IBM is tinkering with a new material that could drastically slash the costs of "drawing" circuits on semiconductors, and the stuff is a close relative to tennis shoe glue. At the International Electron Devices Meeting in Washington, D.C., this week, IBM researchers will present a paper showing how they have developed polymer molecules that can assemble themselves into tiny, precise and predictable patterns. The resulting hexagonal pattern then serves as a stencil for mapping out circuits on silicon wafers

Intel scientists find wall for Moore's Law - Granted, that end likely won't come for about two decades, but Intel researchers have recently published a paper theorizing that chipmakers will hit a wall when it comes to shrinking the size of transistors, one of the chief methods for making chips that are smaller, more powerful and cheaper than their predecessors

Rumor: Apple: Giving Motorola the Pink Slip? - After a 20-year CPU partnership, Apple may be about to jettison Motorola as a chip supplier, Apple Insider reports. Instead, Apple will reportedly turn to IBM for CPUs for its iBooks

Plastic memory shows promise - Researchers at Princeton University working with Hewlett-Packard have invented a new form of permanent computer memory that uses plastic, and may be much cheaper and faster than existing silicon circuits

Intel's new process preserves Moore's Law - Intel, the world's biggest maker of computer chips, has achieved an average feature size of just 65 nanometres for its next generation chip. The memory cells produced are half the size of the most advanced manufacturing technology in use today

Intel's Tiny Hope for the Future - The microprocessor giant is thinking even smaller: tiny sensor chips that network with each other - inside everything on earth

POWER5, UltraSparc IV, and Efficeon: a look at three new processors - This article originally started life as an MPF CPU roundup, but it has evolved into more of an overview of three specific upcoming processors: IBM's POWER5, Sun's UltraSparc IV, and Transmeta's Efficeon. Actually, the article focuses mostly on IBM's POWER5 and Transmeta's Efficeon, but I also cover Sun's UltraSparc IV because it's relevant to the "big picture" that I want to paint with this report.

IBM's first 64-bit blades to use G5 chip - IBM on Tuesday will unveil a new line of low-power blade servers based on the same 64-bit PowerPC 970 processor that Apple Computer uses in its Power Mac G5 computers

IBM details Power5 chip - The Power5 is the successor to the Power4 chip, on which IBM's PowerPC 970 – marketed by Apple as the G5 – is based.

Chip Design Reverses a Hot Trend  - Researchers at the University of Florida say they believe they have found a way to reduce the amount of heat dissipated by microprocessors to just a fraction of current levels. However, few chip manufacturers seem to be paying any attention

Transmeta says it has learned from Crusoe mistakes with Efficeon - In an interview with EETimes.de , Chris Russell, European director of Transmeta, was realistic. "The weaknesses in the performance of the first Transmeta processor, Crusoe, stood in the way of success." With Efficeon, Transmeta (Santa Clara, Calif.) is targeting the market for notebooks and other portable computers. It also wants to go toe-to-toe against mighty Intel Corp

Apple says could move to Intel, but happy with IBM - The latest version of the Mac OS X operating system could easily run on Intel chips, but Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs said on Wednesday that the company has little interest in changing processors

IBM Rolls Out Power5 Chip - The Power5, due in mid-2004, will build off enhancements that were incorporated into the Power4 and Power4+ processors, such as logical partitioning, on-demand capacity upgrading and chip kill memory. The features of the Power5—which will be structurally and binary-compatible with IBM's Power4 and 4+ predecessors—will go further in reducing costs and complexity for users, officials said

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