check this power4 system out

[ribitch]

http://www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/pseries/hardware/workstations/p630_6e4_desc.html

32MB L3 cache upto 16 GB Ram

[spigidygak]

:drool: wonder if there would be a way to get os x on that :drool:

[iDave]

Well ... actually ... you may be able to come close:

“...The new chip might prove a boon to Apple Computer... the PowerPC 970 borrows its design from the Power4, the chip used in IBM's showcase servers. But PowerPC 970 will be much smaller, faster and less power hungry, allowing for its use in desktops or low-end servers.

The chip's potent mixture--speed, 64-bit addressing and the ability to perform large numbers of calculations--will significantly boost performance for potential customers...”

More here:
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-961862.html

[spigidygak]

Originally posted by chosenfool
the questions are:

will it play UT? and does it overclock well?:dodgy:

:rolleyes: I'm suprised you didn't mention quake III frame rates and mad onion scores :D. Anyhow yeah, big possibility this could be the EVER so long awaited G5 ppc. Lets just hope Apple is smart and moves on from motorolla who could really care less about the ppc.

[ribitch]

i think apple has already ditched motorola and has been developing with one of these. (PPC 970 series)

I can see the PPC 970 in the consumer/prosimer models and the full blown power4 in teh xserve.

[iDave]

As an old Apple/Mac fan, the whole Motorola / PowerPC thing was a mixed blessing. The architecture and performance of the chip was/is great but Motorola (and IBM too for that matter) never seemed to take the competition with Intel seriously. Other than Apple, I don’t know that they had any markets that were sensitive to that competition anyway.

Of course there is the old debate about Apple moving their OS to the Intel architecture and along with that, lots of rumors that they have actually done it but will not release it. Personally, I would love to see the PowerPC jump ahead in performance and both give Intel a run for it’s money and put some oomph into the Mac. But, after all these years I am a bit dubious. Realistically, I think moving to the Intel platform would be a great move for Apple and I think that one day they will.

[ribitch]

Originally posted by iDave
As an old Apple/Mac fan, the whole Motorola / PowerPC thing was a mixed blessing. The architecture and performance of the chip was/is great but Motorola (and IBM too for that matter) never seemed to take the competition with Intel seriously. Other than Apple, I don’t know that they had any markets that were sensitive to that competition anyway.

Of course there is the old debate about Apple moving their OS to the Intel architecture and along with that, lots of rumors that they have actually done it but will not release it. Personally, I would love to see the PowerPC jump ahead in performance and both give Intel a run for it’s money and put some oomph into the Mac. But, after all these years I am a bit dubious. Realistically, I think moving to the Intel platform would be a great move for Apple and I think that one day they will.

of the 2 CPU types, i am suprised the motorola chips didnt gain larger acceptance early on due to the fact they are easier to program with a an assembly level. The memory addressing was also much more easier to handle.

IBM markets some of their systems utilizing the powerPC, and various other uses are available for the PowerPC (routers, etc) Apple was the only computer vendor to stick it out with it. I think it would be a shame to see apple dump the platform entriely. Sure it would be cool to have a x86 based OS X box, but unless apple builds the boards and everything, i highly doubt we will ever see it.

the 970 allows fo r up to 16 CPUs on one system. Imagine an xServe going against a Sun system with 16 CPU's. Both would run oracle, apache, mysql, and various other programs that these types of systems are used for, but the apple would also be able to run office, FCP, DVD Studio Pro, photoshop, and many many more apps than the sun. I can totally see it giving a sun server a run for its money. To do this though, apple would have to offer several levels of xServes and would have to really stand behind their os and server hardware.

As a side note, xServe RAID is suppsoed to be released soon. Imagine one of those with a "refresh" of the xserve line to encorporate the 970 as well as SCSI. The xserve is in need of an update, and this would be just the thing to do it with. I am not sure how much code would have to be changed for it, but the OS is fairly new, and the code may already be there.

[iDave]

Ahhh, competition with Sun is a new and interesting thought (for me anyway). IMHO, Apple is technically strong enough to do it and they usually have quality hw. The question in my mind is in their support. As you said, they “would have to really stand behind their os and server hardware”. Traditionally, they have shied away from any kind of substantial corporate level support. I don’t know what is like now, but I suspect it is pretty much the same.

Even if the platform changes that you mentioned were in place (which would certainly give a compelling reason to consider changing) along with a quality support structure, it would still take a while to have much of a presence in that market segment. A lot of companies would want to see some proof of Apples commitments and a willingness to stay the course over time. That said, I would love to see it happen.

To me Apple’s innovativeness has long made it the kind of company that makes you say, wouldn’t be great if...

[yippiekiyeh]

The good thing about the new cpu that Apple is leaning toward that cpu from IBM is that it accepts altivec instructions.

[Jeffbx]

Anyone see pricing info on this bad boy?


The IBM pSeries™ 630 Model 6E4 UNIX® workstation is designed to lower the cost of high-end design and analysis while raising levels of performance.

A dual-proc RS-6000 AIX machine from IBM runs about $50k... maybe they've lowered the price into the $40k ramge? I dunno about you, but I'd rather have a Sun & put the other $25k into the bank.

[ribitch]

Originally posted by Jeffbx
Anyone see pricing info on this bad boy?



A dual-proc RS-6000 AIX machine from IBM runs about $50k... maybe they've lowered the price into the $40k ramge? I dunno about you, but I'd rather have a Sun & put the other $25k into the bank.

http://www-132.ibm.com/content/home/store_IBMPublicUSA/en_US/eServer/pSeries/entry/6306E4.html

32MB level 3 starts at $12,495

64MB level 3 cache at 44,184 with 8GB of Ram

[Jeffbx]

Originally posted by ribitch


http://www-132.ibm.com/content/home/store_IBMPublicUSA/en_US/eServer/pSeries/entry/6306E4.html

32MB level 3 starts at $12,495

64MB level 3 cache at 44,184 with 8GB of Ram

Wow - that's actually pretty good! (for IBM, that is!)

I might have to order one to see how it performs against the RS-6000s... for half the cost it would be worthwhile even if it's not quite as fast.

Thanks for the link