IBM announces dual-core G5 970MP and low power G5 970FX

IBM today finally officially announced the long-rumoured dual-core G5 970MP at the 2005 Power Everywhere Forum. (Japanese press release) The chip is expected to hit 2.5 GHz and will sport a total of 2 MB L2 cache, as we had predicted. I would expect to see a quad G5 Power Mac based on this chip relatively soon (within the next 6 months).

IBM also announced a low power version of the G5 970FX, with a rated power utilization of 16 Watts at 1.6 GHz. This specification is IBM's "typical" power, which is significantly lower than its maximum power. A reasonable estimate might be that a 1.8 GHz G5 970FX could be produced with a maximum power utilization not too much higher than 30 Watts (which is appropriate for a laptop). A laptop G5 at 1.8 GHz would be in agreement with earlier predictions.

While a Power Mac based on the dual-core 970MP seems obvious, it's not so clear for a new PowerBook based on the low-power 970FX. A G5-based PowerBook would require an entirely new design, and such a machine is unlikely to be released if the switch to Intel in PowerBooks came early next year. It is possible that Apple may choose to release a speed-bumped PowerBook using the current design and the new G4 7448, which is a direct replacement for the 7447A used in current PowerBooks. In 2006 Apple could release an x86 PowerBook based on the new dual-core Pentium M Yonah to replace the G4-based PowerBooks, skipping the G5 entirely.

Thanks to M. Isobe and Xlr8yourmac.com, who first broke the 970MP and low power 970FX news.

[Update 2005-07-07]

The English press release is now available:

Momentum for Power Architecture Technology Accelerates in Japan

IBM today announced the newest member of the Power Architecture family of microprocessors -- the PowerPC 970MP. The new processor is a dual-core version of IBM's award winning PowerPC 970FX, targeted for clients who desire a low-cost, high performance, 64-bit, symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)-capable system in a small package with ranges from 1.4 to 2.5 GHz. The microprocessor also provides power-saving features that system architects can use to dynamically control the system power.

The IBM PowerPC 970MP microprocessor builds on the proven 64-bit IBM Power Architecture family and is designed for entry level servers as well as to provide new levels of performance and power management for the embedded marketplace. The increased computing density of the PowerPC 970MP brings a new level of performance to a variety of applications, from HPC clusters to demanding embedded system applications such as high performance storage, single board computer and high performance networking applications.

Each of the two 64-bit PowerPC 970MP cores has its own dedicated 1MB L2 cache, resulting in performance more than double that of the PowerPC 970FX. This design provides clients with a wide range of performance and power operating points that can be selected dynamically to match system processing needs. The frequency and voltage of both cores can be scaled downward to reduce the power during periods of reduced workload. For further power savings, each core can be independently placed in a power-saving state called doze, while the other core continues operation. Finally, one of the cores can be completely de-powered during periods of less stringent performance requirements.

IBM also announced today new low-power extensions to its award-winning PowerPC 970FX offering. This newest offering is targeted for clients who desire a low-cost 64-bit processor featuring high performance, a sub-20 Watt power envelope and SMP. The new offering is targeted to provide an operating power of 13W at 1.4 GHz and 16W at 1.6GHz under typical workloads. The microprocessor also provides power-saving features that system architects can use to dynamically control the system power.

The 64-bitPowerPC 970FX microprocessor builds on the proven 64-bit IBM Power Architecture family and is suited to embedded applications including imaging and networking, and provides new levels of performance and power management for the embedded marketplace. Designed to run at frequencies up to 2.7 GHz, the PowerPC 970FX includes a 512KB L2 cache, provides native 64-bit and 32-bit application compatibility and uses a high bandwidth processor bus capable of delivering up to 7.1 GB/s to keep the processor core and the SIMD/Vector engine fed with data. The processor core can dispatch five instructions per cycle, and issue one instruction per cycle to each of its ten execution units, including two fixed point, two floating point, two load store, two vector and two system units. The L1 instruction cache holds 64 KB, the L1 data cache holds 32 KB, and each processor has its own dedicated 1MB L2 cache.

The real iTunes phone unveiled

Sane minds have prevailed. Pictures at Engadget show that (at least one version of) the Motorola iTunes phone is indeed a white E790 and not the aesthetically-challenged Xbox phone.

More pictures of the phone are posted at the Hebrew language forum, Pocket.co.il.

[Update 2005-07-04]

Apparently, Pocket.co.il claims the phone will be called the "E1", but details are otherwise scarce.

IBM talks about the mobile G5, and of future Macs

In response to Apple's announced plans to switch to Intel, IBM has issued some statements to eWeek about its PowerPC lines and Apple.

Not surprisingly, IBM counters Apple's claims of Intel's superiority in terms of the power efficiency of future CPUs:

"Apple positioned it that way in the public," Adkins said in an interview with eWEEK.com. But "Obviously I have a different point of view, because there's nothing about power architecture that limits you in any way in terms of power management or power efficiency."

IBM also confirms that they were working on a mobile G5:

"They had Freescale primarily for the low-end and mobile solutions, and they really had IBM focus more on PowerBook, xServe and iMac. That's where we collaborated deeply with Apple," Adkins said.

...

Intel, as Adkins sees it, won out mainly based on its mobile chip technology and the way Intel chips fit into Apple's software planes, even though he maintains that IBM has the capability to deliver a product such as a mobile PowerPC 970 chip.

At this point I would be surprised to see a mobile G5 in a Mac. However, if Apple does release a G5 PowerBook, I'd consider buying it. If IBM can get its power utilization under control, it could be a reasonable chip for a laptop (at least in 2005).

In addition, IBM goes on to state:

"We still have a number of products we're doing with them," Adkins, who declined to elaborate on the exact ones, said. Thus "this is not a transition that's going to occur over night."

We already knew that Apple would continue to ship G5-based machines for quite some time, but the wording of this statement could suggest that the dual-core G5 970MP is still coming. The release of the 970MP by IBM and its utilization by Apple in Macs would make practical sense for both sides, especially in light of Apple's current transitions plans. Apple will not finish the transition until 2007, and still needs to release additional PowerPC desktops in the interim. IBM and Apple have a contract to work together until then, and the 970MP is the perfect fit.

Developers unimpressed by PS3 and Xbox 360 CPUs

AnandTech today posted (and then promptly removed) an article detailing how developers dislike the CPUs in the PS3 and Xbox 360.

The developers appear less than impressed with the raw performance of the PPE unit(s) in these CPUs. They also say the SPE units in the PS3's Cell CPU are difficult to use in game code.

Right now, from what we’ve heard, the real-world performance of the Xenon CPU is about twice that of the 733MHz processor in the first Xbox. Considering that this CPU is supposed to power the Xbox 360 for the next 4 - 5 years, it’s nothing short of disappointing. To put it in perspective, floating point multiplies are apparently 1/3 as fast on Xenon as on a Pentium 4.

The reason for the poor performance? The very narrow 2-issue in-order core also happens to be very deeply pipelined, apparently with a branch predictor that’s not the best in the business. In the end, you get what you pay for, and with such a small core, it’s no surprise that performance isn’t anywhere near the Athlon 64 or Pentium 4 class.

The Cell processor doesn’t get off the hook just because it only uses a single one of these horribly slow cores; the SPE array ends up being fairly useless in the majority of situations, making it little more than a waste of die space.

Even though much of the article should be considered speculation since it does not contain any hard data (partially because the hardware hasn't even been officially released yet), we should not be surprised that some developers feel this way, given the differences in the designs of these chips from current general purpose CPUs. Nonetheless, it's not surprising that Apple's engineers chose not to use Cell in the Mac.

[Update 2005-06-30]

We now have an explanation as to why the article was pulled: "PS3 article is pulled for now because Anand is worried about MS tracing his anonymous insider."

Apple's hints for the iTunes phone?

It seems Apple may also be giving us hints as to what the iTunes phone will look like. If you change your screen to 256 colours in the Displays preferences, and then look at the preferences for iTunes 4.9, the purple Podcast icon will have changed to what appears to be a white phone.

In addition, macprime has discovered an icon for a white phone in iTunes 4.9.

Motorola leaks picture of iTunes phone?

Michael Tatelman, Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Devices for Motorola North Asia, gave a presentation to Morgan Stanley analysts recently, which shows this picture of a phone with an Apple logo.

Given its aesthetics, one can only hope it's just a mock-up, and not the real iTunes phone.

[Update 2005-06-28]

AppleInsider, Engadget, and c|net all now seem to have picked up on this. For the record, I'd be surprised if the phone really did look like this. I'm more inclined to believe the Le Figaro article, which states the phone is a white one close to Motorola's E398.

[Update 2005-06-29]

MacDailyNews has posted more pictures that add support to the rumours that the iTunes phone is in fact similar to the one shown here.

[Update 2005-07-03]

I am happy to report that the iTunes phone is not black and green. As originally thought, the E790 is white and based off the E398.