Amiga.org
Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Hardware News => Topic started by: hnl_dk on February 28, 2003, 12:12:49 AM
-
http://www-5.ibm.com/de/pressroom/cebit2003/en/highlights/powerpcblade.html (http://www-5.ibm.com/de/pressroom/cebit2003/en/highlights/powerpcblade.html)
"The new IBM PowerPC 970 is the heart of the PowerPC Blade. It is based on the 64-Bit Power 4 architecture which is also used in the processors of the IBM eServer pSeries. The 64-bit microprozessor
· Offers full symmetrical multi-processing
· Has a high reliability (with parity L1, ECC L2 and parity checked system bus)
· Is manufactured in the latest 0,13 micrometer Copper/SOI CMOS technology
· Runs at frequences ranging from 1.8 GHz - 2.5 Ghz
Therefore the IBMPowerPC 970 is the fastest PowerPC so far."
IBM PowerPC Blade
Prototype from the IBM Development Lab in Böblingen, Germany
With the planned introduction of the PowerPC Blade, IBM will expand the performance of the IBM eServer BladeCenter and further extend its range of open source IBM eServers. To customers in the high performance computing sector (HPCS) the PowerPC Blade presents a very interesting and competitive extension of the IBM eServer BladeCenter and offers cost-effective computing power in the Unix and Linux area.
The PowerPC Blade offers outstanding performance and is superior to Intel Blades for certain applications in the High Perfomance Computing Sector. It is ideal for very computing intensive applications, for example in the area of simulation like meterology or geological calculations. The PowerPC Blade integrates seamlessly into the IBM eServer BladeCenter architecture with all its software components. Power und Intel Blades can be mixed in a BladeCenter in any order depending on the software applications.
The new IBM PowerPC 970 is the heart of the PowerPC Blade. It is based on the 64-Bit Power 4 architecture which is also used in the processors of the IBM eServer pSeries. The 64-bit microprozessor
· Offers full symmetrical multi-processing
· Has a high reliability (with parity L1, ECC L2 and parity checked system bus)
· Is manufactured in the latest 0,13 micrometer Copper/SOI CMOS technology
· Runs at frequences ranging from 1.8 GHz - 2.5 Ghz
Therefore the IBMPowerPC 970 is the fastest PowerPC so far.
Further technical highlights of the PowerPC 970:
· Onchip 512 KB L2 Cache
· Altivec ? Vector/SIMD unit
· 6,4 GB/s I/O system bus throughput
The IBM eServer BladeCenter has been available since December 2002 and is currently delivered with Intel processor blades.
IBM offers a solution for modular computing with the space-saving BladeCenter. The IBM eServer BladeCenters distinguish themselves by their high reliability and extensive system management software. The flat servers create free space in the computing center and can simply be supplemented with additional server "slices" when needed.
Further information in the Internet: www.ibm.com/de/entwicklung
-
· Altivec ™ Vector/SIMD unit
So they are officially going with Altivec. Cool. At least we know it will be compatable.
-
They're looking to multiply performance 15x in two years. The question is, will there be processor cards available for the AmigaONE-XE that use those processors, and will the OS handle them properly?
-
This processor will never work on an AmigaOne, or a Pegasos 1.
The bus protocol and physical design is completely different. You will need a different northbridge / system controller that knows how to talk to the IBM 970.
The IBM 970 processor has a 6.4GB/s interconnect (in fact, as the processor is meant to scale gluelessly up to 16 CPUs, it may have 4 of these interconnects on board) between the processor and the system controller (or another processor). This interconnect is probably very similar in concept to (if not the same as) the AMD HyperTransport interconnect as used on the Athlon 64/Opteron. That is, 16-bits in each direction, running at 800MHz¹ DDR (1.6 Gigatransfers per second).
As you can see, this would not be able to interface to a 64-bit bi-directional SDR parallel bus like the G3/G4 has. It is highly unlikely that a chip could be made to swap between the two types of signalling, and in any case, there would not be any real advantage if this was done.
¹ This may be 900MHz on the IBM 970 ... details are very sketchy
Edit: According to a PDF on IBM's website, the interconnect is 32-bits in each direction, and the processor package has around 570 pins, of which 161 are signal pins - hence there is only 1 of these interconnects on the processor.
http://www-3.ibm.com/chips/techlib/techlib.nsf/techdocs/A1387A29AC1C2AE087256C5200611780/$file/PPC970_MPF2002.pdf
(yes, that is a dollar sign in the middle of the URL!)
-
This processor will never work on an AmigaOne, or a Pegasos 1.
Maybe for the AmigaTwo then ;-)
-
I really hope they name it differently. AmigaTwo just sounds really lame :-)
btw, those emoticons work flawlessly in opera 6 for linux. I cannot remember which thread mentioned them.
Sincerely,
-Kenneth Straarup.
-
Never on A1? :-(
-
No, it won't run in the current AmigaOne hardware.
Yes, I'm quite confident that it will be available in the future in Amiga hardware.
I have solid reasons for this but I can't go into it for confidentiality reasons.
-
:-)
-
HyperionMP >>
Well you don't have to tell us more.
I am sure, that you know things with your inside knowledge, and just that gives me the confidence I need.
Greetings
-
Sounds like something someone in a religous group would say.
;-)
Dan Andersson
-
I really hope they name it differently. AmigaTwo just sounds really lame :-)
How about AmigaOne/XE64 or AmigaOne/XE970 ?
Yes, I'm quite confident that it will be available in the future in Amiga hardware.
I have solid reasons for this but I can't go into it for confidentiality reasons.
Ahhh. That will be nice. Just knowing someone is working on it in advance is enough for now. We'll have the current XE boards until then.
-
Good news even if it wont work on current A1 boards. Its not like people in th ePC world dont upgrade there motherboards to get a new processor. Lets just hope A1 is a hit and they decide to manufacture better/faster boards in the future!
-
I have solid reasons for this but I can't go into it for confidentiality reasons.
Oh, don't worry. We believe you...
That PPC970 is one piece of nice hardware. A1XE G4 now, dual later. And then in 1 - 2 years PPC970, dual or quad configuration preferably. It will propably be even faster than 2,5 GHz by then, because of advances in manufacturing technologies and what not...
AmigaOS is fast on the current hardware, and i believe OS4 will soar on the A1. Now imagine the speed of it on one of these puppies.
And last a bit of advice for everyone: Don't hold your money waiting for this one. It will never come if you all do. Amiga needs us now.
-
Yes, I'm quite confident that it will be available in the future in Amiga hardware.
Providing you can find a northbridge for it, and can survive that long.
You've still got a lot of catching up to do, don't forget.
-
Amigablade
-
Ah, thanks for sharing that with us :-D . Er.. with a 64bit AOS4 version?
-
Quoting the PPC 970's release date would be nice.
For earlier news regarding PPC 970 refer to
http://amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=43448
http://amiga.org/forums/showthread.php?t=43449
-
@Hattig
Regarding AMD's K8 processor family from AMD's official web site.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q: Will all AMD Opteron processors support HyperTransport technology? How many links?
A: The AMD Opteron processor architecture is designed to support up to three HyperTransport links, which can provide up to 19.2GB/sec peak bandwidth.
Q: What are the differences between the AMD Opteron processor and the AMD Athlon 64 processor?
A: The primary difference between the AMD Opteron processor and the AMD Athlon 64 processor is in the number of HyperTransport links embedded on the chip. The AMD Athlon 64 processor contains one HyperTransport link offering 6.4 GB/s data transfer while the AMD Opteron processor offers three links. The processors also contain different amounts of cache.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reference:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_4699_7981%5E7987,00.html#19839