Hi
On present SPEC benchmark, Power4 1 GHz is comparable to Pentium 4 2 GHz. I wonder if 970 1.8 GHz is comparable to P4 3.6 GHz.
Perhaps the OS and apps biggest problem: SMP!
The OS + apps should be able to use both cores inside the CPU.
IBM fabs are famous for glitches and delays. In my opinion they are lucky if the CPU is available in 2004.
Watch for new, low cost Itanium-3 & 4 next year (Madison, Montecito). The 1 GHz Itanium-2 is comparable to 1 GHz Power4. MS Windows + Linux are already ported to Itanium.
>Chipset
Another question and problem. Is Teron chipset compatible with 970? What is the price of chipset for 970?
