PPC 970: Apple, Thendic, Eyetech

[Minion]

strobe wrote:
@olegil

Good points but I would also add that the uses of a 64bit CPU are limited especially when dealing with all our legacy titles. If anything it will run 32bit software slower than a comparable 32bit processor.

64bit gives you what, memory addressing over 4Gigabytes? Is this useful? On the other hand AltiVec has a lot of applications especially in multimedia, encryption, networking, encoding, and compressing. None of these things are improved with a 64bit CPU.

I'd put a lot of money on the fact that the PPC970 will run 32 bit PPC software a lot faster than any PPC CPU today, not because it is 64bit, but because it is a much faster and more powerful CPU.  You will most likely find that it runs 64 bit software SLOWER than 32 bit software, most likely about 5% slower (quoted form some CPU designer guy).

The point is who cares, 64 bit is a nice buzzword that gets people to buy stuff (presumably thinking 64 bit=twice as fast as 32 bit)
A 64 bit CPU has nothing to do with memory = thats the memory interface that deals with that.  Remember the EC020 that came with the A1200?  That was a 32 bit CPU with 24 bit adressing so it could address 2^24 = 167777216bytes or 16 MB of RAM.  If you want to just talk bits, then bare in mind that the Pentium4 has some internal parts that run at 256 Bit and I believe the AthlonXP in parts runs at 512.  A 64 bit CPu in this sense deals with accuracy - it can deal with 2^32 (ie 4 billion) times the number of integers of a 32 bit CPU.

[Minion]

mips_proc wrote:
Minion traditionally a cpu's 'bittage' has been deemed by its ALU and when they say 'its 64bit' they mean ALU...wich would allow for apps to be allocated more then 2gb of memory.......

ALU=Arithmatic Logic Unit i.e. the bit that does the calculations.  It has nothing to do with the memory(addressing) interface.
This means you could have a 64 bit processor that can only adress 4GB of memory if it has a 32 bit memory(address)interface.  You can also have a 32 Bit processor that can address 16 exabytes of memory if it has a 64 bit memory(address) interface.

[Minion]

blubbe wrote:
@minion
Well with PPC it has. As there are no special
address-registers, but just general purpose
registers. You use the ALU to compute
adrresses with theese regs, in this case
64 bit regs. So its 64bit integer math/logic/addressing. The FPU is already 64bit
in the 32bit PowerPCs. And the Altivec is 128bit.
The differences should be zero, compared to
32bit cpus. Unless you do math on 64 bit integers.

You missed my point.  Ignoring the 64/32 Bit thing the PPC970 should be a lot faster than a G4 for example because the CPU itself is a lot faster, 64 or 32 bit.  I.e. if it wasn't 64 bit capable, then then it would still be faster then other PPC CPU's (baring in mind it will run at 1.8 GHz and is a lot "wider"( not in terms of bits, but execution units etc) than say a G3 or G4.  i.e. clock for clock it is faster and as an added bonus it runs faster.

[Minion]

THEONE wrote:
Lots of crap

You're as thick as two short planks, aren't you.  You just dont get it. :-?  :-?  :-?

[Minion]

THEONE wrote:

AmigaMac wrote:

Yeah we've heard that conspiracy theory before!  PPC is far from dead!!

itanium is where everyone is going. And what I explained is the way you guys think . Besides if you are lookig for speed then dammit man look at the itanium. its been in the advance server area fro a while. soon to be cheap enough for end users. Its goign to hit the streets at 6ghz real-time. oh thisChrismas or by the end of feburary . MERRY CHRISTMAS

Ah the Itanic... the chip that can't get out of its own way (much less anything else)!  You need to get with the facts, that Itanic isn't going to reach 6 GHz anytime soon, but hey at least you're overly optimistic :-P

i called hp and ibm and redhat to confirm all this just today and yesterday . Go by intels website or go onto a website if you dont belive me.
glad your in good cheer
we must move on to a better cpu    PARIC=ITANIUM

The absolute perfect signature of a compulsive liar.  To anyone who has met a compulsive liar, that crap that you just typed is obviously complete bullsh*t.

Typical compulsive liar senario:
CL=compulsive liar
NP=normal person

CL "Some ridiculous made up statement to sound impressive"
NP "Thats not true"
CL "More made up facts to support the original made up statement"

This maps on to your conversation as follows:
TO=Fantasy world boy THEONE
AM=Amigamac

TO="Itanium wil reach 6 Ghz by this christmas or February"
AM="No way"
TO="I just called all of these people that are experts and they agree with me"

You didn't call those people didn't you?  They are just your made up sources to support your made up statement.

Your kind allways get found out sooner or later for the liars that you are.  Every compulsive liar that I have known believes he had friends, but everybody really hated them.  When they weren't there, most of the conversation involved taking the mickey out of them.  
Dont you notice how your "friends" seem to ignore you a lot more than anyone else?  Notice how that almost always have excuses not to hang out with you, or do you a favour?  You do know that the only times that your friends do talk to you is when they cant get away from you, dont you.  Or maybe they weren't quick enough to think of a reason that they need to go.
I suggest that you watch the behaviour of your "friends" and see how accurate this picture is.
You'll be surprised.
Have a nice day :-)