IBM officially introduced its heavily anticipated Power5 server line on Monday.
IBM switches on Power5 servers
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eServer = AS/400 and i5/OS = OS/400.
<rant>Sweet Jesus, I would not be surprised that the decision to rename the midrange line came from the same person who wanted to change OS/2 Warp 3’s clean cut UI to the monstrosity featured in Warp 4.</rant>
I need a blog.
Apple better hurry up and get those G5s into their smaller boxes, or at least prep them for the smaller boxes. it looks like the G4 will be gone form the product line in about 12-14 months.
Th G5 is based on the Power 4, not Power 5. The Power 5 will inform the next chip used by Apple.
J…
I’m going to have to look into the new IBM i5 machines. They look like a stellar value compared to Apple’s PowerPC server offerings.
Everything you wanted to know about processors (well not quite) http://www.geek.com/procspec/procspec.htm
Like the above poster says, the G5 is based on the Power4 chip. Also coming Real Soon Now is the 970FX which I believe is based on the Power4+ chip and is a dual core design. There is some interesting information/rumors going on on the G4 page, too. Check it out.
970FX is IBM’s 90nm version of the 970. It the same as the 970 except for some small architectural changes. The 970FX is currently shipping in small quantities at 2Ghz in the Xserve G5.
The 970FX looks like it is either a busted design or IBM’s 90nm process is broken. The 970FX has delivered no real world speed enhancements, heat decreases, or power decreases to date vs. the 970. IBM may have good specs for the 970/970FX on paper, but these good specs have yet to show up in shipping machines.
Apple has 1-2 months to hit 3Ghz. I really do hope they have some rabbits in the hat and blow everyone away with an amazing announcement at their developers’ conference. Otherwise, it will be clear that PowerPC is a doomed architecture on the desktop.
‘ Otherwise, it will be clear that PowerPC is a doomed architecture on the desktop.’
Oh please.
How come every time there is any hang with development of a PowerPC processor, everybody says that the PowerPC is doomed. But whenever Intel or AMD get hung with their designs, nobody ever says something similar about the far older and far longer in the tooth x86?
Apple has 1-2 months to hit 3Ghz. I really do hope they have some rabbits in the hat and blow everyone away with an amazing announcement at their developers’ conference. Otherwise, it will be clear that PowerPC is a doomed architecture on the desktop.
I don’t really follow you. Why does Apple only have 1-2 months to hit 3Ghz. Is this some kind of clock speed fetishism, because it would always be able to increase the clock by adding more stages to the pipeline, as the Pentium 4 has shown. The question is whether you achieve added performance that way. The G5 (970) is a very good performing processor. The POWER 4 and the POWER 5 are even better, although very expensive. So, why is the PowerPC doomed?
Actually eServer is the server line for IBM
I-Series = AS/400
X-Series = Intel
P-Series = RS6000
T-Series = notebooks
Z-Series = not sure what it was before. basically big iron.
OS is not denoted by the series itself, but instead is based on the model number or option chosen. The I5OS is something terminology I’ve never seen, most IBMers I know still refer to it as OS/400 (as does the web site)
“The 970FX is currently shipping in small quantities at 2Ghz in the Xserve G5.
” “IBM may have good specs for the 970/970FX on paper, but these good specs have yet to show up in shipping machines. ”
So which is it?
“Apple has 1-2 months to hit 3Ghz. I really do hope they have some rabbits in the hat and blow everyone away with an amazing announcement at their developers’ conference. Otherwise, it will be clear that PowerPC is a doomed architecture on the desktop. ”
Better tell that to M$ and Sony
“I’m going to have to look into the new IBM i5 machines. They look like a stellar value compared to Apple’s PowerPC server offerings.”
Something tells me you’re just trolling.
The IBM i5 based on Power5 processors is a MASSIVE leap ahead of the Power4. The Power4 is a very large lead ahead of the PPC970 (G5).
Both the Power4 AND Power5 chips are MASSIVELY more expensive then the PPC970 (G5).
Sure, its true that the value of the Power 5 is incredible when compared to what the same price would buy you with other processors, the fact that they are in a whole other league in price (and performance to the PPC970 (G5) shows you are either trolling or grossly uninformed.
“An entry-level version of the i5 520 model will cost $9,995”
I’m just going on what the article says. It looks like the new IBM systems are priced really well compared to the Xserve G5, especially when you look at what you get for your money.
I don’t know why everything not 100% positive about Apple is considered “trolling”.
It would be great to see Apple deliver — as Steve promised — a 3GHZ machine in the next month. It just looks like IBM is having serious problems with the PowerPC architecture/process, same as Moto always had.
” It just looks like IBM is having serious problems with the PowerPC architecture/process, same as Moto always had.”
Does anyone have an update on what is going on with IBM and the next set of G5s which they will supply to apple? When are they coming? What is the problem? Will they be bumping up to 2.6, 2.8, and 3.0 GHz?
The Z series use to be the s/390’s
The G5 ( PPC 970 ) is a derivative of the
chip POWER4 ( not POWER5 ). And G5 is intended for
different markets than POWER4 or POWER5.
POWER4 itself is HUGE step ahead of POWER3 or POWER2.
“looks like IBM is having serious problems with the PowerPC architecture/process, same as Moto always had.”
If PPC is so problematic, why is nobody building MIPSen or Alphas? I know, Alpha was discontinued, because HP is more interested in Itanics, but what about MIPS? Haven’t been hearing about it for a long time…
For $10,000 from IBM you get:
512MB Ram
36GB disk
Apache
DB2 unlimted
WebShere Express
FTP Server
Kerbose Server
Telnet Server
LDAP Server
Windows Printer/File Server (like Samba)
No graphics.
No interactive users (network server only); you can’t log-on and run programs directly of a terminal.
I know the G5 is derived from the Power4.
my point is that now IBM has the power5, and will soon have prefabs of the PPC980 chips which will be BASED OFF the power5. when they have production near ready on those apple will announce the new G5s, in about 12 – 18 months (well, newer than the updates that will be out by the end of this summer). Apple might keep these named as G5s, they might call them the G6, who knows.
either way, apple will have to begin moving the G4s out of the current systems to make room for G5 products,OR, keep the G4 for mobil computing, and move the G5 in as the low end Macs like the iMac and eMac, and maybe some low end power macs, then have the new chip in the Xserves and the high end systems.
Nobody buying the iSeries is buying them because of the great price or because they have all the features we expect from Unix. They’re buying them because they have legacy AS/400 apps that they don’t want to migrate to a different platform. You have to look at the big picture: migration costs, risks, etc…. Listing a bunch of specs and saying that it’s a bad deal is a non sequitur.
Never ceases to amaze me that companies are still using AS/400’s <shakes head> They must be awsome machines!
re Yuck AS/400
I went to a career day at a local College a few years back (i think it was ’99). We had to choose 3 classes to go to and ask questions and get info. I went to some Networking/Server class and I asked the guy what he thought was best for a server, Linux or Windows. He said AS/400. He gave a few reasons, mostly that a Windows server will take around 3-5 people to run, a Linux server can be managed by 1-2, and an AS/400 can basically run itself. Of course the guy did teach an AS/400 class so take that for what it’s worth.
re: b-slap-the-e
I read an article just recently that all the major fabs are having signifigant problems with the 90nm process. This would explain the very negligible improvements over the normal 970.
I have on my desk a 90nm IBM chip. Actually, it is not a processor, it is an FPGA instead.
The counter-arguments to b-slap-the-e are just awful.
How come every time there is any hang with development of a PowerPC processor, everybody says that the PowerPC is doomed. But whenever Intel or AMD get hung with their designs, nobody ever says something similar about the far older and far longer in the tooth x86?
The x86, on the desktop, has one advantage that the PowerPC, on the desktop, does not have. Penetration. x86 manufacturers can much more afford to make mistakes, because they are currently in the lead. When you’re the underdog, mistakes can kill you immediately.
because it would always be able to increase the clock by adding more stages to the pipeline, as the Pentium 4 has shown. The question is whether you achieve added performance that way. The G5 (970) is a very good performing processor
I find it a bit ironic to note that the G5’s pipeline is nearly as long as the P4’s (16 stages vs 20 stages). Performance is a result of a combination of clock-speed and IPC. IBM, like Intel, recognizes this, and tried to strike a balance between the two. Efficiency doesn’t count for much in the face of a huge clock-speed deficit. The G5 is doing alright now, with 2.4GHz Opterons barely shipping, but the benchmarks showed a close competition between the 2.0GHz Opterons and the 2.0GHz G5, with the G5 coming out barely on top. When AMD starts shipping 2.4GHz CPUs in volume, IBM has to keep up, or risk getting left behind.
” “IBM may have good specs for the 970/970FX on paper, but these good specs have yet to show up in shipping machines. ”
So which is it?
Both? The specs are good on paper, but although 970FX CPUs are shipping, their good specs aren’t translating in practice?
“Otherwise, it will be clear that PowerPC is a doomed architecture on the desktop. ”
Better tell that to M$ and Sony
Oh, MS and Sony make desktop computers now? I always thought that the XBox and Playstation were embedded systems. To be more clear: he’s not saying that the PPC is may be doomed in general, just on the desktop specifically.