IBM will release a new desktop chip for its PowerPC line based on
technology from its server chips this October.
IBM will create a "stripped-down version of the Power4" for the
PowerPC market, said Kevin Krewell, senior editor of the
Microprocessor Report and general manager at market research
company In-Stat/MDR.
The 64-bit chip will use an eight-way superscalar pipeline, which
allows the chip to process eight different instructions during a
single clock cycle. The chip will be able to process data at up to
6.4Gbytes a second, and will contain a vector processing unit that
can perform more than 160 specialised vector instructions.
Vector processing allows the same instruction to be applied to
multiple units of data simultaneously, an advantage when working
with graphics-intensive programs.
IBM confirmed the basic details of the chip but refused to comment
further. Additional technical and availability details will be
announced at the Microprocessor Forum in October, the company
said.
IBM's new chip will have to target the Linux workstation market or
Apple's PCs, because it uses a different architecture and
instruction set than those PCs powered by the x86 instruction set
in Intel and Advanced Micro Devices's chips, Krewell said.
Motorola manufactures the majority of chips used in Apple's PCs.
IBM could also package the chip with Linux or AIX, its version of
Unix, and sell its own workstations based on the technology.
However, the chip will probably start out in low-end servers, as
the initial price could be prohibitive for desktop machines,
Krewell said. It could also feature in blade servers but this will
depend on the chip's heat dissipation characteristics, he
added.
The clock speed of the chip will probably be about 1.6GHz to start,
ramping up to 2GHz as IBM becomes more accustomed to the
technology, Krewell said.
IBM and Motorola jointly developed the PowerPC based on proprietary
RISC (reduced instruction set computing) technology. The PowerPC is
used in networking equipment, such as routers and hubs, and in
consumer devices such as set-top boxes and printers.