970FX - Confirmed?

MacRumors · Jan 21, 2004

Appleinsider posts that according to some documents, the upcoming PowerPC revision (90nm?) is indeed called the 970FX as previously claimed.

The "Momentum Computer Maple Evaluation System and board" document notes that it utilizes PowerPC 970FX processors that can operate at up to 2.4GHz.

Any further details are unclear though.

johnnyjibbs · Jan 21, 2004

So dual 2.4GHz G5 towers here we come then?

Laslo Panaflex · Jan 21, 2004

Well aren't the .90 chips already confirmed? They are in the G5 Xserves Who care what the official chip name is, maybe thats just me, but I don't care what the official chip name is as long as it is faster.

Some_Big_Spoon · Jan 21, 2004

Well, Steve said something along the line of 3GHz by the end of next year, so they've got almost 12 months to meet that goal. 2.4GHz (a real 2,4, not the overclocked mess of the "1.42GHz" G4) would be a logical step.

If the 65nm sampling of the 9X0 cips are true, then Apple may announce 3GHz in 11 months or so, then ship a few months after that..

johnnyjibbs · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by Laslo Panaflex
Well aren't the .90 chips already confirmed? They are in the G5 Xserves Who care what the official chip name is, maybe thats just me, but I don't care what the official chip name is as long as it is faster.

Yep if this is the chip that is in the Xserve, and therefore the chip in the Xserve is theoretically capable of going up to 2.4GHz, then we should see updates. This would mean that the chip is here and now.

Some_Big_Spoon · Jan 21, 2004

Arn,

If the 90nm 970's are being used in the Xserve, why hasn't Apple made a bigger deal of it? You'd think they'd want everyone to know..

And have there been any comparisions of heat dissipation and power consumption between the 130 & 90nm?

Sun Baked · Jan 21, 2004

Cool the AI pic...

Looks a lot like a HACKED version of the Momentum PPC 970 Eval Board pic that was posted before on this site.

http://www.970eval.com/BlockDiagram_970.html

maradong · Jan 21, 2004

those 2.4 ghz remember me of the 2.3 ghz thingy on the apple site. regarding the xserve g5, where the alt text of the images says 2.3 ghz.
Perhaps 2.4 ghz is the theoretical limit, and therefore they are only running them @_2.3 ?

mkaake · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by Some_Big_Spoon
Well, Steve said something along the line of 3GHz by the end of next year, so they've got almost 12 months to meet that goal. 2.4GHz (a real 2,4, not the overclocked mess of the "1.42GHz" G4) would be a logical step.

If the 65nm sampling of the 9X0 cips are true, then Apple may announce 3GHz in 11 months or so, then ship a few months after that..

could have sworn he said in one year, not by the end of next year.... so you're looking for 3 ghz around june/july/august/september, depending on when things start shipping

matt

Some_Big_Spoon · Jan 21, 2004

Pretty sure he said by the end of next year.. I'm sure someone can pull up the exact quote though..

Originally posted by mkaake
could have sworn he said in one year, not by the end of next year.... so you're looking for 3 ghz around june/july/august/september, depending on when things start shipping

matt

jholzner · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by mkaake
could have sworn he said in one year, not by the end of next year.... so you're looking for 3 ghz around june/july/august/september, depending on when things start shipping

matt

Yep, one year from the date of the WWDC...where they were introduced.

Henriok · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by Some_Big_Spoon
Well, Steve said something along the line of 3GHz by the end of next year

No he said "3 GHz this time next year" and that was in june at WWDC.

Apple Will reach 3 GHz on 90 nm, but probably not with 970FX but the next generation (Steve also said "next generation"), aka 975 (or 980 for those of you who prefer that). 975 will probably come late this summer, or early fall.. I think.

Momentum seems to be using 2.4 GHz parts, and I see no reason why Apple shouldn't get the best processors available, ie 2.6 GHz or more. And.. Apple have these parts NOW. I'm just waiting for them to announce them.

But I wouldn't bet any money on 970 reaching 3 GHz, not until the 90 nm fab matures and they have built up some kind of stock of high end parts. That will be after 975 have broken trough the barrier though.

Remember that IBM have publicly stated that the 970 family would go +2.5 GHz. That's the same type of number as the 1.8 GHz they had as top speed for the 970-part. It goes, as we all know, up to at least 2 GHz. 970FX will at least reach 2.5 GHz when it's properly introduced, I'm certain.

Some_Big_Spoon · Jan 21, 2004

Apparently, you're all right! Steve's Statement

Well, then they've got 6 months (or 12 if you take into when it actually ships)

Originally posted by Henriok
No he said "3 GHz this time next year" and that was in june at WWDC.

Apple Will reach 3 GHz on 90 nm, but probably not with 970FX but the next generation (Steve also said "next generation"), aka 975 (or 980 for those of you who prefer that). 975 will probably come late this summer, or early fall.. I think.

Momentum seems to be using 2.4 GHz parts, and I see no reason why Apple shouldn't get the best processors available, ie 2.6 GHz or more. And.. Apple have these parts NOW. I'm just waiting for them to announce them.

But I wouldn't bet any money on 970 reaching 3 GHz, not until the 90 nm fab matures and they have built up some kind of stock of high end parts. That will be after 975 have broken trough the barrier though.

Remember that IBM have publicly stated that the 970 family would go +2.5 GHz. That's the same type of number as the 1.8 GHz they had as top speed for the 970-part. It goes, as we all know, up to at least 2 GHz. 970FX will at least reach 2.5 GHz when it's properly introduced, I'm certain.

iriejedi · Jan 21, 2004

2.6gig 970FX

Yes.... it is another rumor site - but http://www.MacOSrumors.com states, reports, writes, dreams, believes, feels.... that the 970FX can run at 2.6gig.

I'm an optimist so I'm chosing to hold on to the hope that the new G5 will top out there and not stop with a small 0.4 upgrade!

Iriejedi

Tuesday, January 20 Next Update: 1.21

New PowerMac G5s still a few days away? The countdown has begun for the long-awaited second generation PowerMac G5s employing the 90nm PowerPC 970FX at up to 2.6GHz, but the grapevine is deeply divided over predictions of how soon it will come.

Henriok · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by Some_Big_Spoon
Well, then they've got 6 months (or 12 if you take into when it actually ships)

I think that we all should remember ont thing:

975 will not be an upgraded 970FX, in that sence that IBM must complete the 970FX before they can start to really producing the 975. Not like they do with the G3 series where they fist made 750, then evolved it to 750CX, then 750CXe, then 750FX, then 750GX.. each a upgraded, more refined and powerful version than its predecessor.

970 was developed from Power4, after Power4 was finished and the development of Power5 had became the number one priority for IBM.
975 is beeing developed in parallell with its heavier brother the Power5, so 975 and 970 is brothers of sorts, with parallell development too. 975 will be off to a running start, so we don't have to wait the usual one year cycle beween updates. 970 is probably somewhat of a rush job, a stop gap, an experiment.. 975 is not, so it shouldn't come as a surprise when IBM seems to be making huge strides in performance right now.

970 was developed late on 130 nm process, it was just about to be upgraded to 90 nm. That upgrade came fast, just 9 months after we first saw 970. Then comes 975 which is developed for 90 nm all along..

It was not long ago that Intel lead the MHz war by 100% or more. At the end of this year, they will probably only lead by 33% or less.

Sun Baked · Jan 21, 2004

Now that http://www.MacOSrumors.com has confirmed it, it must be true.

Momentum has stuff all over the map that's related to the PPC 970 eval board, but most of it's named after cats -- don't know what type of cat a Maple is though.

With the XServe we know the 90nm is coming quick anyways.

arn · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by Some_Big_Spoon
Arn,

If the 90nm 970's are being used in the Xserve, why hasn't Apple made a bigger deal of it? You'd think they'd want everyone to know..

And have there been any comparisions of heat dissipation and power consumption between the 130 & 90nm?

90nm PowerPCs are being used in the Xserves... I don't think there's much doubt about it

https://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/01/20040106170203.shtml

https://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/01/20040108050130.shtml

arn · Jan 21, 2004

Re: 2.6gig 970FX

Originally posted by iriejedi
Yes.... it is another rumor site - but www.MacOSrumors.com states, reports, writes, dreams, believes, feels.... that the 970FX can run at 2.6gig.

It's clear that MacOSRumors fabricates rumors.... which is why they aren't ever referenced.

arn

Snowy_River · Jan 21, 2004

Re: 2.6gig 970FX

Originally posted by iriejedi
...http://www.MacOSrumors.com states, reports, writes, dreams, believes, feels.... that the 970FX can run at 2.6gig....

Just a word of warning, MacOSRumors.com has a very poor track record of accuracy and even of veracity. Take what's written there with a rather substantial grain of salt...

Photorun · Jan 21, 2004

Re: Re: 2.6gig 970FX

Originally posted by Snowy_River
Just a word of warning, MacOSRumors.com has a very poor track record of accuracy and even of veracity. Take what's written there with a rather substantial grain of salt...

Yep, used to be the go-to site, now it's the go-to get a laugh site.

yoman · Jan 21, 2004

here here...

Originally posted by Laslo Panaflex
Well aren't the .90 chips already confirmed? They are in the G5 Xserves Who care what the official chip name is, maybe thats just me, but I don't care what the official chip name is as long as it is faster.

I couldn't agree more.

Lanbrown · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by Some_Big_Spoon
Arn,

If the 90nm 970's are being used in the Xserve, why hasn't Apple made a bigger deal of it? You'd think they'd want everyone to know..

And have there been any comparisions of heat dissipation and power consumption between the 130 & 90nm?

Because you can't buy a G5 Xserve today, you can order one but the estimated ship time is 6 to 8 weeks. If Apple touted it (90-nm), then the PM crowd would be saying what about us? Where's the faster clock speed? Very soon you will see Apple announce faster G5s.

makkystyle · Jan 21, 2004

Re: 2.6gig 970FX

Originally posted by iriejedi
I'm an optimist so I'm chosing to hold on to the hope that the new G5 will top out there and not stop with a small 0.4 upgrade!

Yeah, what's with this 20% increase in power crap!!!

isgoed · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by Laslo Panaflex
Well aren't the .90 chips already confirmed? They are in the G5 Xserves Who care what the official chip name is, maybe thats just me, but I don't care what the official chip name is as long as it is faster.

the 90nm chips in the XServe don't have to be the same chip as the 970FX. The XServe chip is just a scale down of the first 970. The 970FX may have all new features like busspeed stepping, better heat dissapation, more L2 cache, DDR533 support, integrated memory controller and higher FBS support.

Originally posted by Sun Baked
Cool the AI pic...

http://www.appleinsider.com/images/momentum90.gif

Looks a lot like a HACKED version of the Momentum PPC 970 Eval Board pic that was posted before on this site.

http://www.970eval.com/BlockDiagram_970.html

What are you saying?

That it is a fake?

Please explain what you mean.

Originally posted by Some_Big_Spoon
Well, Steve said something along the line of 3GHz by the end of next year, so they've got almost 12 months to meet that goal. 2.4GHz (a real 2,4, not the overclocked mess of the "1.42GHz" G4) would be a logical step.

If the 65nm sampling of the 9X0 cips are true, then Apple may announce 3GHz in 11 months or so, then ship a few months after that..

I Don't think we'll see 65nm in macs for at least 2 years. I guess that that is the average time between scaledows. The Power5 by itself has a design that can reach high clockspeeds. I think that the 980 which incorporates that design will reach the 3Ghz with ease on 90nm.

Frobozz · Jan 21, 2004

Originally posted by mkaake
could have sworn he said in one year, not by the end of next year.... so you're looking for 3 ghz around june/july/august/september, depending on when things start shipping

matt

You are correct, sir! Yes! (insert voice of Ed McMahon)

970FX - Confirmed?

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