PDA

View Full Version : IBM Power6

FrankZ
12-22-2007, 6:16 AM
Check out the world's fastest microprocessor, featuring a jaw-dropping frequency of 4.7GhZ and first-ever hardware run decimal floating point arithmetic.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Power6-the-World-039-s-Fastest-Processor-55302.shtml
TranquilNightElf
12-22-2007, 6:27 AM
That's pretty impressive. Imagine someone having one of those in a quad -core desktop.
I imagine, that the major gainers from this technology would be companies having a need high-end servers machines that can take a huge load and still deliver.

For the average consumer, it might not be that huge a deal unless there were desirable consumer software that could rip taking full advantage of this speed and performance.

~TNE
DoctorZettabyte
12-22-2007, 10:11 AM
I'd imagine this would be standard-issue NASA hardware int their PC's in a year or less.

Is this single-core or is it required to be in a dual, tri, or quad (or more) setup?

-DocTera
SilverCrusader
12-22-2007, 10:34 AM
They said it was in a dual core set up. But I'm not entirely certain. I think we just might see a massive step in gaming folks.
DoctorZettabyte
12-22-2007, 11:42 AM
Yeah, I think a 9.4 (Total) GHz processor with a proper video card and a few sticks of RAM we can maybe get Crysis off the ground.

Maybe.

-DocTera
kongurous
12-22-2007, 12:11 PM
Yeah, I think a 9.4 (Total) GHz processor with a proper video card and a few sticks of RAM we can maybe get Crysis off the ground.

Maybe.

-DocTera

Multicore processors do not work that way.
DoctorZettabyte
12-22-2007, 12:43 PM
If it was single-cored it would with HyperThreading, wouldn't it?

Let me revise that:

"Yeah, I think a 4.7 Dual-Core processor with a proper video card and a few sticks of RAM we can maybe get Crysis off the ground."

"Maybe"

"-DocTera"
SilverCrusader
12-22-2007, 12:57 PM
The way you described it dual-core processors are actually 2 seperate processors working together.
Seal
12-22-2007, 1:21 PM
They said it was in a dual core set up. But I'm not entirely certain. I think we just might see a massive step in gaming folks.

not in PC gaming. maybe the next next-gen consoles.

windows is gonna keep us tight onto x86 regardless of massive advantages in better designed CPUs.
TranquilNightElf
12-22-2007, 1:39 PM
If it was single-cored it would with HyperThreading, wouldn't it?

Let me revise that:

"Yeah, I think a 4.7 Dual-Core processor with a proper video card and a few sticks of RAM we can maybe get Crysis off the ground."

"Maybe"

"-DocTera"

Off Topic
I've heard tell of the GeForce 8800 Ultra XXX able to do 40 FPS on Crysis for high settings, though this is on 1280*1024 resolution.
Still, not bad even if not spectacular.

~TNE
SilverCrusader
12-22-2007, 3:10 PM
Why don't you use crossfire mother board and put 2 of the GeForce 8800 Ultra XXX together.
TimP
12-22-2007, 8:52 PM
Check out the world's fastest microprocessor, featuring a jaw-dropping frequency of 4.7GhZ and first-ever hardware run decimal floating point arithmetic.


POWER 6 is indeed a very cool processor, although to nitpick, the z9 processor in current generation mainframes have hardware decimal floating point support. The cool thing with hardware DFP on POWER 6 is it makes it easier to eventually consolidate IBM's AIX, i5/OS, and z/OS hardware offerings on to one single processor architecture.

I'd imagine this would be standard-issue NASA hardware int their PC's in a year or less.

Is this single-core or is it required to be in a dual, tri, or quad (or more) setup?

-DocTera


Sorry to keep harping on this, but single core processors are not inherently faster than multicore processors like you seem to imply. The only time this was true was when single core processors had a faster single core processors than the equivalent dual core models, but this hasn't been the case since the Core Duo came around in early 2006.
FrankZ
12-22-2007, 9:43 PM
POWER 6 is indeed a very cool processor, although to nitpick, the z9 processor in current generation mainframes have hardware decimal floating point support. The cool thing with hardware DFP on POWER 6 is it makes it easier to eventually consolidate IBM's AIX, i5/OS, and z/OS hardware offerings on to one single processor architecture.

Yeah, but I meant that this will be released commercially to end-users at home or at work, and not on big server farms or hyper-calculation establishments (as you have said that z9 can already do the job ;)).