I say "Processors" because while, yes they were CPU's, they had other things on the unit that added separate features and were called something else. FDU? I forget but it was something stupid like that.
ANYWAYS this is aimed at those who had these PPC systems because I don't have the sort of documentation for this info.
Because the CPU unit in the ppc macs were replaceable if they died, there were companies like Cirrus and Sorren that made other CPU units. Why were those around? Was it higher clocks? Did they add to altivec? Were there other things that made the chips better?
Example being the Apple G4 Cube has a popular CPU upgrade to a new chip that is from 400-450 mhz. But the cube came in 400 mhz.... So going from the stock to say a Sorren... What is the additive here?
Ok then why go from an IBM-A 7445-A1 G4 chip to something like a Sorren 7 series? Is it just to say "HURR DURR I GOTS A SORREN HEEHEE" ? It seems kinda dumb...
Hmmm maybe I need to go to IRC and dig some documents out of my bud Branes.....
because when the rigs where still useful getting that couple hundred (or even 50 mhz) bump would improve the performance SIGNIFICANTLY is like i7 vs i5 in terms of bragging rights (though not necessarily in terms of the perf difference but you know what i mean)
I think they're kinda like how ARM is now. More companies licensed the technology, so there were more choices on the market.
For comparison, a lot of companies used to license x86, but because of historical marketing a other BS the alternatives ended up dropping one by one simply because it was not worthwhile for them to compete with the juggernaut that was Intel. AMD and VIA are really the only two competitors you'll hear of nowadays, but even then AMD has pretty much shot themselves in the foot with Bulldozer and VIA is far more focused on very specific applications. Cyrix, National, IBM, NEC, and more used to manufacture x86 parts, but don't anymore.
Not to mention the DEC Alpha chips and SPARC not even existing anymore. It drives me mad to think that because companies fight over stupid things like this that we DON'T have ppc, sparc, RISC itself fascinates me and its just not a thing anymore.
SPARC, POWER, and RISC are still around, just in their specific markets. SPARC and POWER, or at least their current iterations, seem to be focused almost solely on supercomputers and high end data servers. ARM architecture is technically a version of RISC, so it's definitely still around.
IBM rules certian markets with these badass machines (to be released next year:
and the current generation:
so yes they exist @FaunCB and are still fairly relevant for certain things not desktops so much because sheer cost of them and also does anyone really need 12 or more core CPUs that have 16 threads on them when many things still barely use quad cores? For supercomputing though, they are really impressive. Also certain data centers and other applications that need MASSIVE amounts of threads and ram.
Well I know power exists I lose my shit when they add stuff to interact with AltiVec ECR and all that crazy shit but I mean in the desktop market. I have the TALOS to look forward to and the SAMS stuff I guess... But all in all I just mean a lot of this stuff is kinda dead. I guess thats off topic but it is sad if you think about it. 3:
Also you're asking that on a forum that praises dual chip setups and cheap 2670's LOL
These things exist based on SAMS440, 460, 460XL and EL, and soon SAMS520 boards will be rolling out which fixes all the shit the 400 boards didn't know what they had been doing. In short, they are POWER6 or 7.
i just wish i could play with a power 8 and not spend $5000 to buy a server with it because CPUs with 16 threads per core are cool to play with regardless of how useful they are i wonder if it can even run x86 and or games lol