IBM is cooking up a series of PowerPC launches, next quarter, which could put its RISC processors back in the limelight, especially for Mac users. According to sources, the company will mark the 10th anniversary of its PowerPC alliance with Motorola and Apple Computer by refreshing three of its PowerPC chip families for several market categories, ranging from portable computers and Internet appliances to embedded and wireless applications.
With its new embedded offerings, sources said, IBM is angling for a market it has largely left to Motorola while focusing on the personal computer and server markets. Meanwhile, IBM's plans to revamp its 750, or G3, series could mean a performance boost for buyers of portable Mac systems from Apple.
Where the chips fall
The new G3 chips include the 750CX and 750CXe, code-named SideWinder, both of which will be aimed at portable computers, among other devices. The 750CX will range in speed from 350MHz to 550MHz, while the 750Cxe will range from 500MHz to 700MHz, sources said. The sources added that the chips are sampling now at speeds of up to 500MHz, and volume production is slated for August or September.
The arrival of the new G3 chips could coincide with a rumored next-generation PowerBook from Apple, currently the only PC maker to offer a PowerPC-based notebook. According to sources, Apple's new pro PowerBook, tentatively scheduled for September, will be based on the same motherboard design as the current PowerBook generation, which Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled at February's Macworld Expo/Tokyo.
The inclusion of an enhanced G3 in Apple's next notebook would come as a surprise to some Mac handicappers who have been looking ahead to a PowerBook that includes the PowerPC G4, the chip that currently runs Apple's top-of-the-line desktop systems. The G4 processor features the Motorola-developed AltiVec, or Velocity Engine, extensions for enhanced multimedia performance, a feature absent from Motorola's and IBM's G3s.
Don Granberry, contributor to MacEdition.com, a Mac industry Web site aimed at the professional market, lauded IBM's decision to focus on speeding the G3 instead of focusing its efforts on the G4 chip.
"I have a sneaking hunch that someone at IBM is snickering behind their hand," Granberry said. "What will be the performance difference between a 750MHz G3 and a 300MHz G4 if the software is not using AltiVec? Guess which one will make Word scroll faster and Excel finish calculating sooner?
"Sooner or later, Motorola will work out their production problems with AltiVec, and we will eventually see higher clock speeds in that technology. While Motorola hammers away at their unanticipated kinks, I suspect we will get symmetrical multiprocessing, which is more important than clock speed in the long run."
According to ZDNet News sources, Apple demonstrated Mac OS X running atop a dual-processor Power Mac prototype at last week's Worldwide Developers Conference to show off the new OS' support for symmetrical multiprocessing.
Will professional users of portable systems be disappointed if the next Apple system is a G3, not a G4? "I don't think so," Granberry said, "at least not for this coming generation of laptops. Most of them don't need what the G4 does."
"I don't think that pro users currently need the capabilities of AltiVec in a portable," added Michael C. Gemar, a MacEdition associate editor and Web designer. "Most graphics-intensive work, where the Velocity Engine really shines, is done at the desktop, not in the field or on a plane. Of course, Mac OS X is said to take advantage of the Velocity Engine for a wide variety of system-level functions, such as the GUI, and a G4 might very well be desirable there. But it looks like OS X is still at least six to eight months away -- plenty of time for Apple to release models equipped with the new IBM G3 and then upgrade the line to G4s in January 2001 at Macworld San Francisco."
The new 750CX and 750CXe chips will be manufactured using IBM's 0.18-micron process with copper interconnects. They will also include 256KB of integrated L2 cache, a performance-enhancing technique, sources said.
While the chips should give Mac portables a performance boost, they will consume very little power, about 4 watts at 400MHz, sources said. The chips will also be inexpensive, with volume pricing expected to start at about US$80.
Embedded enhancements
New IBM PowerPC chips are also wending their way to embedded applications, sources said.
In many cases, the processors will reach out and touch consumers who are unaware of their presence. For example, IBM will promote its new 405 PowerPC processor core as a "system on a chip," a single-chip solution for a number of telecommunications applications, ranging from mobile phones to networking equipment, such as Ethernet switches.
System-on-a-chip offerings lower costs by integrating a processor core along with other cores for communications or other functions. For example, a set-top box that integrates one of IBM's new processors could include a processor core and MPEG video decoder, among other features.
Also playing an important role in the new embedded chips will be IBM's CoreConnect bus. The bus, used to link the different elements on the chip, including the processor core and various peripherals, has been licensed by a number of companies, including phone makers Nokia and Ericsson
In the third quarter, IBM will also ship the PowerPC 405CR. The chip, designed as a system on a chip, is aimed at Internet appliances and printers, among other products. The chip, running at 200MHz and 266MHz, will consume less than 1 watt of power (at 200MHz) and will cost less than US$25, sources said. Another version of the chip, called the 405GP, will be based on the same processor core but directed more toward networking products, including hubs, routers, switches and cable modems, sources said.
Another embedded PowerPC chip, due later in the year, will be called the 440GP. It will sport a higher clock speed than the 405CP and include additional features. The 440GP will offer clock speeds ranging from 400MHz to 500MHz. The chip, which will not sample until late in the year, possibly the fourth quarter, will be aimed at applications ranging from Net appliances to RAID controllers and networking equipment, such as routers. The chip also adds a double-data-rate synchronous dynamic RAM controller and a PCI-X controller.
IBM claims a number of design wins or customers using the new 405 chips in North America, Europe and Asia, sources said. They include cellular base stations, remote access devices, RAID storage devices, several printers, and even test and measurement equipment, sources said.
IBM is expected to present papers at June's Embedded Microprocessor Forum in San Jose.
"We're committed to developing and exploiting the capabilities of PowerPC in a wide range of solutions that accommodate (customers)," an IBM spokesman said. He declined to comment specifically on the new chips, however.
