@TrevorDick

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For everyone who is thinking that the Power architecture is a dead end after PA-Semi.

You beat me to it!

Not to mention that you had posted this quite some time ago. It will be interesting to see how much performance they give.

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Sam

@TrevorDick

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TrevorDick wrote: For everyone who is thinking that the Power architecture is a dead end after PA-Semi. Take a peek at the Freescale QorIQ Processing Platforms by Family. QorIQ Communications Platforms P1 Platform - Up to 800 MHz, (less than 5W Max.) P1010/P1014 low-power communications processors P1020/P1011 single- and dual-core communications processors P1021/P1012 single- and dual-core multiprotocol communications processors P1022/P1013 single- and dual-core communications processors with advanced energy management P1023/P1017 single- and dual-core communications processors with data path acceleration P1024/P1015 single- and dual-core communications processors P1025/P1016 single- and dual-core communications processors P2 Platform - Up to 1.2 GHz, (less than8W Max.) P2020 dual-core communications processor P2040 quad-core communications processor with data path acceleration P3 Platform - Up to 1.5 GHz, (less than 15W Max.) P3041 quad-core communications processor P4 Platform - Up to 1.5 GHz, (less than 30W Max.) P4080 eight-core communications processor P4040 quad-core communications processor P5 Platform - Up to 2.2 GHz, (less than 30W Max.) P5020 and P5010 single and dual core communications processor I know I'm not a hardware engineer (massive understatement ) but it appears that multi-core Power CPUs have a healthy future if Freescale is anything to go by. TrevorD

Nice PowerPC upgrade path, but AMD Llano APU (quad-core (K10.5 based), 4MB L2 cache, 400 stream processors) will beat them in multimedia/math workloads and price.

AMD Llano's the die size (i.e ~170mm^2 to 200mm^2) is about same size as Xbox 360 Slim's XCGPU (i.e. 169mm^2). Unlike today's PC designs, APU's GPU has a fast access to CPU's cache pool).

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Anyway, there's the rumored Wii 2 i.e. 3 core PowerPC(PPE type) with AMD R700 type GPU (stronger than Xbox 360's Xenos GPU) console. Based on Xbox 360 Slim XCGPU die size(~169mm^2), the candiates AMD R700 GPU cores would be Radeon HD 4770 (RV740, 640 SP, ~137mm^2, updated 40nm process tech) or Radeon HD 4670.

RV740/RV770 has improved tesselation hardware e.g. stream-in/stream-out cache, but it doesn't follow DX11 model i.e. missing domain/hull shader registers (fastest data storage method) and it's not used in DX dominated PC.

Xenos GPU's tesselation/vertex ping-pong process uses it's eDRAM.

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Ryzen 9 7900X, DDR5-6000 64 GB RAM, GeForce RTX 4080 16 GB
Amiga 1200 (Rev 1D1, KS 3.2, PiStorm32lite/RPi 4B 4GB/Emu68)
Amiga 500 (Rev 6A, KS 3.2, PiStorm/RPi 3a/Emu68)

@TrevorDick

I enjoyed the Freescale videos.

The greater need for network equipment as the "Cloud" grows ,the greater volume of these will produced.


Quote:

For everyone who is thinking that the Power architecture is a dead end after PA-Semi. Take a peek at the Freescale QorIQ Processing Platforms by Family.

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Sam460ex : Radeon Rx550 Single slot Video Card : SIL3112 SATA card

@TrevorDick

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For everyone who is thinking that the Power architecture is a dead end after PA-Semi. Take a peek at the Freescale QorIQ Processing Platforms by Family.

What cores are those CPUs running? Are those SoCs, and if so, what GPU are they running?

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Dammy

@TrevorDick

(I could have sworn I replied to this before but I don't see the post and I don't see a link for it on my personal info page so...)

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For everyone who is thinking that the Power architecture is a dead end after PA-Semi. Take a peek at the Freescale QorIQ Processing Platforms by Family.

Questions for you, what generation are those PPC cores? G2?

Are those CPUs you listed SoCs? If so, what GPU is onboard?

When I see these types of CPUs, I get that they are developed for communication equiptment, but I am wonder as far as desktop CPUs, what makes them even remotely competitive with current ARM series or the future ARM 15s?

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Dammy

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TrevorDick wrote: For everyone who is thinking that the Power architecture is a dead end after PA-Semi. Take a peek at the Freescale QorIQ Processing Platforms by Family.

I'm not sure anyone said it was dead. I said it was dead on the desktop, which it true. If you want to build a router or network switch, as you have illustrated, Freescale has a bunch of choices. In fact, that's the kind of CPU that's been showing up in other boards for PowerPC-based AmigaOS. These go into routers at or maybe a step above what you typically find on the shelf at MicroCenter, and go up from there. Cisco in particular has been very PowerPC centered for a long time. Most of the desktop PPCs, back in the day, eventually wound up in some switch or router -- that's the only way IBM and Motorola could justify the cost of development.

Like the idea of AmigaOS on a PS3 or X-Box 360, these could definitely be made to run AmigaOS. Of course, at present, SMP is useless, but maybe someone will do something about that for the X1000, who knows? And if you put one of these in a personal computer and sold it for the price of a PS3 or X-Box or low-end desktop PC, I'd think it was an ok solution, though in truth, all of other other devices offer more performance. But maybe this is enough.

The problem I've had is seeing this class of processor (and the PA-Semi chip is better, but not all that much better) in systems selling for $1000 or more. If you know what you're getting and want to spend that, fine.

At best, these are going to provide PowerPC AmigaOS systems for people who really, really want them. Anyone else is probably going to run UAE on a PC... which is going to be faster on any classic 68K Amiga software anyway. If it's just 68K software you want, older Amigas or maybe the Natami seem more reasonable options. This suggests that any AmigaOS PPC system purchase is based entirely on what you want to do: write new software or run existing PPC software, maybe. Otherwise, I don't see it. Too much for too little, so far.