Your support is needed and is appreciated as Amigaworld.net is primarily dependent upon the support of its users.
|
|
|
|
|
Hardware News : P.A. Semi Unveils New PPC Multicore Processor Family |
posted by Eric_S on 24-Oct-2005 11:29:59 (7529 reads) |
Official press release [Thanks to Fisk for the link].
A The Inquirer article on said chip [Thanks to DrBombcrater for the link].
Today P.A. Semi announced the PA6T-1682M. A new multicore, low power PPC chip that is stated to dissapate between 5-13 watts running at 2Ghz, with a high level of integration (memory controller PCI-E, Ethernet, etc).
Read on for select bits of the official press release:
THE PWRficient PROCESSOR ROLLOUT
The first PWRficient chip, the PA6T-1682M, which dissipates between just 5-13 watts, depending upon the application, is a dual-core implementation running at 2GHz with two DDR2 memory controllers, 2MB of L2 cache, and a flexible I/O subsystem that supports eight PCI Express controllers, two 10 Gigabit Ethernet XAUI controllers, and four Gigabit Ethernet SGMII controllers sharing 24 serdes lanes. It will sample in the third calendar quarter of 2006, with single-core and quad-core versions due in early and late 2007, respectively, and an eight-core version planned for 2008.
PWRficient ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS
The PWRficient family of platform processors is derived from a common set of fundamental architectural elements. A coherent, ordered crossbar called CONEXIUMTM interconnects multiple Power cores, L2 caches, memory controllers, and the ENVOITM I/O subsystem. ENVOI combines a set of configurable serdes lanes with a set of protocol controllers for such I/O standards as PCI Express, Gigabit Ethernet, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
These controllers share a bridge to CONEXIUM, as well as a set of centralized DMA channels, offload engines, and a coherent I/O cache. The architecture supports a variety of offload engines, including support for TCP/IP, iSCSI, cryptography (IPSec and SSL), and RAID. This layered, scalable architecture results in versatile single-chip solutions that can be quickly developed by combining the appropriate number of Power cores, memory controllers, and L2 caches with a suitable number of serdes lanes and protocol controllers.
P.A. Semi also employs a unique scalable-socket plan, which provides several options for performance upgrades or cost reductions with little or no design effort. P. A. Semi defines a "socket" (package, pinout, and power envelope) by the number of memory controllers (up to four), the number of serdes I/O lanes (up to 32), and the supported system peripherals. Each socket supports several performance levels by varying the number of cores (up to eight on a chip) and the size of the L2 cache (up to 8MB). Within a socket definition, processors are tailored to different applications by adjusting the number and type of the high-speed I/O protocols (for example PCI Express, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, 1 Gigabit Ethernet, SATA/SAS, RapidIO, and Fibre Channel). Initial socket definitions include the "E" socket (entry), "M" socket (midrange), and "P" socket (performance). Customers can design to a specific socket, instead of a specific processor, to enable easy migration to compatible processors. |
|
|
|
| STORYID: 2655
|
Goto page ( 1 | 2 )
Poster | Thread | asian
| |
Re: P.A. Semi Unveils New PPC Multicore Processor Family Posted on 25-Oct-2005 14:21:59
| | [ #21 ] |
| |
|
Regular Member |
Joined: 13-Jun-2003 Posts: 336
From: Unknown | | |
|
| > No Gorilla
What about IBM semiconductor, Freescale, AMCC, Culturecom, Marvel etc? Why Exponential went bankrupt in 1997? Why Bull cancel its PowerPC 620 project?
Exponential Bankruptcy
> Transmeta
Culturecom (HK) bought Transmeta's chip manufacturing division and patents. Culturecom is famous for its succesful PowerPC 405 based V-Dragon CPU. There are millions of V-Dragon CPU on various terminal, POS, e-book etc in China. The CPU are promoted by HP and supported by IBM. They plan to create future version with Code Morphing. |
| Status: Offline |
| | olegil
| |
Re: P.A. Semi Unveils New PPC Multicore Processor Family Posted on 25-Oct-2005 15:10:47
| | [ #22 ] |
| |
|
Elite Member |
Joined: 22-Aug-2003 Posts: 5895
From: Work | | |
|
| @asian
do you even read links you post? Exponential promised high-performance chips and didn't deliver. Apple decided not to switch from Motorola to Exponential when there was no significant performance gain. Add to that the speculation that Apple might have wanted exclusive rights in the market IF they chose their CPU, and you get a very bad business situation.
P.A. Semi are working under license from IBM, I don't think they will get much resistance from their own team. _________________ This weeks pet peeve: Using "voltage" instead of "potential", which leads to inventing new words like "amperage" instead of "current" (I, measured in A) or possible "charge" (amperehours, Ah or Coulomb, C). Sometimes I don't even know what people mean.
|
| Status: Offline |
| | Steff
| |
Re: P.A. Semi Unveils New PPC Multicore Processor Family Posted on 25-Oct-2005 15:26:33
| | [ #23 ] |
| |
|
Super Member |
Joined: 11-Mar-2003 Posts: 1342
From: Göteborg, Sweden | | |
|
| @Thread,
Gotta be good news for the Amiga this!
Sampling late 2006 sounds just right to me for the Amiga partners to have worked out a next stage of evolution for OS4 maybe with 64 bit support using something like this maybe in 2007-2008?
I would imagine that a 64 bit OS is a future goal and with that in mind all developement now would be done with such future steps in the back of a developers head.
This would depend on how well they can deliver and what actual costs are and what this market looks like in a year or two and what shape the amiga partners are in and how patient the community is and if Garry Hare is a happy puppy now and ..................................... !
Anyway the only bad news is no news? ..................................... Unless it's bad news! _________________ Fixed A1G4XE 7455 RX933PC with fried CPU Sapphire Radeon 9100 128mb ESI Juli@ 24bit 192kHz Envy24HT Sil 680 Ultra Ata 133 E-ide SeaGate Barracuda 120gb 8mb cache
|
| Status: Offline |
| | asian
| |
Re: P.A. Semi Unveils New PPC Multicore Processor Family Posted on 25-Oct-2005 16:34:19
| | [ #24 ] |
| |
|
Regular Member |
Joined: 13-Jun-2003 Posts: 336
From: Unknown | | |
|
| What happen if Freescale, AMCC or other large vendors release similar SOC / chipsets / CPUs with better price / performance or power / performance than P.A. Semiconductor products?
Will the large vendors crush / destroy P.A. Semiconductor?
If Motorola did not have the high performance product comparable to X704 in 1997, Apple may use this product, not Motorola CPUs.
BTW is there any attempt / plan by Escom / Amiga Gmbh to use X704 on their products? |
| Status: Offline |
| | Seer
| |
Re: P.A. Semi Unveils New PPC Multicore Processor Family Posted on 26-Oct-2005 19:03:07
| | [ #25 ] |
| |
|
Team Member |
Joined: 27-Jun-2003 Posts: 3725
From: The Netherlands | | |
|
| What happen if Freescale, AMCC or other large vendors release similar SOC / chipsets / CPUs with better price / performance or power / performance than P.A. Semiconductor products?
Competition ?
Will the large vendors crush / destroy P.A. Semiconductor?
It's called doing business I guess.
BTW is there any attempt / plan by Escom / Amiga Gmbh to use X704 on their products?
Escom has ben death for years now. Amiga GMBH is AFAIK long gone as well as Amiga Inc had/has no use for it (Ok, that may be IMHO) _________________ ~ Everything you say will be misquoted and used against you.. ~
|
| Status: Offline |
| |
|
|
Goto page ( 1 | 2 )
[ home ][ about us ][ privacy ]
[ forums ][ classifieds ]
[ links ][ news archive ]
[ link to us ][ user account ]
|