“The Cell processor… could have 10x the capability of current PC processors. The Cell processor is a member of the PowerPC family that was jointly developed by Sony, IBM, and Toshiba. Sony’s goal was to design a new kind of processor optimized for the next generation Playstation, but the Cell processor has implications for the entire computer industry,” Dan Knight writes for LowEndMac. The Cell has the potential for “a lot of power, and it’s going to run at high clock speeds. As [Tech writer] Nicholas Blachford observes, ‘The speed difference is so great that nothing short of a complete overhaul of the x86 architecture will be able to bring it even close performance wise.”
Knight writes, “The Cell processor will run at speeds over 4 GHz (4.5-4.6 GHz is often mentioned as a top speed for the current design). That’s faster than anything Intel or AMD offer, and nearly twice the CPU speed of the fastest G5 [and] the Cell will be relatively energy efficient, according to PCWorld, and should work with air-cooled designs. Steve Jobs has got to love that!”
There are some drawbacks, of course, if Apple adopts the Cell, Knight explains, “The Cell processor is a member of the PowerPC family, and although IBM claims it can run programs written for the PowerPC, that doesn’t mean they’ll run the same way. While the Cell is very powerful and very efficient, there are differences that will have to be taken into account when optimizing software for the new processor… The Cell needs very, very, very fast memory, and the two architectures supported run at 3.2 GHz (XDR) and 6.4 GHz (FlexIO). That’s probably going to mean very expensive memory.”
“With IBM already claiming the Cell processor can run current PowerPC software, it’s not hard to imagine Apple adopting it for future CPUs. A single 4.0 GHz Cell processor in an iBook or Mac mini would undoubtedly run circles around today’s 1.25-1.33 GHz entry-level Macs, and a quad processors Power Mac at 4.0 GHz should handily outperform today’s 2.5 GHz Power Mac G5,” Knight writes. “In fact, if ‘the mother of all thermal challenges’ stymies Apple long enough, it’s conceivable that when the PowerBook moves from a G4 CPU it will instead adopt the Cell. All speculation, of course, but the Cell opens up a bunch of possibilities for Apple – not to mention for the rest of the personal computer industry to move away from costly Intel and AMD CPUs and the malware magnet known as Microsoft Windows.”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Merrill ups Apple price target on likely Cell chip use, Apple up big in pre-market trading – February 15, 2005
Intel has no answer to the ‘Cell’ processor; will Apple use it in Macs? – February 09, 2005
Will Apple use the ‘Cell’ processor in Macs? – February 09, 2005
Will Apple take advantage of powerful new ‘Cell’ microprocessors? – February 07, 2005