IBM low energy consumption chip

A That is the PowerPC 970MP, IBM's new dual-core chip, currently being used for Apple's latest Power Mac G5 Quad and will be integrated for IBM's blade server in the first quarter of 2006.

According to Norman Rohrer, a senior IBM engineer, PowerPC 970MP can save energy in many ways. One of the key capabilities of this chip is that one of the two cores can turn itself off when not in use. In addition, the chip can cut its frequency by 1/4.

The above features have helped PowerPC 970MP reduce power consumption from max 100w to 60w, even 40w. PowerPC 970MP can run in lower power mode to save energy with a minimum of 3-5w.

Each core of the PowerPC 970MP has its own 1MB high-speed cache. This feature allows the chip to turn off one core when not in use.

VH