A common misconception is that the PowerPC 970 was the core in IBM's Xenon processor in Microsoft's Xbox 360, but this is false. IBM is also licensing the PowerPC 970 core for use in custom applications. They were used in Apples Power Macs up to the G5, before Apple switched to Intel processors. PowerPC chips have been used in a wide range of applications from embedded systems to supercomputers. However, the CPU model is listed in /proc/cpuinfo (I believe this is the way neofetch gets the CPU model from the getcpu function), in the cpu: field, but not the usual model name: field for Intel processors. It it also used in some high end embedded systems like Mercurys Momentum XSA-200. PowerPC A family of RISC-based CPU chips developed by IBM, Apple and Motorola. When running neofetch on a G5, the processor model is not detected correctly from /proc/cpuinfo, as seen in the screenshot below.
#Powerpc g5 processor software#
To the OP: They are slow by todays standards, about as fast as Pentium 4s, and you cant run modern software on them because it has to be compatable with PPC processors. Recently, I had a craving for some PowerPC action, so I dug up an old PPC970-based machine and had some considerable fun playing with it.The machine in question is an early model of double-processor PowerMac G5, version 7.2 to be exact. IBM offers its JS20/JS21 blade modules and some low-end workstations and System p servers are based on PowerPC 970. The first few iterations were dual CPU, the later ones were Dual core, and the higher end later generations were 2x Dual core, dubbed, PowerMac G5 Quad. Apple only used three variants of the processor.
#Powerpc g5 processor portable#
Apple had to retract the promise to deliver a 3 GHz processor one year after its introduction and IBM could never get the power consumption down far enough for these processors to fit into a portable computer. When Apple introduced the Power Mac G5 they stated that this was a five year collaborative effort, with multiple future generations, but it didn't last that long. The project went under the codename GP-UL or Giga Processor Ultra Light, where Giga Processor was the codename for the POWER4 from which the core was derived. The 970 family was created through a collaboration between IBM and Apple. The PowerPC 970, PowerPC 970FX, PowerPC 970GX, and PowerPC 970MP, are 64-bit Power Architecture processors from IBM introduced in 2002.