IBM POWER7 4GHz, 45nm, 8core, 4SMT, 32MB L3, 6op/cycle vs. 8 in DEC Alpha EV8

theregister.co.uk

6 points·yu··6 comments

With 32mb of DRAM on CPU, it's not long before computer manufacturers build the power on self tests to run entirely within L3, making it possible to interact with a machine with no RAM installed.

Or put another way, pretty soon on-chip DRAM will be plentiful enough that external RAM will be optional -- a lot of machines will basically be implemented with microcontroller-like integrated architecture.

Certainly, most operating systems can run in 32MB.

It would be nice even if only so the BIOS can boot up and print to the screen, "Hey, RAM slot #3 isn't plugged in right!" instead of the usual black-screen-and-long-beep

I've seen this trick used in BIOSes; using cache as RAM it's possible to do quite a bit before the memory controller has been turned on.

How does this compare to Intel Core i7?

I am not that much in to processors, but my understanding is that when it comes to GHz comparison the intel 1GHz is not the same as AMD 1GHz or IBM Power7 1GHZ.

(PS. Sorry didn't read the whole article. So not sure if it was mentioned)

Power7 probably destroys i7, but it's also much more expensive. The proper comparison would be Power7 vs. Intel "Beckton" Xeon 7500; the jury is out on that since neither chip has been released yet.

Who needs apple and their energy stingy laptops anyway?

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