Is there any reason why IBM doesn't sell 'consumer' CPUs?

[SarahKerrigan]

Hmm. Well it'll be interesting to see when/if Talos III systems emerge based on POWER10. I fear they'll be a bit behind the curve compared to competitors.



It really isn't. It's a fairly important piece of equipment for anyone that wants to profile code at home for possible deployment at work later. You wouldn't buy it for a browser box or a gaming rig. Even as a productivity machine, I'm afraid Talos systems likely fall short.

Fall short how? The processors are quite powerful; the only issues are on the software-ecosystem side (lots of things with assembly optimizations for x86 and nothing else.)

 

[NTMBK]

Fall short how? The processors are quite powerful; the only issues are on the software-ecosystem side (lots of things with assembly optimizations for x86 and nothing else.)

If by "productivity" you mean "get **** done", then a lacking software ecosystem is a big deal.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Fall short how? The processors are quite powerful; the only issues are on the software-ecosystem side (lots of things with assembly optimizations for x86 and nothing else.)

There aren't many Talos II benchmarks. The closest to productivity I could get was:

Raptor Talos II POWER9 Benchmarks Against AMD Threadripper & Intel Core i9 - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

here's some rendering with C-ray and POV-ray. You'll notice the compiling went really well on POWER9, but the rendering? Not so much. A 2x22c system lost to a 2990WX. The base cost for board + CPUs to set up that 2x22c system is nearly $8300. You can get far fewer cores for less . . . but at that point, your performance evaporates in MT productivity apps, and you're still paying more than you would for a soon-to-be-outdated 2990WX.

 

[whm1974]

There aren't many Talos II benchmarks. The closest to productivity I could get was:

Raptor Talos II POWER9 Benchmarks Against AMD Threadripper & Intel Core i9 - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

here's some rendering with C-ray and POV-ray. You'll notice the compiling went really well on POWER9, but the rendering? Not so much. A 2x22c system lost to a 2990WX. The base cost for board + CPUs to set up that 2x22c system is nearly $8300. You can get far fewer cores for less . . . but at that point, your performance evaporates in MT productivity apps, and you're still paying more than you would for a soon-to-be-outdated 2990WX.

That has been always a problem with PowerPC type hardware, Apple was the only one producing "consumer class" PCs, with everyone else releasing Workstation and server class hardware. And the real major problem was the lack software outside of the MacOS Ecosystem.

 

[Eug]

That has been always a problem with PowerPC type hardware, Apple was the only one producing "consumer class" PCs, with everyone else releasing Workstation and server class hardware. And the real major problem was the lack software outside of the MacOS Ecosystem.

Actually, most PowerPC was/is actually embedded, no?

My Synology DS413 NAS (2012) is Freescale PowerPC BTW.

Freescale P1022 1 GHz dual-core

 

[whm1974]

Actually, most PowerPC was/is actually embedded, no?

My Synology DS413 NAS (2012) is Freescale PowerPC BTW.

Freescale P1022 1 GHz dual-core

Yes indeed I forgot about the embedded stuff.

 

[chrisjames61]

IBM doesn't nor has ever sold much of consumer anything. Let alone cpu's. But as others have stated they and Motorola made millions of PowerPC cpu's for Apple. But they could not improve at the rate nor compete with Intel and in 2006 Apple ditched the G4 and G5 for Core2 Duo's and Xeon's.

 

[Eug]

IBM doesn't nor has ever sold much of consumer anything. Let alone cpu's. But as others have stated they and Motorola made millions of PowerPC cpu's for Apple. But they could not improve at the rate nor compete with Intel and in 2006 Apple ditched the G4 and G5 for Core2 Duo's and Xeon's.

Core Duo (and Xeon) actually.

I still remember the famous 3.0 GHz G5 in a year declaration from Steve Jobs, when it was at 2 GHz. Later it was claimed by insiders he just pulled that number out of his @SS and he shocked his IBM partners when he claimed that.

Eventually they had to resort to liquid cooling the G5 before they finally switched to Intel.

 

[scannall]

Core Duo (and Xeon) actually.

I still remember the famous 3.0 GHz G5 in a year declaration from Steve Jobs, when it was at 2 GHz. Later it was claimed by insiders he just pulled that number out of his @SS and he shocked his IBM partners when he claimed that.

Eventually they had to resort to liquid cooling the G5 before they finally switched to Intel.

When the G5 was first introduced, it was far faster than anything Intel had at the time. But then, IBM pretty much stopped working on it and Intel caught up. IBM was also not interested in the low power parts that Apple wanted for laptops.

Out of frustration and IBM's failure to deliver Apple pretty much had to make the jump to Intel. And now Intel has been failing to deliver for quite a while now. They'll jump again if they have to. Whether to AMD or their own cores? You could easily speculate either way.

 

[CHADBOGA]

I'm not sure consumer is the right word, maybe enthusiast. I'm talking about CPUs like the Intel and AMD ones anyone can buy from newegg and such. I mean they DO make processors...

They are waiting for Lisa Su to become their CEO first.

 

[scannall]

They are waiting for Lisa Su to become their CEO first.

It's more likely that they'll start buying AMD parts. ;-)

 

[Eug]

When the G5 was first introduced, it was far faster than anything Intel had at the time. But then, IBM pretty much stopped working on it and Intel caught up. IBM was also not interested in the low power parts that Apple wanted for laptops.

Out of frustration and IBM's failure to deliver Apple pretty much had to make the jump to Intel. And now Intel has been failing to deliver for quite a while now. They'll jump again if they have to. Whether to AMD or their own cores? You could easily speculate either way.

Jobs wanted to switch to Intel long before that. Remember, he wanted to switch when they moved from OS 9 to Mac OS X, but the developers weren’t having it.

 

[scannall]

Jobs wanted to switch to Intel long before that. Remember, he wanted to switch when they moved from OS 9 to Mac OS X, but the developers weren’t having it.

That could be, but IBM pretty much forced the issue.