While Intel and AMD continue to duke it out on the CPU front, the guys at
IBM have unveiled a new dual-core processor that can hit 4.7GHz without
sucking up so much power. To be more exact, the Power6 has just two cores, but
both of them run at a blistering 4.7GHz - 2.5 times faster than the speediest
Power5+ processor. The Power6 also has double the bandwidth and over four times
as much cache as the Power5+. Because the Power6 is based on 65nm
silicon-on-insulator process technology, IBM boasts the new chip "doubles the
speed of the previous generation POWER5 while using nearly the same amount of
electricity to run and cool it." To accommodate its new hotness, IBM has also
introduced a new server: the System p 570. According to IBM, this machine
"claims the No.1 spots in the four most widely used performance benchmarks for
Unix servers - SPECint2006, SPECfp2006, SPECjbb2005 and TPC-C"-a first for a
single system. Perhaps someone at Apple right now is smacking their forehead as
they yell out "doh!" :-)
)