IBM Gobi, Mojave, PowerPC 970 and Beyond

Background...

In December 2002, ThinkSecret first reported on faster PowerPC G3 processors in the works -- these high speed chips were said to provide speeds in excess of 1GHz, and were codenamed "Gobi". Beyond this, few other details were provided.

We heard again about Gobi in January 2003, when MacEdition reported that the Gobi processors would be in full production during the first calendar quarter of 2003. MacEdition also revealed that the next generation processor would be code named "Mojave" and start at 1.6GHz based on a 0.10-nm process. First quarter 2003 has come and gone, without any sign of the Gobi processor.

More recently, an interesting forum post claimed to have inside knowledge of future processors coming from IBM. This post reported that a 750-derivative G3 with Altivec capability, Front-Side Bus speeds up to 450MHz , and chip-speeds up to 2GHz is due as early as this summer. However, assuming the processor described is "Gobi", this information conflicts with previous numbers (described above)

New Info?

Of most interest, however, is an anonymous and completely unverified submission which trys to provide some interesting details on these upcoming processors. As an unverified source, the information should be taken as such, and is provided for interest's sake:

- The PowerPC 750GX ("Gobi") is currently "sampling" and will be available in the Fall with speeds up to 1.4GHz.

- The 750VX ("Mojave") is an Altivec enhanced G3 to debut at 1.5GHz and will be sampling at the end of the year.

The only available information regarding the 750GX appears to be this product page for the CompactPCI board and its accompanying data sheet (pdf). IBM's site only provides an unhelpful Power Notes PDF encompassing the 740 and 750 lines.

It's unclear at this time if the 750GX is truly "Gobi" or simply a small revision to the 750FX processor. The CompactPCI data sheet implies that the two processors are pin-compatible which would suggest that the 750GX could not support any advanced bus technology.

And Beyond...

Other future timelines for the Power4/5 and PowerPC 970/980 lines were also included in the unverified submission, and are also of unknown accuracy:

- Power5/PowerPC980 work is on target.

- Power5 due later this year, PowerPC 980 in Q3 2004 @ 90nm process.

- PowerPC 980 (4.5GHz-5GHz top speeds)

- In 2006: Power 6, PowerPC 990. 990 is targeted at 8GHz.