IBM finally talks Power 6

IBM FINALLY BROKE cover on Power 6, or at least some of the cover. In a story at the Financial Times, IBM confirms a lot of what was said earlier at Real World Tech, basically a radical departure from it's predecessors.

The chip is going to be fast, planned for 4-5GHz, with 6GHz seen in the labs. This may be all fine and dandy, but there are two things to worry about, width and power. If the chip is less than half the width of it's predecessor and 'only' twice as fast, you will lose real world performance. If it is the same width as Power 5 and twice as fast, well then you are talking really good performance. We know the clock, now we wait for details.

The other problem is power, or at least consumption. If you recall Intel's ongoing struggle with electricity, IBM could be facing the same thing. IBM only says that Power 6 will be in the 'same power envelope as its rivals'. Intel was also quite optimistic about the P4 as you may recall. Time will tell.

Basically, the chip is doing a radical left turn, going from slow and wide to narrow and fast. It may pay off, it may be a colossal flop, but it will be alone in it's design. Intel is going back to wide and slow, Sun is going, well, slow, in-order and many, while AMD is staying in the middle. It's going to be fun to watch it all play out. µ