#Alpha
7 messages in this thread
Boy o boy. I just read the article in the current BYTE about the new
Alpha – remarkable. It provides 66% more fp than the new MIPS chipset!
(Just something for your files which you no doubt already have! <G>
Couldn't help running off at the mouth about that one!)
Cheers!
Paul
> Boy o boy. I just read the article in the current BYTE about the new
> Alpha – remarkable. It provides 66% more fp than the new MIPS chipset!
> (Just something for your files which you no doubt already have! <G>
> Couldn't help running off at the mouth about that one!)
Did they mention that it costs over $2,000 each? You will only see that chip
in $70,000 machines for a while. But it will be _VERY_ fast.
In a year or two it will start to appear in $12,000 type machines. Part of the
problem is why spend that kind of money on a CPU without giving it the extreme
support systems it needs? Huge, super fast cache, 128Meg of fast RAM, ultimate
fast harddrive, etc.
Still, I'm very impressed with what DEC has done with ALPHA. I only hope they
stay in business long enough to do well with it.
—– Andrew
Yah, they mentioned the price. 🙁 Something like $1.8k or $1.9k for the
266MHz version, and about $2.7 for the 300MHz version. Otoh, they hope to
reduce the price drastically when they go from .5 to .35 manufacturing.
I'd expect that for the high-end NT workstation market, the Alpha will
pretty much have a lock, at least if technological virtue counts. It's
also had time to mature as an NT platform, which certainly is in its
favour. Still, I suppose it's not even really in direct competition with
the 620, when that comes out. Well, maybe a little.
Paul
(regarding the Alpha)
> Still, I suppose it's not even really in direct competition with
> the 620, when that comes out. Well, maybe a little.
Don't underestimate that Alpha. As much of a fan as I am of the PowerPC line,
that Alpha kicks some royal butt.
The 620 should be introduced in the next two weeks, so we'll get some data
soon. It should compete very well against the Alpha but may not be quite as
fast (might be, I don't really know).
Where the PowerPC620 will do much better is that the PowerPC line of machines
from low end to high end will outsell Alphas 1000 to 1 (Because of Apple).
This means that there will be much more commerical grade software available for
the airy high end machines that normally don't get much.
i.e. What good is a zillion MIP machine if it has no software?
—- Andrew
Very true. I read somewhere recently that the 620 will run around 20-25%
behind the Alpha, but those were preliminary numbers. Otoh, I expect the
620 will deliver more power per dollar. Do you have any idea how much the
620 will cost?
Paul
> Very true. I read somewhere recently that the 620 will run around 20-25%
> behind the Alpha, but those were preliminary numbers.
I suspect that the announcement mid this month with reveal numbers better than
original IBM/Moto forcast from 18 months ago, but probably slightly behind the
300Mhz Alpha. I would expect that you are fairly close to the correct number.
> Otoh, I expect the 620 will deliver more power per dollar. Do you have
> any idea how much the 620 will cost?
Been kinda quiet, but I would guess near $1,000. This is based on very little
data, so I'm not staking anything on that! The guess work puts the 604 at
perhaps $500-600, and the 620 at $1,000. Expect to see dropping Pentium prices
to put downward pressure on these prices. You might see these prices drop 30%,
or more, after a few months.
You will see 620 class machines in the $6,000 range in two years is my bet.
But I think the best price performance may actually be the 120Mhz 601 for quite
a while. With the 604 filling the higher middle ground. The 604 will need a
die-shrink to be really cost competitive.
But on the 620/Alpha issue, if I could get 80% of the speed, for 1/2 the price,
and be able to run hundreds of native commerical grade programs and thousands
of emulated programs, that will be cool!
That will make the PPC620 the first very high end CPU to be able to run
shrinkwrapped commerical software that can be bought on the budget of a PC
owner. What passes for productivity software (word proccessors, spread sheets,
etc) in the UNIX world is scandalous.
Just think about software written for a $1,800 home machine being able to run
full blast on a high end workstation.
Oh well.
—- Andrew
>Just think about software written for a $1,800 home machine being able to
>run full blast on a high end workstation.
Absolutely! I look forward to the day when I can buy a PowerMac with a
620 that will let me run all kinds of great graphics software _and_
important things like MS Word. (All else being equal I'd certainly rather
not use a MS product, but nothing really comes close to Word, and I'm a
little uncertain about WordPerfect's future.) Of course, I won't be able
to afford any such thing any time soon anyway, so it all works out! <G>
And hopefully of course the Amiga will experience a remarkable
re-animation, but at this point I'm not counting on it.
Paul