Update:

> POWER9 [...] in 2017

Apparently, POWER9 will implement the new Power ISA 3.0.

https://www.sourceware.org/ml/binutils/2015-11/msg00071.html
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/fe313521-2e95-46f2-817d-44a4f27eba32/entry/Announcing_a_New_Era_of_Openness_with_Power_3_0?lang=en
http://openpowerfoundation.org/blogs/power-3-0/
http://openpowerfoundation.org/presentations/entering-a-new-era-of-openness-with-power-3-0/
http://www.docdroid.net/file/download/tWT7hjD/powerisa-v30.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_ISA#Power_ISA_v.3.0

Power ISA 3.0b published in March 2017:
https://openpowerfoundation.org/?resource_lib=power-isa-version-3-0

Significant quote from Power ISA 3.0 spec:
"In 2006, Freescale and IBM collaborated on the creation of the Power ISA Version 2.03, which represented the reunification of the architecture by combining Book E content with the more general purpose PowerPC Version 2.02. Power ISA Version 3.0 continues this integration by providing a single Book III for all Power implementations, and also by eliminating optional architecture categories to ensure increased application portability between Power processors."

Updated quote from Power ISA 3.0b spec:
"In 2006, Freescale and IBM collaborated on the creation of the Power ISA Version 2.03, which represented the reunification of the architecture by combining Book E content with the more general purpose PowerPC Version 2.02. The resulting architecture included environment-specific privileged architecture optimizations (two Book IIIs) and optional application-specific facilities (categories) as extensions to a pervasive base architecture. Power ISA Version 3.0 B focuses this integration by choosing a single Book III and a set of widely used categories to become part of the base architecture for all forward-looking Power implementations. All other optional architecture categories have been eliminated to ensure increased application portability between Power processors. Legacy embedded applications that require the eliminated material will continue to use V. 2.07B."

Funny thing to say that Power ISA 3.0 "continues" or "focuses" the integration of PowerPC ISA and Book E ISA, when in fact it essentially *reverts* this integration by eliminating the parts that Book E ISA had brought into it.


Edit: added more links
Edit2: added Power ISA 3.0b
Edit3: added quotes and comment

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 05.03.2019 - 12:07 ]

Raptor Engineering Inc. pre-announces Talos, an OpenPOWER ATX workstation mainboard for 3100 USD.

Main specs:
- 1x 8-core POWER8 (10 and 12 cores as options)
- 8x DDR3 RDIMM slot
- 2x PCIe x16
- 4x PCIe x8
- 1x PCI
- 6x SATA3
- 8x USB3
- 2x GbE
- 1x HDMI

http://www.raptorengineeringinc.com/TALOS/prerelease.php
http://www.raptorengineeringinc.com/TALOS/prerelease_specs.php

That would be quite a cool candidate for a multicore 64 bit MorphOS system It's not much more expensive than a X5000 but with a lot more punch. And I could use it for years and years without it getting too slow for mainstream stuff.

[ Edited by Yasu 04.02.2016 - 12:23 ]

Quote:

Let's meditate upon this fact for a while...

Quote:

Oh yeah, I like that.
We can all dream what could have been.

Then again, hey Mark, how much do you want to port to this?
I'd be dumb enough to buy one.

@Jim

A free board plus peripherals plus pocket change? That won't be cheap ...

Quote:

Free? Come to think of it, we have some of those now.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/02/08/189253/talos-secure-workstation-is-free-software-centric-and-3100-updated

First benchmarks:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=talos-workstation&num=1

Not too bad!

Addendum:

> Raptor Engineering Inc. pre-announces Talos, an OpenPOWER ATX workstation
> mainboard for 3100 USD. [...]

The minimum production quantity (and thus number of pre-orders) would be 2000 pieces according to this article:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/why-the-talos-project-wants-to-provide-an-open-and-expandable-power8-workstation/

Addendum:

> Habanero TN71-BP012 with SP012GMR board:
> http://www.tyan.com/newsroom_pressroom_detail.aspx?id=1657
> http://www.tyan.com/solutions/tyan_openpower_system.html
> http://www.tyan.com/product_barebones_openpower_power8.aspx

Seems Tyan also offers PowerCore CP1 chips as option:

http://www.tyan.com/support_download_openpower.aspx?socketid=30
http://openpowerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/OPR_TYAN_TN71-BP012_160316.pdf

...as do others:

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.redpowerserver.com/products.asp?sid=3
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.redpowerserver.com/products.asp?sid=4
http://openpowerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Approved-Zoom-Server-RedPOWER-C210C310-4.11.2016.pdf

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=zh-CN&tl=en&u=http://www.nco-china.com.cn/7678.html
http://openpowerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/OpenPOWER-Ready-Request-NL22051.docx


Edit: added info from more vendors

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 08.09.2016 - 23:49 ]

Update:

> Raptor Engineering Inc. pre-announces Talos, an OpenPOWER ATX workstation
> mainboard for 3100 USD. [...]
> http://www.raptorengineeringinc.com/TALOS/prerelease.php

Reduced to 3000 USD.

> Main specs: [...]
> http://www.raptorengineeringinc.com/TALOS/prerelease_specs.php

mPCIe, eSATA3 and more SATA3 ports added. New main specs are:

- 1x 8-core POWER8 (10 and 12 cores as options)
- 8x DDR3 RDIMM slot
- 2x PCIe x16
- 4x PCIe x8
- 1x mPCIe x1
- 1x PCI
- 8x SATA3
- 2x eSATA3
- 8x USB3
- 2x GbE
- 1x HDMI

Addendum:

> The minimum production quantity (and thus number of pre-orders) would be 2000 pieces
> according to this article: [...]

...or 1500:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11133933

How much electricity does one of these consume compared to a typical PC?

Up to 190W I read somewhere on their page. So it is similar to a Mac G5 or Mac Pro (around 200 W and more). What is a typical PC then? Office one? THey use less. Gamer PC? Some graphics card need 200 W and then you can add all other components. You can end up at 500 or 750 W for that. For a standard desktop usually 50 - 100 W. But if we could so much power like from this machine I would accept 190 W as well. Just not for a 10 year old G5 with tiny performance compared to that.

Quote:

From the specs, it would appear to be no higher than a lower end AMD eight core system (less than a high end AMD cpu).

Intel hardware would offer a power advantage, but if we were really focused solely on power draw there are lower draw PPCs.

In terms of power vs performance, Power 8 actually looks pretty good.

Now Talos' performance per dollar ratio?
Not so good.

Now this is something I'd consider dropping some serious scratch on for PPC, if we were staying PPC. A much, much better value than A-Eonkit's offerings.


Quote:

> Up to 190W I read somewhere on their page.

...for the POWER8 chip, not for the board let alone entire system.

> In terms of power vs performance, Power 8 actually looks pretty good.

Even Raptor Engineering acknowledges that x86 and ARM offer more performance per Watt than POWER8.

http://static.rpteng.com/TALOS/images/3wq4uy8w9ote8v9o3tg34t.png

Quote:

My opinion about that is purely anecdotal.

[ Edited by Jim 28.02.2016 - 14:37 ]

Quote:

POWER8 has absolutely massive memory bandwidth (230GB/second) and another 48GB/second for I/O.
That's probably where most of that power goes.

FYI Intel Xeon E5 is up 160W.

Addendum:

> I'm not sure what to think of IBM's idea to go backwards in time and turn the
> memory controller into a separate chip again.

"Interestingly, IBM, at the behest of the hyperscalers participating in the OpenPower effort, is dropping its “Centaur” memory buffer from the memory hierarchy with the Power9 chip aimed at scale-out architectures."
http://www.nextplatform.com/2016/04/06/inside-future-google-rackspace-power9-system/

"The other big change with the Power9 SO chip is that IBM is going to allow the memory controllers on the die to reach out directly and control external DDR4 main memory rather than have to work through the “Centaur” memory buffer chip that is used with the Power8 chips. This memory buffering [...] is a hassle for entry systems designs and overkill for machines with one or two sockets. Hence, it is being dropped."
http://www.nextplatform.com/2016/04/07/ibm-unfolds-power-chip-roadmap-past-2020/

Current POWER roadmap depiction:
http://openpowerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/5_Brad-McCredie.IBM_.pdf (page 3)

POWER9 details:
http://openpowerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/5_Brad-McCredie.IBM_.pdf (page 7)

List of OpenPOWER-certified products:
http://openpowerfoundation.org/new_resource_types/openpower-ready-products/


Edit: added more links

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 18.09.2018 - 14:16 ]

Update:

>> Raptor Engineering Inc. pre-announces Talos, an OpenPOWER ATX workstation
>> mainboard for 3100 USD. [...]
>> http://www.raptorengineeringinc.com/TALOS/prerelease.php

> Reduced to 3000 USD.

Raised to 3700 USD.

Cool another unbuyable and powerfull motherboard !

I must admit that power8 is awsome but it's to expensive. The great thing is that all the moterboard is ducumented due to the open concept.