Owner's manual

6
Technology Overview
Power Mac G5
Quad-Core Processing
Enter the dual-core PowerPC G5 processor: one silicon chip with two independent
processor cores. Now take two of those dual-core chips and you have the Power Mac
G5 Quad, for groundbreaking quad-core processing.
Quad-core processing means more 64-bit resources: more L2 cache, more Velocity
Engine units, and more double-precision fl oating-point units. Videographers can
edit more footage, fi lmmakers can produce more real-time e∂ ects, designers and
photographers can process more higher-resolution images, and researchers can
crunch through data sets for faster results. Compare a quad-core Power Mac G5 to
the fastest dual-processor G5 ever built, and you’ll experience up to 69 percent faster
performance running popular professional applications.
1
Two Dual-Core PowerPC G5 Processors
The new PowerPC G5 combines two processor cores on a single silicon chip, providing
double the computational power in the same space as a single-core processor. What’s
more, each core has its own 1MB of L2 cache memory—double the size of its predeces-
sor—so you’ll have ultrafast access to twice the amount of frequently used data.
With two dual-core PowerPC G5 processors, the Power Mac G5 Quad doubles the ante.
Applications can take advantage of four 64-bit processor cores, including four 1MB L2
caches, four 128-bit Velocity Engine units, and eight double-precision fl oating-point
units, for a radical increase in desktop performance.
Comparison of PowerPC G4, single-core PowerPC G5, and dual-core
PowerPC G5 processors
Single-core Dual-core
PowerPC G4 PowerPC G5 PowerPC G5
Architecture 32-bit 64-bit 64-bit
Addressable memory 4 gigabytes 4 terabytes 4 terabytes
Frontside bus Single Dual Dual
Processor cores One One Two
Velocity Engine units One One Two
Floating-point units One Two Four
Integer units One Two Four
L1 data cache 32K 32K Two sets of 32K
L1 instruction cache 32K 64K Two sets of 64K
L2 cache 256K 512K Two sets of 1MB
With two independent cores on one
processor, the new PowerPC G5 packs
tremendous processing power on a
single chip.