IBM has just launched the fastest-ever microprocessor and computer server, with the double whammy of being energy efficient, and thus relatively cheap to run.The dual-core Power6 chip boasts a top speed of 4.7 gigahertz, double that of IBM's previous Power5 and represents a next generation processor to the PowerPC, the chip that was previously used in Macintosh computers.
The average server CPU is between 2.0 GHz and 3.0 GHz and everyday personal computers have an average dual-core CPU speed of around 2.0 GHz.By comparison, Intel's Itanium 2 server processor tops out at 1.66 GHz.
The chip has a bandwidth of 300 gigabytes per second, which could conceivably process the download of the entire iTunes music catalog ( more than 5 million songs) in about a minute!
The Power6 chip also has configurable bandwidth, allowing customers to choose either high performance or low cost. The company estimates that customers using the new server could save more than $100,000 per year on electricity bills!Not bad,right?
