Motorola G5 project
Encyclopedia
The Motorola G5 project was an unsuccessful attempt around 2000-2001 to create a 64-bit
PowerPC
processor, successor to Motorola
's PowerPC 7400 series
. On roadmaps from the era it was designated PowerPC 7500.
It has been suggested that Motorola had a working "G5" chip, but said chip failed in the early stages of mass production and thus could not be widely made into a usable chip.
When Apple began producing 64-bit systems under the G5 brand, they used IBM
's PowerPC 970
, which is also known as the PowerPC G5.
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
processor, successor to Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
's PowerPC 7400 series
PowerPC G4
PowerPC G4 is a designation used by Apple Computer to describe a fourth generation of 32-bit PowerPC microprocessors. Apple has applied this name to various processor models from Freescale, a former part of Motorola....
. On roadmaps from the era it was designated PowerPC 7500.
It has been suggested that Motorola had a working "G5" chip, but said chip failed in the early stages of mass production and thus could not be widely made into a usable chip.
When Apple began producing 64-bit systems under the G5 brand, they used IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's PowerPC 970
PowerPC 970
The PowerPC 970, PowerPC 970FX, PowerPC 970GX, and PowerPC 970MP, are 64-bit Power Architecture processors from IBM introduced in 2002. When used in Apple Inc. machines, they were dubbed the PowerPC G5....
, which is also known as the PowerPC G5.