I have some questions about IBM power pc architecture

[Drama Lama]

I know that once besides x86 there was the Power PC architecture by IBM

for example Apple used Power PC processors before Intel. also the Xbox 360 used it

 

so 

 

-why do you don’t find it modern in „ normal PCs „ ?

 

-where do you still find it ? ( except the supercomputers summit and Sierra)

 

-what benefits does it have

 ( is it better than x86 but wasn’t used because Windows is only available for x86)

 

 

I‘m happy about your answers 

[mahyar]

power pc is like arm it is a risc and thus has benefits of risc and i dont think it is used anymore

[Drama Lama]

5 minutes ago, mahyar said:

power pc is like arm it is a risc and thus has benefits of risc and i dont think it is used anymore

as far as I know it’s still used in two supercomputers and in some IBM mainframes 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_(supercomputer)

Edited August 5, 2020 by Drama Lama

[mahyar]

because they are ibms own 

[BobVonBob]

It's not in modern PCs because Apple, IBM, and Motorola decided it wasn't worth continuing it as a consumer product. The last place it was still found in consumer hardware were the 7th gen consoles, the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 all ran on PowerPC.

 

All of IBM's current computing hardware uses Power ISA, an extension of PowerPC.

 

It essentially shed the baggage x86 had to carry with it. It was a RISC architecture which meant that it was fast. And then Intel caught up with x86 and eventually left PowerPC in the dust. The consumer install base wasn't big enough to keep using it since the only consumer manufacturer was Apple. Eventually it petered out in the consumer space and shifted to IBM's internal architecture.

Edited August 5, 2020 by BobVonBob
fixed a thing

[mariushm]

It has some benefits over x86 but also some downsides. 

Windows can't work on it without being compiled for it (and that requires adapting and optimizing lots of source code for it, not worth it for the small market share of those processors)

If you're truly curious about it, I'd suggest going on archive.org to find BYTE / PC Magazine / PC World editions with articles about PowerPC and the processors. Lots of technical information is available if you really want to find it. 

 

There were other architectures even more interesting, if my memory is correct transmeta had Crusoe, which could emulate x86 (and potentially other architectures) .. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmeta and https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs343/resources/crusoe.pdf

 

[Drama Lama]

Thanks @NZgamer , @mahyar , @BobVonBob and @mariushm 

[Nena Trinity]

I think some old Macs had them but those was the last ones... Best they can do besides obsolete iOS is run Ubuntu... OwO (powerPC for Windows is a no go sadly)