Those damned huge POWER CPU's from IBM

I know I've done a thread for this before, but I'm really itching to get one of these. Not the processor trays, or the heatsinks or anything else, JUST thechip




I mean, jesus! It's huge!

But I can't find pictures, info or anything on where to find these beauties. Nowhere. All I know is that these big ones are either a 4,5 or 6.
Are these prototype processors, or actual production chips? Were they widely used? Speeds? etc etc.

If anyone, ANYONE has info regarding these POST IT. Or maybe you can point me in the right direction, just something.
I'll also buy one if you happen to own one. I will gladly purchase it and guard it with my life.

Thanks.

 

Massive!

 

there where Round Intel CHips for sale a while back on Ebay... also huge I think they also got IBM... dont remember cleary.

 

If they are actual production units, you'll probably have to buy a server with one inside if you want to get the chip itself... I doubt IBM will sell just the chip, as AFAIK it runs in their (also) own hardware.

 

They aren't chips, they're modules, there appear to be 35 and 16 chips respectively.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-chip_module

This might contain what you're after: http://www.ebay.com/itm/140869855633
Not sure if it'll make as good of a paperweight if it doesn't have rounded corners.

Alternatively here's a 4+ with memory you could resell:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/230863132295

4s are cheap, 5s aren't so they must still be in use.

 

I guess "chips" is not a bad term then ^_^ (jk though, I now know MCM is the right term).

Indeed, Power 5 are still in use, though IBM is most likely pushing customers to move to Power 6 or 7 (which I heard are not only much more powerful, but more stable as well...).

 

those do look cool

 

Wow thanks everyone for the info. I have taken a look at those links but I can't be sure it includes that calibre of processor.

MCM seems like what I'm looking for, so I'm going to switch my view for that. A couple of the photos of these showed what looked like 4 separate contact pin sets on the bottom, so that makes perfect sense.

I wasn't planning to buy from IBM. No way they'd sell one of those alone.

 

You'd probably be able to pull z9 processors from scrapped or off-lease systems. If you can find one...

 

If you manage to get one of these big-ass CPUs, you should get one of these hard drives to go with it!

 

Be the real man - buy a 1024 CPU mainframe

Speaking of multi-chip modules, nothing will beat those old Amdahl modules - really HUGE with all that insane wiring.

 

Got myself a 5.25" full height HDD from an old computer. Not as big, but it makes a great desk piece.

A quick google shows that those are pretty darn cool. Still like the IBM MCMs though.


EDIT- Looky here what I found.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/EXTREMELY-R...tage_Computers_Mainframes&hash=item4d0bb402b5

A whole damn 88 cores! Jeez!

 

Now that's sexy. Kinda reminds me of all the ESDI & 506 drives I used to have. Oh, and the bigfoot! The bigfoot was awesome.

I once asked our "veteran" at work who has worked with stuff like this in the past and he never mentioned any monster CPUs.

 

And if you got one of the hard drives I posted, it would make a great desk

 

Even today, those hard drives are very impressive. I'm willing to be that they are impossible to kill. They would normally be put into a floor-ceiling rack with about 11 more of them for a total of around 30GB. IBM designed them to run forever so they have gas inlets that fill the inside of the disk with pressurized halon (halon was banned in 1994, so idk what they use now) as well as filters to filter the halon gas. There are a lot of banks and institutions still using them today, how many other hard drives can deliver over 30 years of continuous use?

Anyways, Power5's are still pretty new, so they are easy to find. Variants of the power4 chip are used in the last generation power macs (G5), although idk how big they are. Some of the power6 cpus are pretty cool, nearly achieving 5GHz.

 

POWER5's aren't new, they're old. POWER7 are current gen and POWER8 is to be released soon.

 

Ha, the only reason I have that drive as a desk piece is because it is dead. Some strange "msgout" error a friend and I couldn't understand. I'm planning to open it up and have the disks exposed, but the casing is immaculate and all the warranty seals are intact. It's an old Maxtor drive, so the "Maxtor" logo is pressed into the metal in large letters. Styling looks very recent for a 20-some-odd year old drive.


Still having isues finding a single, sole proceesor. eBay listings normally have them in processor cards, or the chip isn't exposed, or it's very expensive.


The PPC CPUs in G4 and G5 Mac computers are normal sized, albeit being on a small processor circuit board. They're nothing special besides that mobile PPC G4 chips smell like serious BO after about 4 years of usage.


POWER5 is old, but it still being used today. The only need for a POWER7 or 8 would be VERY high end servers and usages. Most normal sized businesses in need of a POWER CPU would probably go for a 5 or 6.

 

I was talking about the rack mounted IBM drives (post 10)

Your best bet is trying to find a power5 i think, the older ones are getting expensive because of collectors and the newer ones still have very practical uses. It's a shame the G4's and G5's dont resemble their power4 cousins.

 

Yeah. But then again, who would need an MCM in a desktop computer?

 

no one lol, i was just stating that they are a pretty impressive drive considering their age.