POWER3

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Dual 375 MHz IBM POWER3-II processors on the CPU module of a RS/6000 44P 270.

The POWER3 chip is a CPU that implements the 64-bit PowerPC instruction set architecture, including all of the optional instructions of the ISA (at the time). Released in 1998, it had two floating-point units, three fixed-point units, and two load-store units. It was originally supposed to be called the PowerPC 630 but was renamed, probably to differentiate the server oriented POWER processors it replaced from the more consumer oriented PowerPC.

POWER3 was used in IBM RS/6000 servers and workstations at 200 MHz. It had 15 million transistors on a 270 mm² die. Its successor, the POWER3-II was manufactured in a copper based process at .25 μm and reached 450 MHz on a 170 mm² die.

POWER3-II was succeeded by the POWER4.

[edit] See also

• IBM POWER Architecture
• PowerPC

[edit] References

• Papermaster, M.; Dinkjian, R.; Mayfield, M.; et al. (1998). "POWER3: Next Generation 64-bit PowerPC Processor Design". IBM Corp.
• Anderson, S.; Bell, R.; Hague, J.; et al. (1998). "RS/6000 Scientific and Technical Computing: POWER3 Introduction and Tuning Guide". IBM Corp. - gives more information about POWER1, POWER2, and POWER3

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