Apple Using HyperTransport?

Thursday June 12, 2003 7:24 pm PDT by Arnold Kim

CNet reports that Apple Computer is planning to discuss their use of HyperTransport at WWDC:

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company will use HyperTransport as a high-speed link between the two processors that make up the chipset in new desktop Macintoshes, sources said. A chipset is a group of chips that manages the internal functions of a computer.

According to the article, Hypertransport 1.0 allows for data transfer rates of "6.4 gigabytes to 12.8 gigabytes" [ed note: per second] and while definite ship dates for new computers are unclear, they expect that "it should not be too long" before the technology makes it into new Macs.

Based on recent rumors, Apple is widely expected to utilize the PowerPC 970 chip from IBM in future computers, and is expected to discuss this technology at the WWDC. MacBidouille is expecting the use of Hypertransport, as well as DDR 400, USB 2.0 and AGP 8x in upcoming PowerMacs.

Hypertransport is also being used by AMD, and is described as eliminating bottlenecks in existing systems in this earlier CNet article:

In HyperTransport servers, the central bus is eliminated. Instead, processors and memory are spread out and united by a high-speed ring road, similar to the decentralized live-work areas that have become common in high-population areas. Memory latency, or the time gap between when a processor requests data and when it actually retrieves it from memory, are reduced, according to AMD executives and various analysts.