EEMBC Publishes Benchmark Scores for IBM’s PowerPC 440GP Microprocessor

Benchmarks Task 500-MHz Device in Five Application Areas

EL DORADO HILLS, Calif.--December 2, 2002--Certified benchmark scores for IBM's PowerPC 440GP embedded processor were published today by EEMBC, the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium.

The 500-MHz 440GP microprocessor was tested against all five of EEMBC's application-based benchmark suites, which measure expected device performance in automotive/industrial, consumer, networking, office automation, and telecom end products. In out-of-the-box benchmark tests, the PowerPC 440GP received the following consolidated scores:

221.9 Automarks (MetaWare HighC/C++ 4.5b compiler)
48.0 Consumermarks (GNU GCC 3.0.4 compiler)
8.8 Netmarks (GNU GCC 3.0.4 compiler)
500.9 OAmarks (Green Hills Software MULTI 3.5 compiler)
9.5 Telemarks (Wind River Diab-SDS 4.4a compiler)

Manufactured in IBM's advanced 0.18-micron CMOS SA-27e copper process technology, the IBM PowerPC 440GP is the highest performing IBM integrated PowerPC available today. The device combines the PowerPC 440 core with a high bandwidth on-chip CoreConnect bus which provides separate read and write data busses to deliver 4.2 GB/s of on-chip peak bandwidth. The core's large data cache (32 KB) and instruction cache (32 KB) are 64-way set-associative, with versatile configurations to enhance performance tuning. For added system performance, the PowerPC 440 includes dynamic branch prediction, 24 DSP instructions, and non-blocking caches that can be managed in either a write-through or write-back mode.

"Certifying and publicizing benchmark scores for industry application suites gives customers valuable performance data," said Lisa Su, director, PowerPC and emerging products, IBM Microelectronics. "The EEMBC benchmark scores validate the price/performance benefits of the IBM PowerPC 440GP microprocessor."

In addition to the capabilities that are tasked by the EEMBC benchmarks, the 440GP is a system-on-chip featuring peripherals like PCI-X, DDR S-DRAM, and dual 10/100 Ethernet connectivity.

"Like many new processors in the embedded industry, the 440GP shows how integration is becoming more important for systems-on-a-chip," said Markus Levy, EEMBC president. "It is difficult for any benchmark to measure the performance of these peripherals, but they should be taken into consideration when analyzing the total capabilities of the device. Future EEMBC benchmarks will address a variety of on-chip peripherals, particularly in ‘full fury' versions of the benchmark tests."

Detailed score reports on the IBM PowerPC 440GP are available now for free from the ‘Search Benchmark Scores' area of the EEMBC web site (www.eembc.org) or direct from the following URLs:

Automotive/Industrial
Consumer
Networking
Office Automation
Telecomm

EEMBC is a registered trademark of the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium. VR5500 is a trademark of NEC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.