The cores incorporated a modified version of the Cell processor, another PowerPC derivative being used in Sony's PlayStation 3 console, forcing IBM to 'hide' their work on Xenon from their other partners, Sony and Toshiba. Xenon - a 3.2 GHz version with 3 cores that was used in Microsoft's XBox 360 console.It was expected to reach 3 GHz, but would have required 85 W to do so and was cancelled. PowerPC 970GX - a single core version of the 970MP retaining the larger L2 cache.Clock speeds were expected to surpass 3 GHz, but never did. Two 970MP processors were used in the 2.5 GHz 'quad-core' Power Mac G5. PowerPC 970MP - code-named 'Antares', a dual-core variant of the 970FX with twice as much L2 cache per core.However, heat and power issues prevented the G5 from being adopted in a PowerBook, which Steve Jobs had promised in 2003. PowerPC 970FX - manufactured under a smaller 90 nm process to reduce heat and power requirements, this variant was introduced in the Xserve G5 and iMac G5 in 2004, as well as newer dual processor Power Mac G5 models.

They do not include a 元 cache, because the front side bus speed, and therefore the main memory, is run at the same speed. Like the preceding PowerPC G4, they include support for the AltiVec instruction set. PowerPC 970 - the original G5 was used in the first Power Mac G5 desktop computers in June 2003.It can fetch and decode up to eight instructions, dispatch up to five to reserve stations, issue up to eight to the execution units and retire up to five per cycle.

The PowerPC 970 series was derived from IBM's 64-bit POWER4 architecture.

1.8 ghz powerpc g5 processor