Power Mac G4: Description of Velocity Engine

The Velocity Engine can process data in 128-bit chunks, instead of the smaller 32-bit or 64-bit chunks used in traditional processors (it's the 128-bit vector processing technology used in scientific supercomputers--except that we've added 162 new instructions to speed up computations). In addition, it can perform four (in some cases eight) 32-bit floating-point calculations in a single cycle--2-4 times faster than traditional processors.

The PowerPC G4 with Velocity Engine works with the PowerPC architecture to accelerate the data-intensive processing required by next-generation video, voice, and graphics applications. Among the G4 key features is a vector permute function capable of rearranging data in the registers--a priceless benefit when converting data from one format to another (often necessary with voice, video and graphics apps, which typically need to save data in a number of different formats). These vector processing acceleration advantages give the G4 microprocessor a significant edge when it comes to fast visualization of large data sets, and intensive math for real-time simulations. Making the G4 perfect for everything from graphics and 3D games to astronomy, the biosciences, and predictive modeling.

For an in-depth discussion of the technology, refer to the Motorola Web page on AltiVec at http://www.mot.com/SPS/PowerPC/AltiVec/index.html