To add more fuel to my fire, here is what else I've found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC_400#PowerPC_470
Then I found this on a random internet blog from November 2011:
http://www.dingux.com/2010/11/back-from-china.html
I wonder if the PPC 4xx family has any merit to discuss at this point, because it might make a lot of sense in context to what we've heard and what the IBM press release says:
https://www-01.ibm.com/chips/techlib/techlib.nsf/techdocs/D393643EC6B662E78525763200547AED/$file/476fp_wp_04_07_2011.pdf
Relevant Specs (for the vanilla, non-customized versions obviously):
- up to 2ghz/core
- up to 1mb cache per core
- support for multiple DDR3 controllers
- 9-stage 4-issue out-of-order
- dynamic branch prediction
- support for embedded DRAM
- 0.85 to 1.1v voltage range on IBM's 45nm SOI process (CU-45)
Interesting... very interesting. I feel very jeff_rigby-like all of a sudden. Edit: note that some of those links may mean nothing at all, and not related to the Wii U in any way. But an interesting prospect if the 4xx series is already being used in gaming applications - especially from IBM's point of view.