HP C8000

Overview
Internals
External connectors
ROM update
References
Operating systems
Benchmarks
Physical dimensions/Power

Quick Facts
CPU	1-2 PA-8800/ 1-2 PA-8900 800 MHz-1.1 GHz
Caches	3 MB L1 32-64 MB L2
RAM	32 GB
Drives	4 SCSI 2 IDE 3 SCSI/IDE
Expansion	3 PCI-X 3 PCI 1 AGP 8x
Bandwidth	CPU 6.4 GB/s Mem 8.5 GB/s I/O 3.5 GB/s
I/O	GigE 10/100E VGA SCSI 4 USB 2 serial MGMT

Overview

The c8000 is the latest and probably last PA-RISC HP workstation. It is driven by one or two dual-core PA-8800 Mako processors, later offered with PA-8900 CPUs and features an impressive array of system and I/O options. The center of the system is the HP zx1 chipset, which also supports Itanium processors. The system is built in a sleek, silent tower casing and also available as a rack-mount option.

Time of introduction: 2004

Internals

CPU

1-2 PA-8800 (dual-core) 900 MHz-1.0 GHz with 1.5 MB/1.5 MB on-chip I/D L1 cache and 32 MB off-chip L2 cache each
or
1-2 PA-8900 (dual-core) 800 MHz-1.1 GHz with 1.5 MB/1.5 MB on-chip I/D L1 cache and 64 MB off-chip L2 cache each

Chipset

HP zx1 chipset
- Pluto zx1 MIO (memory and I/O controller) connects to the processor bus (6.4 GB/s), two memory buses (each 4.25 GB/s) and seven I/O channels (aggregate 3.5 GB/s) and contains both memory and cache controllers
- Six Mercury zx1 IOAs (I/O adapters) connect the PCI-X slots and I/O devices to the zx1 MIO with an aggregate bandwidth of 3.5 GB/s on seven 0.5 GB/s channels
  1. AGP 4x graphics bus on two channels — 1.0 GB/s
  2. PCI-X 64/133 I/O slot on one channel — 0.5 GB/s
  3. PCI-X 64/133 I/O slot on one channel — 0.5 GB/s
  4. PCI-X 64/133 I/O slot on one channel — 0.5 GB/s
  5. Gigabit Ethernet and Ultra320 SCSI on PCI 64/66 on one channel — 0.5 GB/s
  6. IDE, USB, management LAN on PCI 32/33 on one channel — 0.5 GB/s
Gigabit Ethernet controller
Two-channel Ultra-320 SCSI controller
UltraATA-133 IDE controller
8 MB Flash EEPROM

The detailed layout of the zx1 chipset and I/O adapters (IOAs) is approximate — no system-level descriptions were found and the information inferred from bus layout.

Buses

Itanium 2/zx1 processor bus 6.4 GB/s
Two independent zx1 memory buses, 266 MHz, each 4.25 GB/s — aggregate 8.5 GB/s memory bandwidth
Seven zx1 I/O channels/buses, aggregate 3.5 GB/s
AGP 8x graphics bus
PCI-X 64/133 I/O bus
PCI-X 64/66 I/O bus
PCI 64/33 I/O bus
PCI 32/33 I/O bus
SCSI-3 Ultra320 (LVD) storage I/O bus
UltraATA-133 IDE secondary storage I/O bus

Memory

PC2100 registered ECC DDR266 SDRAM DIMMs
Takes up to 4 GB modules
Eight slots
32 GB maximum
8.5 GB/s memory bandwidth
80ns memory latency

Expansion

One PCI-X 64-bit/133 MHz slot, full-length
Two PCI-X 64-bit/66 MHz slots, full-length
One PCI 64-bit/33 MHz slot, full-length
Two PCI 32-bit/33 MHz slots, half-length
All PCI slots are 3.3 V
One AGP Pro 8x slot (150W max power with auxiliary power connector)
I/O slot layout (from top to bottom):
1. PCI-32/33, short PCI cards
2. PCI-32/33, short PCI cards
3. AGP-8X pro
4. PCI-64/33, short and full-length cards
5. PCI-64/66, short and full-length cards
6. PCI-64/66, short and full-length cards
7. PCI-64/133, short and full-length cards

Drives

Up to four internal 3.5″ bays for Ultra320 LVD SCSI hard drives with 68-pin connector
Up to two internal 3.5″ bays for UltraATA-133 IDE hard drives
Three half-heigth 5.25″ bays for externally accessible SCSI (LVD or SE) or UltraATA-133 drives

External connectors

Two DB9 male RS232C serial
Five USB 2.0 ports (two in front, three in rear)
TP/RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet
Four phone jacks (microphone, headphones, line-in and line-out) on optional 16-bit audio card

ROM update

There is an firmware update available which contains the latest version 2.13.

PF_CC8K0213.txt has details about the contents and installation of the patch.
PF_CC8K0213 contains the patch.

References

Manuals

HP Workstation c8000 Technical Reference Guide (PDF, 2.7 MB)

Articles

HP c8000 data sheet (PDF, 400 KB)

Operating systems

HP-UX: 11i v1

Benchmarks

Model	SPEC2000, int	SPEC2000, fp	SPEC2000 rate, int	SPEC2000 rate, fp
C8000		1001 (est.)

Compare these with other results on the Benchmarks page.

Physical dimensions/Power

490×287×572 mm height/width/depth
Rack-mounted: 5U height, 424×572 mm width/depth
18.6kg net weight, 21.4kg fully loaded
871W max. power input (410W typical workstation configuration)

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