PA-RISC information - since 1999

HP 9000 715

Quick Facts
Introduced 1992 and 1994-1995
Period Growth (II)
Maturity (III)
Series 700 Series
CPU PA-7100 (33, 50, 75)
PA-7100LC (64, 80, 100)
33-100 MHz
Caches 128 KB-1 MB L1
RAM 192 MB (33)
256 MB (others)
Design ASP (33, 50, 75)
LASI (64, 80, 100)
Drives 2 SCSI
1 SCSI/FD
Expansion 1 SGC (33, 50, 75)
1 GSC (64, 80, 100)
I/O Ethernet
SCSI
2 serial
parallel
VGA
HIL (33, 50, 75)
SMD-10 (64, 80, 100)
audio

HP 9000 715 are 32-bit PA-RISC workstations from HP from the mid-1990s. Often used for technical design, CAD/CAM and engineering, the 715 were powerful, expandable HP-UX systems. They were popular computers when Unix workstations were used for those scenarios in the 90s.

HP 9000 715
© Hewlett Packard 1994

HP 9000 715 were marketed against popular Unix workstations of the 90s like SGI Indy, DEC Alpha, IBM RS/6000. With advanced video adapters, 715 were often used for graphical (2D and 3D) and video editing.

There were two different workstations: The first 715 were based on ASP with PA-7100 processors: 715/33, 715/50 and 715/75 under the Apollo brand. The 715/33 was one of the slowest and worst PA-RISC workstations ever. The second generation was more modern based on LASI with PA-7100LC CPUs: 715/64, 715/80, 715/100 and 100XC, technically close to the pizzabox HP 9000 712 workstations, the 100XC being a rather fast machine for the 1990s.

HP 715/64 running NeXTSTEP
715 NeXTSTEP, Thomas Schanz CC BY-SA 4.0

HP marketed the LASI HP 9000/715 as supporting bi-endian switching for current and future operating systems, probably a reference to aborted Windows NT PA-RISC and a few other plans.

Billed by HP as having easy installation, upgradability, expansion, and serviceability, HP 9000 715 workstations were handy Unix computers for the 1990s and supported NeXTSTEP on PA-RISC well.

System architecture

Processors

System CPU Speed Cache
715/33 PA-7100 PA-RISC 32-bit 33 MHz 128 KB off-chip
715/50 PA-7100 PA-RISC 32-bit 50 MHz 128 KB off-chip
715/64 PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit 64 MHz 1 KB on-chip and 64 KB off-chip
715/75 PA-7100 PA-RISC 32-bit 75 MHz 512 KB off-chip
715/80 PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit 80 MHz 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip
715/100 PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit 100 MHz 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip
715/100XC PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit 100 MHz 1 KB on-chip and 1024 KB off-chip

Chipset

715/33, 50 and 75 (first version, ASP)

First version of 715 workstations with older architecture.

HP 715 ASP Architecture
715 ASP, © HP 1992

715/64, 80 and 100 (second version, LASI)

Second version of 715 workstations with modernized architecture.

HP 715 ASP Architecture
715 LASI, © HP 1994

System buses

Memory

Expansion slots

Storage

External ports

Operating systems

Pictures

HP 9000 715/100XC HP 9000 715/100XC
HP 9000 715/100XC, Thomas Schanz 2013, CC BY-SA 4.0
HP 9000 715/100 HP 9000 715/100 HP 9000 715/100 HP 9000 715/100
HP 9000 715/100, Thomas Schanz 2010, CC BY-SA 4.0
HP 9000 715/80 HP 9000 715/80 HP 9000 715/80
HP 9000 715/80, Thomas Schanz 2013, CC BY-SA 4.0
HP 9000 715/850 HP 9000 715/850
HP 9000 715/50, Thomas Schanz 2013, CC BY-SA 4.0

Benchmarks

System SPEC92 int SPEC92 fp SPEC95 int SPEC95 fp
HP 9000 715/33 32.5 52.4 1.01 1.58
HP 9000 715/50 49.2 78.8 1.53 2.46
HP 9000 715/64 80.6 109.4 2.52 3.31
HP 9000 715/75 82.6 127.2 2.51 3.85
HP 9000 715/80 96.3 123.2 3.01 3.50
HP 9000 715/100 115.1 138.7 3.76 4.06
HP 9000 715/100XC 132.2 184.6 4.55 4.70

Comparison to SPEC benchmark data from other contemporary Unix workstations:

Based on old SPEC92 and SPEC95 archives
System CPU SPEC92 int SPEC92 fp SPEC95 int SPEC95 fp
Intel Alder Intel Pentium Pro 150MHz 276.3 220.0 6.08 5.42
HP 9000 C110 PA-7200 120 MHz 167.0 269.0 6.00 8.14
DEC Alphastation 250 DEC Alpha 21064A 266MHz 198.6 262.5 4.18 6.27
HP 9000 735/125 PA-7150 125 MHz 136.0 201.0 3.97 4.61
IBM RS/6000 43P PowerPC 604 100 MHz 128.0 120.2 3.59 3.20
Sun SPARCstation 20 Sun SuperSPARC II 75MHz 125.8 121.2 3.11 3.10
Siemens PCE-5S Intel Pentium 100MHz 96.2 81.2 4.04 2.35
SGI Indy MIPS R4400SC 75MHz 88.1 96.6
DEC AlphaStation 200 DEC Alpha 21064 100MHz 74.6 95.2 1.48 2.79
Digital DECpc XL Intel Pentium 66MHz 51.6 47.5
Sun SPARCstation 10 Sun SuperSPARC 40MHz 50.2 60.2 1.13 1.38
HP Vectra VL2 Intel 486DX 100MHz 45.8 23.1
Digital DECstation 5000 MIPS R4000 50MHz 43.2 42.1

Comparison of PA-7100LC at 100 MHz to Intel Pentium at the same clock is interesting, as the PA-7100LC has slightly higher integer (around 30%) and almost twice the floating point performance. Intel Pentium Pro was very powerful, in contrast.

Documentation

Manuals

LED messages

Product sheets

ROM update

There is a firmware update available for the 715/64, /80 and /100.

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