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 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 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.
- HP 9000 715/33 were introduced in 1992 for $4,995
- HP 9000 715/50 were introduced in 1992 for $11,895
- HP 9000 715/75 were introduced in 1992 for $11,005 (SPU)
- HP 9000 715/64 were introduced in 1994 for $10,000
- HP 9000 715/80 were introduced in 1994 for $13,000
- HP 9000 715/100 were introduced in 1994 for $19,000
- HP 9000 712/100XC were introduced in 1995 for $21,100
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 ASP chipset
- HP Viper memory and I/O controller
- Integrated NCR 53C700 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Integrated Intel 82596DX 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- Intel 82350 EISA bus adapter chipset (EISA to GSC)
- HP Stinger CRX graphics, 8-bit, 1280×1024 gray or 1024×768 color
- Audio 16-bit CS4215 CODEC
- Other I/O (serial, parallel, i8042)
715/64, 80 and 100 (second version, LASI)
Second version of 715 workstations with modernized architecture.

- HP LASI chipset, highly integrated
- Memory and I/O controller integrated into the PA-7100 processor
- Integrated NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Integrated Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- Integrated HP Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit stereo audio
- HP Wax, EISA bridge and HP-HIL
- HP Artist graphics, 8-bit, 1 MB VRAM (could be extended to 2), 1280×1024
- Other I/O like serial, parallel, HP-HIL, Floppy
System buses
- GSC system level I/O bus
- EISA additional expansion I/O bus
- SCSI-2 single-ended narrow bus
- 715/33, 50, 75 PBus processor/memory bus
- 715/33, 50, 75 VSC main system bus
- 715/33, 50, 75 SGC expansion of the mainbus to the SGC expansion card
Memory
- 72-pin ECC SIMMs
- Eight sockets for 8-32 MB modules
- 715/33 6 memory sockets
- 16 MB to 192 MB (6×32) or 256 MB (8×32) supported
Expansion slots
- 715/33, 50, 75 One slot for SGC (EISA formfactor) cards
- 715/64, 80, 100 One slot for GSC (EISA formfactor) cards
- With an HP adapter EISA cards can be used in the GSC or SGC slots
Storage
- Two SCSI 3.5″ Fast-Narrow SE 50-pin hard drives
- SCSI half-height 5.25″ Fast-Narrow SE 50-pin drive, externally accessible
External ports
- SCSI-2 50-pin single-ended Fast-Narrow
- Two serial RS232C DB9 (up to 115200 baud)
- Parallel DB25
- Ethernet AUI 15-pin
- VGA HD15
- 715/33, 50, 75 HP-HIL connector for input devices
- 715/64, 80, 100 SMD-10 connector, to connect HIL and PS2
- Four phone jacks (microphone, headphones and line-in and ?)
- Nine LEDs on the front for errors and status messages
Operating systems
- HP-UX, the original HP Unix shipped with it
- 715/64, 80, 100 HP-UX 11i v1 in 32-bit mode, TCOE and MTOE versions
- HP-UX 11.00 in 32-bit mode
- HP-UX 10.20 32-bit
- HP-UX 10.00 and HP-UX 10.10, pre-Y2K
- HP-UX 9 (9.05, 9.07), pre-Y2K
- NeXTSTEP, Mach-based Unix with beautiful GUI, PA-RISC in version 3.3
- PA-RISC Linux, main Linux port to PA-RISC, supported by HP in the 2000s
- OpenBSD, open-source Unix-like, ported to PA-RISC
- NetBSD, open-source Unix-like, ported to PA-RISC
- HPBSD, original 4.3BSD Unix on PA-RISC (closed)
- Mach 4/Lites, research microkernel with 4.4BSD (with issues)
- MkLinux, research Linux with Mach microkernel
- OSF MK-PA, OSF/1 Unix port to PA-RISC
Pictures











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:
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
- Model 715 Service Handbook, Hewlett Packard (August 1995, A2600–90039) parisc linux
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715 Owner’s Guide, Hewlett Packard (April 1994, A2084-90692) hpmuseum
- HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 Model 715/33 and 715/50 Owner’s Guide, Hewlett Packard (January 1993, A2084-90613) hpmuseum
- Hardware Installation Guide Model 715, Hewlett Packard (April 1993, A2084-90012) hpmuseum
LED messages
- LED errors and status messages might be displayed on the HP 9000 715 front LEDs
Product sheets
- HP UNIX Workstations and Netstations, Hewlett-Packard Company (1997: mirror accessed January 2024) archive.org
- HP 9000 Models 715/64, 715/80, 715/100, and 715/100XC Workstations, HP Workstation Group, Hewlett-Packard Company (1997: mirror accessed January 2024) archive.org
- Quick Reference Guide HP 9000 715 Workstations, Hewlett Packard 4/1994, 5962-9710LE 1000bit.it
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/725 Workstation Price & Configuration Guide, Hewlett Packard (August 1993, 5091-8811E) hpmuseum
- HP Apollo 9000 Series 700 Model 715/75 Model 725/75 Sales Guide, Hewlett Packard (August 1993, 5091-8794) hpmuseum
- HP Apollo Series 700 Performance Brief, Hewlett Packard (October 1992, 5091-5750E) hpmuseum
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/33 and 715/50, product brief, Hewlett Packard (April 1994, 5091-5779E) hpmuseum
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/33, 715/50 and 715/75, product brief, Hewlett Packard (April 1994, 5091-9991E) hpmuseum
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/64, 715/80 and 715/100, product brief, Hewlett Packard (April 1994, 5962-9555E) hpmuseum
ROM update
There is a firmware update available for the 715/64, /80 and /100.
- C7X50016.text has details about the patch and installation parisc linux
- C7X50016.frm contains the new firmware parisc linux