HP 9000 725
Quick Facts | |
---|---|
Introduced | 1992 and 1994 |
Period | Growth (II) |
Series | 700 Series |
CPU | PA-7100 (50, 75) 1 PA-7100LC (100) 50-100 MHz |
Caches | 128-512 KB |
RAM | 256 MB |
Design | ASP (50, 75) LASI (100) |
Drives | 3 SCSI 1 FD |
Expansion | 3 EISA (50, 75) 1 SGC/EISA (50, 75) 1 EISA (100) 3 GSC/EISA (100) |
I/O | Ethernet SCSI 2 serial parallel VGA HIL (50, 75) SMD-10 (100) audio |
HP 9000 725 PA-RISC workstations were desktop-sized Unix computers, released in 1992. They were a smaller option to the large and expensive HP 9000 750 computers while still offering the same amount of I/O options. System design is based on 715 workstations in a slighty smaller desktop case with dimensions very popular in the early 1990s.

725 were built in two different designs: one based on PA-7100 processors and HP ASP chipset.
This original 725/50 was billed by HP as low-cost workstation
for applications that require fast X Window System performance and 2D/3D wireframe graphics
such as CAD, MCAD, CASE and publishing.
All at price points comparable to PCs.
The second, newer 725 design was based on HP LASI chipset and newer PA-RISC LC processors, technically close to the pizzabox HP 9000 712 workstations.
The 725/100 was a high-performance, cost-effective expandable desktop system
.
725 workstations were never as popular however, in spite of good I/O options and a similar case and sizing to contemporary PCs (like HP Vectra).
- HP 9000 725/50 were introduced in 1992 for $17,895
- HP 9000 725/75 were introduced in 1992 for $20,295
- HP 9000 725/100 were introduced in 1994
System architecture
Processors
System | CPU | Speed | L1 Cache |
---|---|---|---|
HP 9000 725/50 | PA-7100 PA-RISC 32-bit | 50 MHz | 128 KB off-chip |
HP 9000 725/75 | PA-7100 PA-RISC 32-bit | 75 MHz | 512 KB off-chip |
HP 9000 725/100 | PA-7100LC PA-RISC 32-bit | 100 MHz | 1 KB on-chip and 256 KB off-chip |
Chipset
725/50 and 725/75
- HP ASP chipset
- HP Viper memory and I/O controller
- NCR 53C700 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Intel 82596DX 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- Intel 82C501AD Ethernet transceiver
- Intel 82350 EISA bus adapter chipset (EISA to GSC)
- Other I/O (serial, parallel, i8042)
- HP Stinger CRX graphics, 8-bit, 1280×1024 gray or 1024×768 color
- Audio 16-bit CS4215 CODEC
725/100
- HP LASI chipset
- 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
- Integrated Other I/O (serial, parallel, i8042)
- HP Wax chip, EISA bridge, HP-HIL
- HP Artist graphics, 8-bit, 1280×1024
- Other I/O (serial, parallel, Floppy controller, HP-HIL)
System buses
- GSC system-level I/O bus
- EISA additional I/O expansion bus
- 725/50, 75 PBus processor/memory bus
- 725/50, 75 VSC main system bus
- 725/50, 75 SGC expansion of the mainbus to the SGC expansion card
- SCSI-2 single-ended narrow bus (Fast on 725/100)
Memory
- 72-pin ECC SIMMs
- Takes 8-32 MB modules
- Eight sockets
- 32 MB (2×16) minimum, 256 MB (8×32) maximum
Expansion slots
- 725/50, 75 Three EISA expansion-slots,
One slot for either a SGC (EISA formfactor) or EISA card. - 725/100 One EISA expansion slot,
Three slots for either GSC (EISA formfactor) or EISA cards.
Storage
- One tray for one 3.5″ Narrow SE 50-pin SCSI hard drive
- One tray for one 3.5″ Floppy drive
- Two trays for one half-height 5.25″ Narrow SE 50-pin SCSI drive each, externally accessible
- 725/100: Fast-Narrow drives
External ports
- SCSI-2 50-pin Narrow SE single-ended (Narrow-fast on 712/100)
- Two serial RS232C DB9
- Parallel DB25
- Ethernet AUI 15-pin
- VGA HD15
- 725/50, 75 HP-HIL connector for input devices
- 725/100 SMD-10 connector, to connect HIL/PS2 with a special adapter
- Four phone jacks (microphone, headphones, line-in and ?)
Operating systems
- HP-UX, the original HP Unix shipped with it
- 725/100 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 | SPEC95 int | SPEC95 fp |
---|---|---|
HP 9000 725/50 | 1.53 | 2.46 |
HP 9000 725/75 | 2.51 | 3.85 |
HP 9000 725/100 | 3.76 | 4.06 |
Comparison to SPEC benchmark data from other contemporary Unix workstations:
System | CPU | SPEC95 int | SPEC95 fp |
---|---|---|---|
HP 9000 C110 | PA-7200 120 MHz | 6.00 | 8.14 |
DEC Alphastation 250 | DEC Alpha 21064A 266MHz | 4.18 | 6.27 |
Siemens PCE-5S | Intel Pentium 100MHz | 4.04 | 2.35 |
SGI Indy | MIPS R5000 150MHz | 3.97 | 4.20 |
DEC AlphaStation 200 | DEC Alpha 21064 100MHz | 1.48 | 2.79 |
Sun SPARCstation 10 | Sun SuperSPARC 40MHz | 1.13 | 1.38 |
Documentation
- HP 9000 Model 725 Family, HP Workstation Group archive.org, Hewlett-Packard Company (1996: mirror accessed January 2024)
Product sheets
- HP Apollo Series 700 Model 725/50 and 725/75 Low-cost, High-performance Workstations, product brief, Hewlett Packard (August 1993, 5091-8228E) hpmuseum
- HP Apollo Series 700 Model 725/50 Workstations, product brief, Hewlett Packard (August 1993, 5091-584X) hpmuseum
- HP Apollo Series 700 Model 725/75 Workstations, product brief, Hewlett Packard (August 1993, 5091-8329E) hpmuseum
- HP 9000 Series 700 Model 715/725 Workstation Price & Configuration Guide, Hewlett Packard (August 1993, 5091-8811E) hpmuseum