HP 9000 842, 852, 865 and 870
PCX PA-RISC 1.0 servers
HP 9000 842, 852, 865 and multi-processor 870 are the last of the early PA-RISC servers, released by HP in 1990 and 1991. They used the first PA-RISC processor implemented in CMOS, the 32-bit PA-RISC 1.0 PCX processor.
These servers are very similar to earlier NMOS NS-2 PA-RISC servers with the same system and I/O architecture and slightly modified CPU/SPU design. These system use the same 16 MB memory arrays as earlier servers but could also use 64 MB boards.
| System | also | Processor | Design | Year | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 9000 842 | PCX PA-RISC 32 MHz | SPI and SMB | 1990 | $85,000 | |
| HP 9000 852 | PCX PA-RISC 50 MHz | SPI and SMB | 1990 | $143,000 | |
| HP 9000 865 | 865S | PCX PA-RISC 50 MHz | SPI and SMB | 1991 | $275,000 |
| HP 9000 870 | 870S | 1-4 PCX PA-RISC 50 MHz | SPI and SMB | 1991 | $440,000 |
HP 9000 842 and 852
HP 9000 842 SilverBullet Low used 32 MHz PCX processors with large 1024 KB cache, 8192-entry TLB and 256 MB maximum RAM. HP 9000 852 SilverBullet High were almost the same design, but with a faster 50 MHz PCX processor.
Both machines use SPI/SMB system design and HP-PB expansion cards for I/O and devices. Performance of 842 was about 30 MIPS for $85,000 at time of introduction in 1990, with the 852 having 50 MIPS for around $143,000.
HP 9000 865
HP 9000 865 Panther servers are cabinet computers, with a larger design than the previous 800 series, based on the new CMOS-based 50 MHz PCX PA-RISC processor with 768 KB cache and a 8192-entry TLB. SPI/SMB system design and CIO bus was used for I/O, maximum RAM was 512 MB. HP 9000 865 sold for $275,000 in 1991 and was supposed to have a performance of 56 MIPS.
HP 9000 870
HP 9000 870 Panther servers are large cabinet computers and the first SMP multiprocessor PA-RISC systems, with up to four 50 MHz PCX processors with 1024 KB cache and a 8192-entry TLB each. HP 9000 870/100 was uni-CPU, 870/200 dual, 870/300 triple and 870/400 quad-CPU with 1 MB cache per CPU.
SPI/SMB system design and CIO bus is used for I/O, and maximum RAM was 1024 MB with two memory controllers in 16 slots. Performance was supposedly 50 or 56 MIPS for single-CPU, 90 or 112 MIPS for dual-CPU, up to 168 MIPS for triple-CPU and up to 224 MIPS for quad-CPU. Introduction prices were $440,000 for 870/300, $530,000 for 870/400.
Later HP 9000 890 mainframes are possibly similar to the 870. They had up to four PA-RISC CPUs and were an upgrade and technology enhancement path.
Operating systems
HP 9000 842, 852, 865 and 870 servers were supported in HP-UX possibly from version HP-UX 8 in 1991 to HP-UX 10.10 in 1995.
| HP-UX | Year | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HP-UX 10.10 | 1995 | UNIX95, CDE, ServiceGuard |
| HP-UX 10.01 | 1995 | System V, DCE, Streams, better I/O and memory unsupported: 635, 645, 808, 815 unsupported: 825CHX, 825SRX, 834CH, 835SRX |
| HP-UX 9.0 | 1992 | PA-7100 and PA-7100LC support, LVM, VUE 9.02, 9.04 and 9.06 added hardware support 9.08 was B1 security release |
| HP-UX 8.0 | 1991 | 8.02 added Nova support 8.04 and 8.08 were security versions 8.06 added SMP code |
Benchmarks
Assorted MIPS performance figures for early HP 9000 800 servers.
| System | CPU | MIPS |
|---|---|---|
| HP 9000 840 | TS-1 PA-RISC 8 MHz | 4.5 |
| HP 9000 842 | PCX PA-RISC 32 MHz | 30 |
| HP 9000 852 | PCX PA-RISC 50 MHz | 50 |
| HP 9000 865 | PCX PA-RISC 50 MHz | 56 |
| HP 9000 870/100 | PCX PA-RISC 50 MHz | 56 |
| HP 9000 870/200 | 2 PCX PA-RISC 50 MHz | 112 |
| HP 9000 870/300 | 3 PCX PA-RISC 50 MHz | 168 |
| HP 9000 870/400 | 4 PCX PA-RISC 50 MHz | 224 |
Comparison to SPEC benchmark data of other RISC and Unix computers:
| System | CPU | SPEC92 int |
SPEC89 | MIPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP 9000 G50 | PA-7000 96 MHz | 100.0 | 136.1 | 115 |
| HP 9000 712/80 | PA-7100LC 80 MHz | 97.1 | 97 | |
| Siemens PCE-5S | Intel Pentium 100MHz | 96.2 | 79 | |
| HP 9000 I40 | PA-7000 64 MHz | 65.2 | 70 | |
| Sun SPARCstation 10 | Sun SuperSPARC 40MHz | 50.2 | 71.2 | 58 |
| HP 9000 750 | PA-7000 66 MHz | 48.1 | 77.5 | 69 |
| Siemens PCE-4C | Intel 486DX2 66MHz | 35.8 | 25.6 | 37 |
| HP 9000 F10 | PA-7000 32 MHz | 22.0 | 35 | |
| DECstation 5000 | MIPS R3000 33MHz | 20.9 | 25.5 | 29 |
| HP Apollo DN10000 | Apollo PRISM 18 MHz | 19 | 22 | |
| DECstation 3100 | MIPS R2000 16MHz | 8.4 | 11.8 | 15.1 |
| HP 9000 425e | Motorola M68040 25MHz | 12.2 | 10.3 | 18 |
| HP 9000 500 | FOCUS 18 MHz | 0.98 | ||
| DEC VAX 11/780 | KA780 3.4MHz | 1 | 1 | 0.9 |
| IBM PC AT | Intel 80286 6MHz | 0.8 |
Documentation
Information on early PA-RISC computers is fragmented and inconsistent, even in official sales and technical documentation. This article was pieced together from news and press releases plus documentation available at the HP Computer Museum.
- INFORMATION ON HP9000 SERVERS AND WORKSTATIONS Hewlett Packard Company (1999. Accessed January 2007) and The HP 3000/HP 9000 model spreadsheet, Allegro Consultants (2004. Accessed January 2007)
- Wayne E. Holt (ed.), Beyond RISC! An Essential Guide to Hewlett-Packard Precision Architecture, p. 95-102. (January 1988: Software Research Northwest Inc.) and Hardware Design of the First HP Precision Architecture Computers (PDF) David A. Fotland et al (March 1987: Hewlett-Packard Journal) hp museum
- HP REDUCES HP 9000 MINICOMPUTER PRICES (PDF) Hewlett-Packard Press Release, October 1989, accessed January 2023 1000bit.it
- A Broader Vision of Performance For Your Business - HP 9000 Multiuser Systems (PDF) Hewlett-Packard, 1990, 5952-0835, accessed January 2023 1000bit.it
- Hewlett Packard Update Computer Systems (PDF) Hewlett-Packard, May/June 1987, accessed January 2023 1000bit.it
Pictures © Hewlett Packard, scans from product brochures, from hpmuseum.net and 1000bit.it