HP 9000/K-Class

Overview
System
External
Operating systems
Benchmarks
Dimensions
References

Quick Facts
Introduced	1995-1998
Period	Maturity (III)
CPU	1-4 PA-7200/ 1-4 PA-8000/ 1-6 PA-8200 100-240 MHz
Caches	512 KB-4 MB L1
RAM	512 MB (max) to 8 GB (max)
Design	U2/UTurn
Drives	6 SCSI
Expansion	1 HSC 4 HP-PB/ 8 HP-PB (K4x0)
Bandwidth	?
I/O	SCSI MUX parallel

Overview

The HP 9000 K-Class are multiprocessor PA-RISC servers from the mid- to late-1990s, part of the HP 9000 800 series of servers. They based on the U2/UTurn chipset architecture and Runway-based PA-7200 and PA-8000 processors. The K200s and K400s were up to four-way, the K370/K380 and K570/K580 up to six-way SMP. A typical K-Class server consists of a System Processing Unit (SPU), seperate system console and an optional UPS, bundled into a single 19″ rack.

In the 1990s, D-Class servers were part of the US Navy TAC-4 program, in which HP was a vendor supplying RISC Unix computers for uses throughout the Navy. The D-Class were part of a technology refreshment of TAC-4 in 1996.

The K-Class naming convention for server types is as follows.

The first digit after K, 1-5, indicates the server type:
- K100: single-CPU with limited expandability
- K2x0: up to four CPUs, better expandability and memory
- K3x0: up to six CPUs and more I/O slots
- K4x0: up to four CPUs, more I/O slots and more memory
- K5x0: up to six CPUs and a different I/O configuration
The number after that, 00, 10, … 80 indicates the system design with CPUs and chipset.
- 00/10/20: PA-7200 processor and UTurn architecture
- 50/60: PA-8000 processor and U2 architecture
- 70/80: PA-8200 processor and U2 architecture

System	Model number	Introduced
K100, K200, K400	HP 9000/809, HP 9000/819, HP 9000/829	March 1995
K210, K410	HP 9000/839, HP 9000/849	September 1995
K220, K420	HP 9000/859, HP 9000/869	March 1996
K250, K450	HP 9000/802, HP 9000/804	August 1996
K260, K460	HP 9000/879, HP 9000/889	August 1996
K370, K570	HP 9000/898, HP 9000/899	May 1997
K380, K580	HP 9000/800	February 1998

System

CPU

K100: PA-7200 100 MHz with 512 KB off-chip L1 and 2 KB on-chip L1 cache
K200/K400: 1-4 PA-7200 100 MHz with 512 KB off-chip L1 and 2 KB on-chip L1 cache each
K210/K410: 1-4 PA-7200 120 MHz with 512 KB off-chip L1 and 2 KB on-chip L1 cache each
K220/K420: 1-4 PA-7200 120 MHz with 2 MB off-chip L1 and 2 KB on-chip L1 cache each
K250/K450: 1-4 PA-8000 160 MHz with 2 MB off-chip L1 cache each
K260/K460: 1-4 PA-8000 180 MHz with 2 MB off-chip L1 cache each
K370/L570: 1-6 PA-8200 200 MHz with 4 MB off-chip L1 cache each
K380/K580: 1-6 PA-8200 240 MHz with 4 MB off-chip L1 cache each

Chipset

PA-7200 U2 I/O adapter Runway to GSC bridge
PA-8000/8200 UTurn I/O adapter Runway to GSC bridge
MMC/SMC memory controllers
Gecko BOA BC GSC+ Port
LASI I/O chipset
NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
NCR 53C720 16-bit Fast-Wide high-voltage differential (HVD) SCSI-2
Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit stereo audio
Eole CAP/MUX
Other I/O (serial, parallel)

Buses

Runway CPU/memory bus, 100 MHz with 800 MB peak on Kx00, 120 MHz 960 MB/s on all others
GSC+ bus for general system level I/O
HSC bus for expansion I/O
HP-PB bus for expansion I/O
SCSI-2 Fast-Wide high-voltage differential (HVD) bus for main storage I/O
SCSI-2 Fast-Narrow single-ended bus for main storage I/O

Memory

K100 512 MB maximum RAM
K200, K210, K220 2 GB maximum RAM
K250, K260, K370, K380, K400, K410, K420 4 GB maximum RAM
K450, K460, K570, K580 8 GB maximum RAM
72-pin ECC SIMMs on special RAM boards
Systems with a PA-8x00 need 50ns access time modules, PA-7200 models can take up to 60ns. Slower modules could work.

Expansion

One slot for a GSC/HSC card on the core I/O board
Four slots for HP-PB cards
K3x0 With a 2-slot HSC I/O expansion module two more GSC/HSC cards could be used
K4x0 and K4x0 With a 2- or 4-slot HSC I/O expansion module two or four more GSC/HSC cards could be used
K4x0 Four more HP-PB slots (eight in all)

Drives

One tray for four Fast-Wide 68-pin SCSI-2 high-voltage differential hard drives
One vertical tray for two 5.25″ half-height drives, external accessible

External

68-pin HD SCSI-2 Fast-Wide high-voltage differential
TP/RJ45 10BaseT 10 Mbit Ethernet
Ethernet AUI 15-pin
Two Serial RS232C DB9, one for console, one for UPS
DB25 male RS232C serial, for remote console via modem
Parallel DB25
Two PS/2 connectors for keyboard und mouse
MDP-connector for a serial MUX
Kx50/Kx60/Kx70/Kx80 Four audio jacks

Operating systems

HP-UX 10.20 for 800s servers, HP-UX 11.00 and 11i v1
Linux: most models
OpenBSD: K100, K200, K210, K220, K400, K410, K420
NetBSD: K100, K200, K210, K220, K400, K410, K420

Benchmarks

Model	SPEC95, int	SPEC95, fp	SPECrate95, int	SPECrate95, fp
Kx00	4.92	6.80	44.3	61.2
Kx00 2-CPU			87.9	117
Kx00 4-CPU			174	198
Kx10	5.92	8.15	53.3	73.4
Kx10 2-CPU			106	140
Kx10 4-CPU			210	238
Kx20	6.41	9.11	57.7	82.0
Kx20 2-CPU			114	157
Kx20 4-CPU			228	275
Kx50	10.7	18.8	96.	169
Kx50 2-CPU			189	279
Kx50 4-CPU			375	383
Kx60	11.8	20.2	107	182
Kx60 2-CPU			212	297
Kx60 4-CPU			418	398
Kx70	14.6	23.0	132	207
Kx70 2-CPU			261	322
Kx70 4-CPU			519	434
Kx70 6-CPU			767	489
Kx80	17.4	28.5	157	257
Kx80 2-CPU			312	398
Kx80 4-CPU			610	532
Kx80 6-CPU			902	604

Dimensions

Model	Height	Width	Depth	Weight
Stand-alone	635mm	432mm	698mm	59kg
Packaged	870mm	889mm	775mm	77kg

References

Manuals

Service Manual HP 9000 K-Class Enterprise Servers and HP 3000 Model 9x9KS (PDF, 2.1 MB)
K-Class Installation Guide (HP 9000/Kxx0) (PDF)
K-Class Installation Guide (HP 3000/9x9KS) (PDF)
K-Class Owner’s Guide (PDF)

Articles

Symmetric Multiprocessing Workstations and Servers System-Designed for High Performance and Low Cost (.pdf) William R. Bryg, Kenneth K. Chan, and Nicholas S. Fiduccia (February 1996: Hewlett-Packard Journal)
J/K-Class Memory System description (PDF, HP Journal 2/96)

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