PA-RISC information - since 1999

HP 9000 K-Class

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

HP 9000 K-Class are multiprocessor PA-RISC servers from the mid- to late-1990s. They were part of the HP 9000 800 server series with many expansion, I/O and processor options.

HP 9000 K-Class
© Hewlett Packard

Based on U2/UTurn architecture, K-Class used 32-bit PA-7200 and 64-bit PA-8000 processors with four-way or six-way multiprocessing, depending on the specific model. They were very powerful and compact Unix servers in the 1990s.

Typical K-Class consisted of System Processing Unit (SPU), separate system console and optional UPS bundled into a single 19″ rack. HP 9000 D-Class were technically very similar servers, smaller in size and slightly cheaper.

HP Visualize K260-EG
© Hewlett Packard

HP marketed also K-Class Power Deskside Models, K260-EG, K460-EG and K460-XP, to be used as Visualize workstations with graphics adapters. These were at the time HP’s most expandable workstations with ultimate performance for engineering and scientific applications. K460-XP used HP Visualize-48XP graphics adapter for heavy 3D.

The first digit in the model number after K (1-5) indicates overall server type:

The number after K1/2/3/4/5 (00, 10, … 80) indicates design, CPUs and chipset.

In the 1990s, K-Class servers were part of the US Navy TAC-4 program technology refreshment, in which HP supplied HP 9000 RISC Unix computers to the Navy.

System Model number Introduced Price
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 architecture

Processors

System CPU Speed L1 Cache
HP 9000 K100 1 PA-7200 PA-RISC 32-bit 100 MHz 256/256 KB off-chip, 2 KB on-chip assist
HP 9000 K200/K400 1-4 PA-7200 PA-RISC 32-bit 100 MHz 256/256 KB off-chip, 2 KB on-chip assist
HP 9000 K210/K410 1-4 PA-7200 PA-RISC 32-bit 120 MHz 256/256 KB off-chip, 2 KB on-chip assist
HP 9000 K220/K420 1-4 PA-7200 PA-RISC 32-bit 120 MHz 1/1 MB off-chip, 2 KB on-chip assist
HP 9000 K250/K450 1-4 PA-8000 PA-RISC 64-bit 160 MHz 1/1 MB off-chip
HP 9000 K260/K460 1-4 PA-8000 PA-RISC 64-bit 180 MHz 1/1 MB off-chip
HP 9000 K370/K570 1-4 PA-8200 PA-RISC 64-bit 200 MHz 2/2 MB off-chip, picture CPU board
HP 9000 K380/K580 1-4 PA-8200 PA-RISC 64-bit 240 MHz 2/2 MB off-chip

Chipset

System buses

Memory

Expansion slots

Storage

External ports

Operating systems

Dimensions

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

Benchmarks

System SPEC95 int SPEC95 fp SPECrate95, int SPECrate95, fp
HP 9000 K400 4.92 6.80

4P: 10.9
44.3
2P:87.9
4P:174
61.2
2P:117
4P:198
HP 9000 K410 5.92 8.15

4P: 13.0
53.3
2P:106
4P:210
73.4
2P:140
4P:238
HP 9000 K420 6.41 9.11

4P: 14.7
57.7
2P:114
4P:228
82.0
2P:157
4P:412
HP 9000 Kx50 10.7 18.8 96
2P:189
4P:375
169
2P:279
4P:383
HP 9000 K460 11.8 20.2 107
2P:212
4P:418
182
2P:418
4P:398
HP 9000 K570 14.6 23.0 132
2P:261
4P:519
6P:767
207
2P:322
4P:434
6P:489
HP 9000 K580 17.4 28.5 157
2P:312
4P:610
6P:902
257
2P:398
4P:532
6P:604

Comparison to SPEC benchmark data from other contemporary Unix workstations:

Based on old SPEC95 archives
System CPU SPEC95 int SPEC95 fp
DEC Alphastation 500 DEC Alpha 21164 500MHz 15.0 20.4
SGI Origin 2000 MIPS R10000 250MHz 4MB 14.7 24.5
Sun Ultra 5 333 Sun UltraSPARC IIi 333MHz 14.1 18.3
Siemens SCENIC 1000 Intel Pentium II 333MHz 13.0 9.43
IBM RS/6000 43P 150 PowerPC 604e 250 MHz 11.1 8.78
SGI O2 MIPS R10000 196MHz 10.1 8.77
Intel Alder Intel Pentium Pro 200MHz 8.09 6.75
Sun Ultra 2 1170 Sun UltraSPARC 167MHz 6.34 9.33
DEC Alphastation 255 DEC Alpha 21064A 233MHz 4.27 5.09
Siemens PCE-5S Intel Pentium 100MHz 4.04 2.35
IBM RS/6000 43P PowerPC 604 100 MHz 3.59 3.20

Documentation

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