HP Visualize C160, C180
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1996 |
| Period | Maturity (III) |
| CPU | 1 PA-8000 160-180 MHz |
| Cache | 1-2 MB L1 |
| RAM | 3 GB |
| Design | UTurn |
| Drives | 3 SCSI 1 FD |
| Expansion | 1 GSC/PCI 1 GSC/PCI/EISA 2 GSC/EISA |
| Bandwidth | CPU/Mem 960 MB/s |
| I/O | 10E EVC 2 SCSI 2 serial parallel 2 PS/2 HIL audio |
The HP Visualize C160 and C180 workstations were graphics workstations equipped with 64-bit PA-8000 processors, introduced in 1996.
The C160 and C180 were higher-end offerings with faster CPUs and better configurations compared to older HP Visualize C100, C110, or lower-cost C132L, C160L.
The case is similar to that of the HP 9000/735 workstation with interlocking modules. These machines were aimed at CAD/CAM/3D modelling.
The C160 and C180 were the first smaller 64-bit PA-RISC workstations for graphics applications and were positioned against Sun Ultra 2 and Silicon Graphics Indigo2 workstations.
| Model | Number | Introduced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| C160 | 9000/780 | 1996 | $24,000 |
| C180 C180XP |
9000/780 | 1996 | $50,000 |
The C180 was also sometimes referred to as C180-XP if a Visualize XP graphics adapter was included. The 32-bit C100 and C110 were board-upgradable to C160 and C180.
System architecture
Processors
| Model | CPU | Speed | L1 Cache |
|---|---|---|---|
| C160 | PA-8000 | 160 MHz | 512/512 KB off-chip |
| C180 | PA-8000 | 180 MHz | 1/1 MB off-chip |
Chipset
- UTurn I/O adapter Runway to GSC bridge
- MMC/SMC memory controllers
- 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
- Wax EISA bridge
- Dino GSC-to-PCI bridge
- Visualize-EG graphics with 2MB frame buffer memory
- Other I/O (serial, parallel, Floppy, HP-HIL)
» View a system-level ASCII-illustration of the system architecture.
System buses
- Runway CPU/memory bus (120 MHz with 960 MB/s peak bandwidth)
- Cache: 128-bit wide bus between cache and CPU
- C160: 2.56 GB/s I-fetch, 2.56 GB/s D-load (16-Byte), 1.26 GB/s D-store (8-Byte)
- C180: 2.88 GB/s I-fetch, 2.88 GB/s D-load (16-Byte), 1.44 GB/s D-store (8-Byte)
- GSC-2 general system-level I/O bus
- EISA additional expansion I/O bus
- PCI-32/33 high-performance device I/O bus
- SCSI-2 single-ended bus
- SCSI-2 Fast-Wide high-voltage differential main storage I/O bus
Memory
- 72-pin ECC SIMMs, 60ns or faster
- Bus width: 128 data bits with 16 check bits
- Up to 8-way interleaving
- 960 MB/s peak bandwidth
- 12 slots for 16-256 MB modules
- 32 MB to 3 GB supported
Expansion slots
- One slot for a GSC (EISA formfactor) or PCI 32-bit/33 MHz, 3.3 V card
- One slot for a GSC (EISA formfactor), EISA or PCI 32-bit/33 MHz, 3.3 V card
- Two slots for GSC (EISA formfactor) or EISA cards
- I/O slot layout, from top to bottom:
- EISA or GSC
- EISA or GSC
- PCI-32/33, 3.3 V or EISA or GSC
- PCI-32/33, 3.3 V or GSC
- Often used for graphics applications with HP graphics adaptors like Visualize-48
Storage
The disk-slider can accomodate up to three SCSI drives and one floppy drive simultaneously, the internal cabling (usually) includes one Wide-SCSI cable with three 68-pin connectors and a HVD-terminator at the end, one Narrow-SCSI with one 50-pin connector and one cable for the floppy.
The Narrow-SCSI cable is normally used for the external-accessible half-height 5.25″ CD/DAT drive, although it is of course also possible to connect a 50-pin SE hard drive. The cable can also be easily replaced with a variant with more connectors to use up to three 50-pin SE hard drives. The PDC can boot off these SE drives.
The Wide-SCSI cable is normally used for the internal 3.5″ 68-pin Fast-Wide high-voltage differential system drives. Up to three hard drives can be installed in the cage, which leaves no room for an external-accessible CD/DAT drive though. The Fast-Wide drives are also bootable from the PDC.
A standard configuration could look like this:
- Two 3.5″ 68-pin Fast-Wide differential (HVD) SCSI hard drives,
- One 3.5″ Floppy drive and
- One external-accessible half-height 5.25″ SCSI drive (CD/DAT).
External ports
- SCSI-2 50-pin single-ended
- SCSI-3 68-pin Fast-Wide differential (HVD)
- Two serial RS232C DB9 (up 460.8Kb/s)
- Parallel DB25
- Ethernet RJ45
- Ethernet AUI 15-pin
- EVC graphics port, that needs a special HP adapter cable to convert to VGA
- Two PS/2 connectors for keyboard and mouse
- HP-HIL for input device loop
- Four phone jacks (microphone, headphones, line-in and ?)
Operating systems
Benchmarks
| Model | SPEC95, int | SPEC95, fp | SPEC95 rate, int |
SPEC95 rate, fp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C160 | 10.40 | 16.30 | 93.6 | 147 |
| C180 | 11.80 | 18.70 | 107 | 169 |
Dimensions
| Height | Width | Depth | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 138mm | 539mm | 447mm | 21kg |
References
Manuals
- Model C160 / C180 / C200 / C240 / C360 Owner’s Guide (PDF, 1.5 MB)
- Service Handbook C Class (PDF, 1.5 MB)
ROM update
There is a firmware update available for the C160 and C180, which contains the latest version (6.2).
- PF_CC2X0062.text has details about the contents and installation of the patch.
- PF_CC2X0062.frm contains the patch.