HP Visualize C200, C240, C360
Quick Facts | |
---|---|
Introduced | 1997 and 1999 |
Period | Maturity (III) |
Series | Visualize |
CPU | PA-8200 PA-8500 200-367 MHz |
Cache | 1.5-4 MB L1 |
RAM | 3 GB |
Design | UTurn |
Drives | 3 SCSI 1 FD |
Expansion | 3 GSC/PCI 1 GSC/PCI(/EISA) |
I/O | Fast Ethernet 2 SCSI 2 serial parallel 2 PS/2 audio |
HP Visualize C200, C240 and C360 PA-RISC workstations were aimed at the late-1990s Unix graphics market, with powerful 64-bit PA-8200 and PA-8500 64-bit PA-RISC CPUs. They were based on earlier 32-bit Visualize C100/C110 workstations.

C-Class have a similar case to that of early-90s HP 9000 735 workstations with interlocking modules where I/O, CPU and other boards can be easily taken out. These newer 64-bit Visualize C-Class were graphics workstations aimed at CAD/CAM/3D modeling, and were at the time the fastest configurations of C-Class.
HP Visualize C200 and C240 were sometimes also called C200+ and C240+. HP marketed C-Class both the newer, late-1990s Visualize brand as well as the prior HP 9000 (700) naming scheme, going back to the 1990s.
- HP Visualize C200, HP 9000/782, were introduced in 1997 for $21,000
- HP Visualize C240, HP 9000/782, were introduced in 1997 for $46,000
- HP Visualize C360, HP 9000/785, were introduced in 1998 for $22,365*
* List prices were moving a lot in 97-98 due to pressure from Windows NT workstations and HP adjusted prices often. Not sure this is right, though.
System architecture
Processors
System | CPU | Speed | L1 cache |
---|---|---|---|
HP Visualize C200 | PA-8200 PA-RISC 64-bit | 200 MHz | 512/1024 KB off-chip |
HP Visualize C240 | PA-8200 PA-RISC 64-bit | 236 MHz | 2048/2048 KB off-chip |
HP Visualize C360 | PA-8500 PA-RISC 64-bit | 367 MHz | 512/1024 KB on-chip |
Chipset
- HP UTurn I/O adapter Runway to GSC bridge
- HP MMC/SMC memory controllers
- HP LASI integrated I/O chipset
- Symbios Logic 53C875 16-bit Ultra-Wide SCSI-2 controller
- DEC 21142/43 (Tulip) Fast-Ethernet controller
- Integrated NCR 53C710 8-bit single-ended SCSI-2
- Integrated Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- HP Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit stereo audio
- HP Wax EISA bridge
- HP Dino GSC-to-PCI bridge
- HP Cujo GSC-to-PCI bridge, 64-bit
- Graphics could be extended through separate boards:
- Optional Visualize GSC video adapters
- Optional Visualize-FX PCI video adapters
- Other I/O (serial, parallel, Floppy)
System buses
- Runway CPU/memory bus (120 MHz with 960 MB/s peak data rate)
- GSC-2 general system-level I/O bus (256 MB/s)
- EISA (built to order option), additional expansion I/O
- PCI-32/33 device I/O bus
- PCI-64/66 high-performance device I/O bus
- SCSI-2 Fast-Narrow single-ended bus
- SCSI-2 Ultra-Wide single-ended bus main storage I/O
Memory
- 72-pin ECC EDO SIMMs, 50ns or faster
- 12 slots for 16-256 MB modules
- 32 MB to 3 GB supported
Expansion slots
- Three slots for GSC (EISA formfactor) or PCI cards
- One slot for a GSC (EISA formfactor), PCI or EISA card
- Two PCI slots are 32-bit/33 MHz, 5 V; the other two PCI 64-bit/66 MHz, 3.3 V.
Some systems do not have the optional EISA slot - I/O slot layout, from top to bottom:
- PCI-32/33, 5 V or EISA or GSC
- PCI-64/66, 3.3 V or GSC
- PCI-32/33, 5 V or GSC
- PCI-64/66, 3.3 V or GSC
Storage
- Storage and drives installed in the disk slider
- Three SCSI half-height 3.5″ 68-pin hard drives, Ultra-Wide single-ended (SE)
- One SCSI half-heigth 5.25″ 50-pin SE drive, Fast-Narrow SE SCSI, externally accessible (this would take space from one internal hard drive)
- 3.5″ Floppy drive
External ports
- SCSI-2 50-pin Fast-Narrow single-ended
- SCSI-3 68-pin Ultra-Wide single-ended
- Two serial RS232C DB9
- Parallel DB25
- Fast Ethernet RJ45
- Ethernet AUI 15-pin
- Two PS/2 connectors for keyboard & mouse
- Four phone jacks (microphone, headphones, line-in and ?)
- Four LEDs on the front for errors and status messages
Operating systems
- HP-UX, the original HP Unix shipped with it
- HP-UX 11i v1 in 64-bit mode, TCOE and MTOE versions
- HP-UX 11.00 in 64-bit mode
- HP-UX 10.20 32-bit (ACE 9707 and ACE 9806)
- 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
Pictures












Dimensions
Height | Width | Depth | Weight |
---|---|---|---|
138mm | 539mm | 447mm | 23kg |
Benchmarks
System | CPU | SPEC95 int | SPEC95 fp | SPECrate95, int | SPECrate95, fp |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
HP Visualize C200 | PA-8200 200 MHz | 14.20 | 21.40 | 129 | 193 |
HP Visualize C240 | PA-8200 236 MHz | 17.10 | 25.40 | 156 | 229 |
HP Visualize C360 | PA-8500 367 MHz | 26.00 | 28.10 | 234 | 252 |
Comparison to SPEC benchmark data from other contemporary Unix workstations:
System | CPU | SPEC95 int | SPEC95 fp |
---|---|---|---|
IBM RS/6000 44P 170 | POWER3-II 400MHz | 25.3 | 47.9 |
Siemens Celsius 2000 | Intel Pentium II 450MHz | 18.9 | 15.0 |
DEC Workstation 600au | DEC Alpha 21164 600MHz | 18.4 | 21.3 |
SGI Origin 200 | MIPS R12000 270MHz | 15.8 | 25.2 |
Sun Ultra 5 333 | Sun UltraSPARC IIi 333MHz | 14.1 | 18.3 |
Siemens SCENIC 1000 | Intel Pentium II 333MHz | 13.0 | 9.4 |
HP Visualize C180 | PA-8000 180 MHz | 11.8 | 18.7 |
IBM RS/6000 43P 150 | PowerPC 604e 250 MHz | 11.1 | 8.7 |
SGI O2 | MIPS R10000 196MHz | 10.1 | 8.7 |
Intel Alder | Intel Pentium Pro 200MHz | 8.0 | 6.7 |
HP Visualize C160L | PA-7300LC 160 MHz | 7.7 | 7.5 |
HP 9000 C110 | PA-7200 120 MHz | 6.0 | 8.1 |
Documentation
Manuals
- Model C160 / C180 / C200 / C240 / C360 Owner’s Guide (.pdf), Hewlett Packard 1998, A4200-90050 parisc linux
- Service Handbook C Class (.pdf), Hewlett Packard 1998, A4200-90042 parisc linux
LED messages
- LED errors and status messages might be displayed on the HP C-Class front LEDs