PA-RISC information - since 1999

HP Visualize C200, C240, C360

Quick Facts
Introduced 1997 and 1999
Period Maturity (III)
Series Visualize
CPU PA-8200 64-bit
PA-8500 64-bit
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.

© Hewlett Packard 1999

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.

* 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.

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 9000 C200 and C240 workstations use the 64-bit HP UTurn chipset for PA-RISC computers. HP computers with Runway bus often used U2 and UTurn I/O adapters (IOA) and MMC/SMC as memory controllers that attach subsystems to the main Runway bus. For C200 and C240, HP extended the UTurn and Runway architecture with PCI bridges.

The I/O part of the system design consists of some newer devices on PCI and proved HP 32-bit PA-RISC designs on GSC, re-using HP LASI as I/O chipset.

System buses

Expansion

Memory

I/O slots

Storage

I/O ports

Operating systems

Pictures

HP Visualize C200 HP Visualize C200
HP Visualize C200, Thomas Schanz 2007, CC BY-SA 4.0
HP Visualize C240 HP Visualize C240 HP Visualize C240 HP Visualize C240
HP Visualize C240, Thomas Schanz 2015, CC BY-SA 4.0
HP Visualize C360 HP Visualize C360 HP Visualize C360 HP Visualize C360
HP Visualize C360 HP Visualize C360
HP Visualize C360, Thomas Schanz 2015, CC BY-SA 4.0

Dimensions

Height Width Depth Weight
138mm 539mm 447mm 23kg

Benchmarks

Results with HP-UX 10.20
System CPU SPEC95
int
SPEC95
fp
SPEC95
rate int/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:

Based on old SPEC95 archives
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

LED messages

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