HP Visualize C200, C240, C360
| Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 1997 and 1999 |
| Period | Maturity (III) |
| CPU | 1 PA-8200 1 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) |
| Bandwidth | CPU/Mem 960 MB/s Sys 256 MB/s |
| I/O | 100E 2 SCSI 2 serial parallel 2 PS/2 audio |
The 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 CPUs, based on the earlier 32-bit Visualize C100/C110.
The C-Class have a similar case to that of the old 735 with interlocking modules so I/O, CPU board etc. can be easily taken out.
The 64-bit Visualize C-Class were graphics workstations aimed at CAD/CAM/3D modelling, and were at the time the fastest configurations of the C-Class series.
The systems were sometimes referred to as C200+ and C240+ and were sold under the Visualize brand as well as the prior HP 9000 naming scheme.
| Model | Number | Introduced | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| C200 | 9000/782 | 1997 | $21,000 |
| C240 | 9000/782 | 1997 | $46,000 |
| C360 | 9000/785 | 1998 | $22,365 |
Note that list prices were moving in 97-98 a lot due to pressure from Windows NT workstations and HP adjusting prices often in response.
System architecture
Processors
| Model | CPU | Speed | L1 Cache |
|---|---|---|---|
| C200 | PA-8200 | 200 MHz | 512/1024 KB off-chip |
| C240 | PA-8200 | 236 MHz | 2048/2048 KB off-chip |
| C360 | PA-8500 | 367 MHz | 512/1024 KB on-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
- Symbios Logic 53C875 16-bit Ultra-Wide SCSI-2 controller
- Intel 82596CA 10 Mbit Ethernet controller
- DEC 21142/43 (Tulip) Fast-Ethernet controller
- Harmony CD/DAT quality 16-bit stereo audio
- Wax EISA bridge
- Dino GSC-to-PCI bridge
- Cujo GSC-to-PCI bridge, 64-bit
- 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 of the PCI slots are PCI 32-bit/33 MHz, 5 V; the other two PCI 64-bit/66 MHz, 3.3 V.
Some system 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
- 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 SE-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 Ultra-Wide SE 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 Ultra-Wide drives are also bootable from the PDC.
A standard configuration could look like this:
- Two 3.5″ 68-pin Ultra-Wide single-ended (SE) 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 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 ?)
Operating systems
Benchmarks
| Model | SPEC95, int | SPEC95, fp | SPECrate95, int | SPECrate95, fp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C200 | 14.20 | 21.40 | 129 | 193 |
| C240 | 17.10 | 25.40 | 156 | 229 |
| C360 | 26.00 | 28.10 | 234 | 252 |
Dimensions
| Height | Width | Depth | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 138mm | 539mm | 447mm | 23kg |
References
Manuals
- Model C160 / C180 / C200 / C240 / C360 Owner’s Guide (PDF, 1.5 MB)
- Service Handbook C Class (PDF, 1.5 MB)
Other
- HP C200/C240/C360 Power Supply problems - solved USENET posting