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AICS Research, Inc.'s first HP3000, a Series 33.
(Photo circa 1978).
This Series 33 cost $165,000 in 1978, more than three times
the cost of the building that housed it. When inflation is taken
into account, the cost of this machine would be well over $400,000 in
today's dollars. Performance, although miniscule by today's
standards, was sufficient to allow 8 to 12 simultaneous IMAGE database
users.
The system was purchased with 256K of RAM and 120MB of disc (a single
HP7925). The 33's main memory was upgraded almost immediately to 512K, a
level at which
it remained for five years. Only at the end of its life, when
memory prices began to fall, was it upgraded to its full 1MB
RAM capacity.
One of the mechanical attributes that allowed such a large number of
simultaneous users
on such a small box was the use of the then-new 1200 baud,
"high-speed" modems. These slow speed modems evened out the dataflow and
fed it tothe Series 33's processor slowly enough that the CPU was
allowed time to
process each request, with minimal interference from the other users,
and thus helped keep response times to generally one or two seconds.
Buying New & Used Equipment
The table on the right compares the relative performance of the
most common HP3000 systems, and should prove valuable when considering
a system upgrade.
The relative performance values of the various systems are given
in parentheses. Over the course of the HP3000's history, performance
has been improved by more than 50,000%. During that same time, cost of
system ownership has fallen dramatically.
An abundance of remarketed (used) equipment has recently become
available, making upgrading especially attractive. However, given
the cost of the systems that are now available, and their relative
performances, little consideration should be given to purchasing
any system older than the Third Generation of PA-RISC processors.
Other considerations must also be taken into account. Secondary
considerations are items such as the compatibility of the peripherals
that you currently own with the requirements of
the new system, the likely length of hardware support, the future
hardware requirements of the MPE
operating system, and the costs associated with upgrading the
various software packages that you may be running.
Notes on the Relative
Performance Measurement Scale Used
HP has used three different performance scales for the HP3000 during its
lifetime, but as in the measurement of distance, it doesn't matter if
you measure length in miles or kilometers, the distance remains the
same.
The same is true for system throughput. The earliest performance
measurements used the Series 39, 40, and 44 processors as their
standard. All measurements were performed relative to those processors,
thus the Series 39 had a rating of 1.0.
When the Series 918 was introduced (with a relative performance ratio of
10 to the Series 39), HP rescaled the ratios by dividing everything by
10, making the Series 918 the new standard system. And in August of
1998, HP devised a third measurement index which was called the "HP
performance unit." In effect, what they did was to begin to use a new
set of test suites which they felt were more appropriate to the way that
HP3000s were being used.
Nonetheless, all of these various metrics can be rescaled to be
consistent with one another. Simply for historical purposes, to allow us
to compare every common version of the HP3000, we continue to use the
original scale by applying a correction factor to the measurements, as
necessary.
The numbers on the right aren't absolute measurements of anything other
than the time the various systems take to process one of the several HP
test suites, but they do allow you to compare with some accuracy the
relative performances that you should expect when upgrading to higher
performing system.
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Relative Performance Matrix for Various
HP3000 Systems
The "Classic" Series Processors
(1974-1986)
(0.5) Series 30, 33
(0.6) Series III, 37, 37XE
(1.0) Series 39, 40, 44
(1.3) Series 42, 48
(1.3) Micro LX, GX, XE
(1.7) Series 42XP, 52, 58
(3.2) Series 64
(4.0) Series 68
(4.4) Series 70
First Generation PA-RISC Processors
(1985-1988)
(2.9) Series 925
(5.9) Series 935
(6.5) Series 950
(10.0) Series 955
(11.7) Series 949
(14.7) Series 960
(22.0) Series 980/100
(37.0) Series 980/200
(49.0) Series 980/300
(59.0) Series 980/400
Second Generation PA-RISC Processors
(1988-1991)
(1.9) Series 920
(3.2) Series 922
(5.0) Series 932
(10.7) Series 948
(13.3) Series 958
Third Generation PA-RISC Processors
(1991-1997)
(10) Series 917, 927, 937, 947
(16) Series 957
(20) Series 967
(26) Series 977SX, 990
(32) Series 987
(33) Series 991
(45) Series 987/150
(60) Series 987/200
(35) Series 992/100
(60) Series 992/200
(81) Series 992/300
(100) Series 992/400
(42) Series 995/100
(71) Series 995/200
(98) Series 995/300
(118) Series 995/400
(139) Series 995/500
(160) Series 995/600
(180) Series 995/700
(200) Series 995/800
Fourth Generation PA-RISC Processors
(1994-1997)
(10) Series 918
(14) Series 928
(21) Series 968
(25) Series 978
(39) Series 988
(29) Series 996/80
(37) Series 996/100
(61) Series 996/200
(83) Series 996/300
(101) Series 996/400
(163) Series 996/800
(varies) Series 996/1200
Fifth Generation PA-RISC Processors (1995-2001)
(24) Series 929/020
(28) Series 939
(33) Series 939/030
(35) Series 959/100
(62) Series 959/200
(86) Series 959/300
(110) Series 959/400
(40) Series 969/100
(51) Series 969/120
(71) Series 969/200
(95) Series 969/220
(99) Series 969/300
(134) Series 969/320
(126) Series 969/400
(167) Series 969/420
(61) Series 979/100
(113) Series 979/200
(149) Series 979/300
(184) Series 979/400
(70) Series 989/100
(131) Series 989/200
(184) Series 989/300
(221) Series 989/400
(240) Series 989/500
(251) Series 989/600
(86) Series 989/150
(163) Series 989/250
(237) Series 989/350
(277) Series 989/450
(297) Series 989/550
(343) Series 989/650
(58) Series 997/100
(101) Series 997/200
(142) Series 997/300
(184) Series 997/400
(221) Series 997/500
(251) Series 997/600
(296) Series 997/800
(368) Series 997/1000
(402) Series 997/1200
Sixth Generation PA-RISC Processors
(2001-2003/EOL)
(17) a-class A400-100-110
(24) a-class A500-100-140
(42) a-class A400-200-140
(37) a-class A400-100-150
(49) a-class A500-100-200
(84) a-class A500-200-200
(69) n-class N4000-100-220
(100) n-class N4000-100-330
(138) n-class N4000-100-440
(254) n-class N4000-200-440
(353) n-class N4000-300-440
(438) n-class N4000-400-440
(446) n-class N4000-300-550
(553) n-class N4000-400-550
(115) n-class N4000-100-380
(207) n-class N4000-200-380
(154) n-class N4000-100-500
(284) n-class N4000-200-500
(399) n-class N4000-300-500
(499) n-class N4000-400-500
(606) n-class N4000-300-750
(768) n-class N4000-400-750
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