HP's own figures for the 979's speed show a 60 percent improvement over Series 959 performance. When measured against the previous top of the midrange 3000 line, however, the 979/100 is just 15 percent faster than the Series 969/120, in large measure due to increasing the clock speed from 120MHz to 180MHz.
Performance is an important part of the rollout analysis, because so little else has changed since the last introduction. HP's keeping the same backplane, form factor and integrated storage units. Memory capacity is the same across both units, and both systems are at the same software pricing tier in HP's price list.
HP is running the PA-8000 in 32-bit mode for memory addressing, and will continue to do so until MPE/iX is revised for 64-bit memory addressing. The processor includes some aspects of floating-point and integer operations "that are explicitly there," said Planning Product Manager Dave Snow. "We're always had double-word operations. We are in the process of working on our large memory addressing space." Snow said HP will outline plans for that project in its January 29, 1997 video conference.
Fast, but faster later
The PA-8000's performance potential will be realized more completely when
HP revises its compilers for MPE/iX. HP says the most important difference
in the new Series 979 system is its processor's ability to execute as many
as four instructions concurrently. Previous versions of the PA-RISC chips
could execute only two instructions at once. "The potential for parallelism
has doubled," said Snow.
This four-way symmetric multiprocessing capability relies on software and compiler sophistication to deliver all of its potential, however. HP admits it must improve the compilers for the HP 3000 to capture every bit of horsepower of the new systems. "We have to incorporate changes in the compilers," said Snow, "to maximize performance of the PA-8000. We cannot realize the maximum performance without these changes."
But a schedule for when those compilers will be revised hasn't been released yet. Snow said HP is "not necessarily looking at how to get every single iota of performance out of the PA-8000. We're looking at how best to get a significant amount of performance using a number of technologies." HP is looking at modifying MPE/iX compilers as it has already done for its HP-UX systems. But Snow also pointed out possible changes within MPE/iX tuning, and scaling changes in the operating system.
"That's scaling in the sense of going from 1-way or 2-way to 3--way and 4-way," Snow said. "There are inherent changes in the operating system itself that could be made which are totally independent of the processor."
Ross Duncan, chief operating officer of HP 3000 distributor Integration Alliance, confirmed what HP had reported about tuning having an impact on performance for the 979. "They've got the hot new chip, but they have to do some tweaks of MPE to take advantage of it," he said.
Whatever changes HP makes to MPE/iX, Snow said they will be designed for more than just the PA-8000 version of the processor. PA-RISC's next generation, the PA-8200, runs at a 220MHz clock speed compared to PA-8000's 180MHz. HP reported at the recent Microprocessor Forum that it expects the 8200 to boost commercial application performance by an average of 50 percent over PA-8000 levels.
Evidence of the power of the PA-8000 may be demonstrated in the next system rollout that uses the processor. "We have purposely chosen to focus the [PA-8000 tuning] changes into the high end of the platform," Snow said. "We want to make sure we have a well-performing high end system when we come out with it. That will trickle down to the rest of the [PA-8000 based lineup]."
Snow said he thought the 50 percent increase in systems performance achieved by the HP 9000 systems using the chip was "symptomatic of what we might be able to get to as we tune toward our high end systems." HP hasn't delivered any information on when Series 99x PA-8000 system might be introduced, but a mid-1997 rollout in time for the next HP World conference is likely.
More memory per board
One significant difference in HP's systems was announced as part of the
Series 979: memory capacity. HP had said for many months it was raising the
limits of memory that MPE/iX could use from 2Gb to 3.75Gb. To deliver on
that promise, it had to re-engineer the memory boards that a Series 9x9
system can accept.
A new 256-Mb Memory Module from HP makes the increased capacity a reality for the midrange systems. HP has developed a more dense Single Inline Memory Module (SIMM), each of which is 128Mb in size with up to 32 SIMMs per memory subsystem.
At least 14 of the modules must be of the new size to reach the top end of memory capacity. Customers can mix any of the smaller 64- or 128-Mb modules with the new 256-Mb modules. "Because we're doubling the size of the module, you can get almost twice as much memory in," Snow said. MPE/iX pre-reserves a quarter-gigabyte area of logical memory for use by the I/O subsystem and other areas, memory not available to applications or users.
HP is selling the only 256-Mb module for 9x9 systems at this time, according to 979 product manager Darren Connor. It would appear the exclusive sourcing is leading to a pricing premium. The new modules cost $23,040, compared to the $8,320 128-Mb units.
The memory capacity increase holds significant potential for PA-RISC systems. Most customers report that more memory improves performance, and it's difficult to have too much memory on a RISC-based HP 3000.
Peripheral & price plans
HP advises customers to consider their peripheral and I/O needs when
judging whether to buy a 979 or move up the 99x Corporate Business Systems.
A 979 has only 8 I/O expansion slots compared to 112 in a Series 996
system, for example. The 996 systems accept as many as eight processors,
too.
But HP says a single-processor Series 979 outperforms its Corporate Business System Series 996 counterpart, 5.6 to 4.8. Only because the 996 can take on twice as many processors as the 979 does its performance potential exceed that of the 979 line.
"That's a product timing issue," IAC's Duncan said. "There's going to be some overlap until they put the faster chip set and bigger backplanes into the 996. It's the fringe-leapfrog effect."
The extra I/O capacity currently in the Series 996 systems means they can accept more than four times the amount of disk capacity using disk arrays. HP is extending the backup options for 9x9 systems by allowing customers to order two DDS DAT tape units integrated with the system, rather than one DAT and one CD-ROM unit. New DDS-3 units are available this month that extend the backup capacity to three times the older DDS-2 limits (see related story in this issue).
HP has reduced the core server prices in the systems below the Series 979, the Series 969/100-400 and Series 969/120-420. Customers can expect a 10- to 24-percent cut in the 100-400 pricing; for example, the 969KS/400 was $85,000 and is now priced at $65,000. The prices quoted are for core systems without peripherals or system software. Discounts are higher for the multiple-processor versions of the 969s; a single-processor Series 969/120 only saw a five percent price cut as part of the rollout.
HP is making the 979s available immediately. It has also stopped shipping the Series 959 and 939 systems, although additional processor boards for the 959s will be available for another year.
HP sold plenty of 939 systems as the low price point on its K-class systems, but now the midrange entry level will have to be through a higher-end 9x8 "Nova" system.
"The Nova platform gets you a pretty long way into the turf of the HP 3000 midrange," IAC's Duncan said. "The 939 broke the price-performance curve, but it's just not that big a jump between the Novas and the K-class platform. The Novas are a good computer that isn't broken."
HP did improve the value of those 9x8 systems slightly as part of the rollout. HP's Connor said the "best selling" systems include a bundled 2-Gb disk drive, twice the size as previously bundled at the same price. HP is also integrating a larger capacity, faster performing DDS-2 DAT tape unit for no extra cost. The new DDS-3 units will be available as an option on the 9x8 systems; all new 9x8 options were available Dec. 1.