Faster than P6 and Mips, slower than Alpha, the PowerPC 604 makes a mean NT workstation
Dave Rowell
Systems running Windows NT on the PowerPC 604 RISC processor are finally here. Our cross-platform BYTEmark tests show these machines have processor performance nearly twice that of Pentium PCs at the same clock speed. The 604 also compares favorably to other RISC chips, although the latest 21164 Alpha chip is still 30 percent to 50 percent faster (see the sidebar "Alpha Stays Ahead").
We tested
three of the first
available systems: Motorola's 100-MHz PowerStack Series E 604-100P server, IBM's 133-MHz Personal Computer Power Series 850, and a beta PowerPlay2 604/133 from Austin Direct that provides symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) with two 133-MHz 604 chips. Performance testing with BYTEmar
k and several native PowerPC NT applications shows that the 604 makes a mean NT workstation.
All three systems we tested comply with the PowerPC Reference Platform (PReP), a hardware standard that hardware-component and operating-system vendors can design to. PReP leverages off existing x86-based standards, specifying the PCI expansion bus, for example. As a result, the three systems we review share many similarities besides the 604 processor. All have expansion card risers, for example, and two use similar PCI SCSI-2 or Ethernet controllers. PReP systems run Windows NT 3.51 and AIX 4.1 now, and they should be running OS/2 by year end and Solaris next year.
For consistency with our first round of NT workstation testing (see "Fastest NT Workstations," March BYTE), we requested high-end system configurations (see the table
"PowerPC System Features"
). The tested machines have 64 MB of memory, 1 GB of hard drive capacity, a CD-ROM drive, accelerated graphics (PCI-based SVGA)
, and an Ethernet adapter. We ran as many of the same benchmarks as were available for PowerPC, but under Windows NT Workstation 3.51 instead of 3.5.
Along with the
BYTEmark benchmarks
(formerly the BYTE Native Mode benchmarks), we tested application performance with North Coast Software's PhotoMorph 2.01 (beta SMP version), a multimedia image-processing program, and with an alpha version of Bentley Systems' MicroStation 95, a CAD package (the equivalent of version 5.5). NSTL's InterMark test for NT wasn't ready for PowerPC.
The
PhotoMorph Swirl test
creates a 2.5-MB AVI file using a swirl distortion; the test basically measures floating-point performance. The MicroStation tests were driven by a script developed by NSTL. We ran the tests in both 8- and 24-bit color depths, because the IBM Power Series 850's built-in graphics doesn't support 24-bit color. PhotoMorph and, to some degree MicroStation 95, take advantage of NT's SMP capabilities, giving added per
formance when a system has multiple processors (as in the case of Austin's PowerPlay2). MicroStation didn't support SMP in our previous testing.
Austin Direct PowerPlay2
We examined a dual-processor PowerPlay2 604/133 beta system that should be available by the time you read this. (List price with 64 MB will be $9995.) Several jumper wires crisscrossed the motherboard, and a flash BIOS upgrade arrived later to enable the 512-KB L2 cache, but we ran into few problems. (FirePower, which designs and manufactures this system for Austin Direct, makes a similar system for Canon, but it wasn't ready for review.)
Notable features include the two 133-MHz 604 processors, ECC memory, and a memory-bus-direct graphics system controlled by FirePower's Powerized Graphics L1A9403 chip, which moves graphics data from the CPU to the 4-MB VRAM frame buffer over the system's 128-bit-wide memory bus. The CPU does the graphics work. A Philips SAA7196 video decoder/scaler chip has its own 2-MB V
RAM frame store buffer. The FirePower motherboard provides asynchronous I/O, which decouples I/O from the memory bus so that activities like disk I/O don't hold up CPU/memory operations.
The BYTEmark CPU test exercises only one processor at a time. With both CPUs enabled, the Austin trailed the 133-MHz IBM Power Series 850 just slightly, due to the overhead of managing two CPUs. But in the PhotoMorph test, two CPUs gave the PowerPlay2 a great advantage; it performed better on this test than any machine we've seen yet. Display of graphics isn't amenable to SMP under NT, but MicroStation uses SMP when it can. However, with no independent graphics processor, the PowerPlay2 fell 19 percent behind the IBM system in the 8-bit MicroStation CAD test.
IBM Power Series 850
IBM's Power Series 850 is also aimed at the desktop. It has IDE drives, but no built-in SCSI, and an 8-bit graphics system -- an S3 Vision864 accelerator chip with only 2 MB of frame buffer. Graphics options incl
ude IBM's H10 PCI card with 4 MB of VRAM and a video coprocessor. "Business" audio and 10Base-T networking are also built in.
Security starts with a locking front cover. Once it's unlocked, you can open the mostly metal case without turning any screws. There is a ZIF socket that can take an upgrade CPU, though IBM has no firm plans for this socket.
Like the Motorola system, the Power Series 850 uses the Motorola MPC105 PCI Bridge/Memory Controller chip and therefore has a 64-bit memory data bus and a 32-bit address bus. The 850 Series comes in 100- and 120-MHz versions, which have a 256-KB asynchronous cache instead of a 512-KB synchronous cache. As noted, the 133-MHz system performed slightly better with non-SMP benchmarks than the Austin Direct PowerPlay2 did.
The $7017 test system came with IBM's 17-inch 17S/S Sight and Sound monitor, which provides speakers, microphone, and an empty enclosure for an optional video camera. The unit also comes with IBM software that can take advantage of
the 604's floating-point capabilities, including an MPEG decoder.
Motorola PowerStack Series E
Motorola Computer Group sells its systems only through reseller channels and offers a limited selection of peripherals, expecting resellers to add their own. The PowerStack Series E is designed as a desktop server. It lacks ISA slots and an internal IDE connector but provides four serial ports (two synchronous), built-in Fast and Wide SCSI-2, and Ethernet. You can stack a SCSI expansion module on top of the Series E. The system provides over-temperature detection for the CPU and also for the external SCSI module.
The 100-MHz PowerStack Series E 604-100P is a solid, cleverly built unit. You can quickly
take the whole system apart
(including removal of the motherboard and power supply) without touching a screw or a cable; there are none.
The system we tested (list price $9279) came with a Number Nine GXE64 Pro PCI graphics card (loaded with 4 MB of V
RAM) but no monitor. It also included two Toshiba 525-MB SCSI hard drives and a CD-ROM drive. The floppy-drive card plugs into its own proprietary slot on the expansion card riser and also holds the business-audio option.
In fact, all the drives are on cards so that they can plug in without using cables. The hard-drive cards can hold up to three 2-1/2-inch SCSI drives. By plugging in two of these cards, you can pack this server with six hard drives (plus the CD-ROM drive). You will need a second PCI SCSI controller if you want to add the stacking SCSI expansion module, which holds four 5-1/4-inch drives. Normally, it can run off the built-in SCSI controller.
In terms of performance, the 100-MHz Series E suffered in comparison with the 133-MHz IBM and Austin systems, but it performed proportionately to its lower clock speed.
Are You Running NT Software?
PowerPC NT systems are priced very competitively with equivalently configured x86-based systems, particularly when y
ou consider that they perform faster than the initial 150-MHz Intel P6 systems we've tested. While NT allows running of 286-level 16-bit software under emulation, that feature becomes increasingly less appealing as more 32-bit Windows 95 software arrives. To justify buying a RISC-based NT system, you must not only require top performance with a major processor-intensive application, but you must also be able to satisfy most of your software needs with NT applications.
COMPANY INFORMATION
Austin Direct PowerPlay2
IPC Technologies
Austin, TX
(800) 752-1577
(512) 339-3500
fax: (512) 454-1357
http://www.ipctechinc.com
Personal Computer Power Series 850
IBM Personal Computer Co.
Somers, NY
(800) 772-2227
fax: (800) 426-4329
PowerStack Series E 604-100P
Motorola Computer Group
Tempe, A
Z
(800) 759-1107, ext. PR
(512) 434-1526, ext. PR
http://www.mot.com/computer/
AUSTIN DIRECT IBM PERSONAL COMPUTER MOTOROLA POWERSTACK
POWERPLAY2 133 POWER SERIES 850 SERIES E 604-100P
==========================================================================
Processor(s)/Memory
===================
CPU(s)/speed (MHz)
Two PowerPC 604s/133 PowerPC 604/133 PowerPC 604/100
Secondary cache (all direct mapped, write-back)
512 KB split (will be 512 KB, synchronous 256 KB
shared in final
version)
Memory bus width/speed
128 bits/66 MHz 64 bits/66 MHz 64 bits/66 MHz
RAM (standard/as tested/maximum, in MB)
32/64/256, ECC 16/32/192,
parity 32/64/256, parity
(ECC optional)
Storage
=======
Hard drive
One 1-GB Fujitsu M1606 One 1-GB IBM DPEA- Two 525-MB Toshiba MK2428FB
SAU 3.5-inch SCSI-2 31080 3.5-inch EIDE 2 1/2-inch SCSI-2
CD-ROM drive
Hitachi IDE (4x) IBM CRMC-FX400C3 Toshiba XM-4101B (2x)
IDE (4x)
Drive bays
Two accessible 5 1/4", Two accessible 5 1/4" Three 5 1/4- by 1"
two accessible 3 1/2" by 1", one 3-1/2" drive bays (two
floppy, two internal accessible), one
3-1/2" drives floppy
Graphics
========
Graphics card
Built-in Built-in Number Nine GXE64
Pro PCI graphics card
Graphics processor
Powerized Graphics S3 64-bit Vision8
64 S3 64-bit Vision964
128-bit L1A9403,
Philips SAA7196 video
decoder/scaler
Video memory (as tested/maximum, in MB)
6/6 VRAM (includes 2/2 DRAM 4/4 VRAM
2-MB video frame
store)
Pixel clock maximum
135 MHz 135 MHz 220 MHz
Max. 24-bit resolution (refresh rate)
1024 by 768 (75-Hz) No 24-bit driver 1280 by 1024, 76-Hz.
support
Max. resolution (color depth, refresh rate)
1280 by 1024 (16-bit, 1280 by 1024 (8-bit, 1600 by 1200 (16-bit, 76-Hz)
75-Hz) 72-Hz)
Monitor
17" Austin 17" IBM 17S/S Sight none
and Sound
Optimal resolution (refresh rate)
1280 by 1024 (70-Hz) 1280 by 1024 (77-Hz) not applicaple
Dot pitch (mm)
0.26 0.27
not applicaple
Expansion interfaces/ports
==========================
Total slots
Two 33-MHz PCI, two Two shared 33-MHz Three 33-MHz PCI
ISA (none shared) PCI/ISA, three ISA
(one half-length)
SCSI
Built-in PCI, 8-bit none Built-in PCI, 16-bit
Fast SCSI-2, internal (Wide) Fast SCSI-2,
and external connectors internal (8-bit) and
external (16-bit)
connectors
Serial
Two 9-pin 57.6-Kbps Two 9-pin 115.2-Kbps Two 9-pin 19.2-Kbps
asynchronous; two 26-pin
mini-D 1-Mbps synchronous
Parallel
One IEEE 1284 25-pin One IEEE 1284 25-pin One I
EEE 1284 36-pin
high-density
Networking
==========
Interface
Built-in PCI Ethernet Built-in PCI Ethernet Built-in PCI Ethernet
(10Base-T) (10Base-T) (tested), thin-net,
or AUI)
Pricing
=======
Price (as tested)
$8295 (32 MB RAM)/ $5607 (32 MB RAM)/ $6869 (32 MB RAM)/
$9995 (64 MB RAM) $7303 (64 MB), $9279 (64 MB), no
monitor $1410 extra monitor
Price includes
CD-quality audio with Built-in 16-bit "busi- Optional "business" audio
speaker and mic, video- ness" audio with speaker (on floppy-drive card)
conferencing camera and mic
Warranty
3 years, parts & labor; 3 years, parts & labor; 5 years, parts & labor,
first year on-site; first year on-site depot; or 3 ye
ars on-site
lifetime 24-hour, 7-day (2-day response); or 1
tech support year on-site (best-effort
response) with 7-day,
24-hour phone support
FCC Rating
Class B pending Class A Class A
illustration_link (11 Kbytes)
The BYTE cross-platform BYTEmark CPU test shows the PowerPC 604 favorably compared to other CPUs. The Austin PowerPlay2 604/133 trailed the 133-MHz IBM Power Serie
s 850 just slightly, due to the overhead of managing two CPUs.
illustration_link (7 Kbytes)
Two processors gave the PowerPlay2 a strong advantage in the PhotoMorph Swirl test, but not in the MicroStation CAD test (results not shown), where graphics controllers are a big factor.
photo_link (41 Kbytes)
Two PowerPC 604 workstations and a server (from left to right): Motorola's PowerStack Series E 604-100P server, Austin Direct's PowerPlay2 604/133, and IBM's Power Series 850.
photo_link (8 Kbytes)
No screws, no cables. You can dismantle Motorola's PowerStack systems down to the bare chassis without tools.
Dave Rowell is a BYTE technical editor who covers hardware. You can reach him on BIX or the Internet at
drowell@bix.com
.
NT Roars on the 604
