The last time we tested NT workstations, Alpha 21064A-based systems were the clear performance winners. Today's 133-MHz PowerPC 604 systems provide the same BYTEmark performance as those Alpha boxes did at 275 MHz. Since then, however, Digital Equipment Corp. has come out with the faster 21164 CPU, a chip that includes among its enhancements both a 16-KB primary cache and a built-in 96-KB L2 cache (see "Alpha Rides High," October 1994 BYTE).
Eager to test the 21164, we got our hands on one of the first systems to use it:
DeskStation's Raptor 3
(DeskStation Technology, Lenexa KS; (913) 599-1900). DeskStation has developed an architecture called UniFlex that allows the same system board to take processor cards carrying either
Mips or Alpha CPUs, with Windows NT as the operating system. Our test machine came with a 266-MHz 21164 module (the 300-MHz version wasn't yet available) loaded with 2 MB of write-back L3 cache. Other performance features include a claimed 900-MBps bus to external cache and a 128-bit 150-MBps bus to external memory.
The $15,000 price includes 64 MB of system memory, a 1-GB Seagate ST31230 SCSI drive, a 2x CD-ROM drive, a 4-MB Diamond Stealth 64 PCI graphics card, built-in Ethernet, and a 17" ViewSonic 17E monitor. Performance testing with BYTEmark put the Raptor 3 far ahead of the crowd. Its CPU performance was 40 percent to 60 percent faster than 275-MHz 21064A systems and single-processor 133-MHz PowerPC systems (see the
BYTEmark test results figure
). The 300-MHz version should be another 13 percent faster.
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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 Series 850 just slightly, due to the overhead of managing two CPUs.
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Alpha Stays Ahead
