technology for 32-bit x86 applications, which should increase the number of NT applications you can use on the Alpha platform.
The Poly 33
3P-A's motherboard uses an L3 cache that holds 2 MB of synchronous static RAM (SRAM) on a 128-bit data path. This is besides the 21164A's built-in 96-KB three-way set-associative L2 cache and 16-KB L1 cache. The motherboard contains two 32-bit PCI slots, two 64-bit PCI slots, and three ISA slots (one shared).
Our system had 64 MB of 70-nanosecond parity-checking RAM (Polywell offers up to 1 GB). The 4.3-GB SCSI-3 Quantum Grand Prix hard drive spins at 7200 rpm and connects with a 16-bit connection to QLogic's fast and wide controller (20-MBps throughput). A 4-MB Diamond Multimedia Stealth 64 video card supported our test mode: 1024 by 768 pixels with 24-bit color.
BYTEmark proves
that the 333-MHz 21164A Alpha chip has plenty of raw speed. However, Bapco's SYSmark NT, an applications-based test suite, put the Poly 333P-A behind a 200-MHz Pentium Pro Dell Dimension XPS Pro200 by 13 percent, on average. The 21164A's 96-KB L2 cache (compared to the Pentium Pro's 256-KB cache) m
ay not be large enough to handle the context switches caused by the Windows NT 3.51 API. (This problem should go away with NT 4.0.)The Poly 333P-A performed remarkably better only with the CAD test, where intense floating-point calculations come into play. Save the Poly 333P-A for 3-D modeling and CAD, or if you want to run OpenVMS or OS/F1, which Polywell also supports.
Product Information
Poly 333P-A.................................$18,500
(333-MHz 21164A, 4.3-GB hard drive, 4X CD-ROM drive, 17-inch monitor)
Polywell Computers, Inc.
South San Francisco, CA
Phone: (800) 999-1278 or (415) 583-7222
Fax: (415) 583-1974
E-Mail:
polywell@ix.netcom.com
Internet:
http://www.
polywell.com
Circle 1022 on Inquiry Card.
NT Flies at 333 MHz
