2nd September 1996

Risc PC price cuts!

Acorn Price Drops � The �Old Acorn� were never known for their price drops(!) but the new, flexible Acorn seems more able to move as the market moves. The RiscPC pricing has fallen so that the ACB64 (4Mb/540Mb RiscPC 600) is down £50 at £1299, the ACB77 (5Mb/540Mb RiscPC 700) is down £50 at £1549 while the ACB75A (10Mb/1Gb RiscPC 700) is down £190 at £1799.

Never-the-less, despite the £190 price drop, the DIY RiscPC idea that NCS started a few month ago still saves you money. For example, if we make up an ARM610 ACB75A equivalent, it will cost you just £1666 (£133 saving). If you want it to have an ARM710, it would be £183 � still just less than an ACB75A. However, with the StrongARM available at £99 +VAT from Acorn up to the end of the year, it would seem better use of resources to start with the 610 and use part of the £133 saving to pay for the StrongARM.

SIMM Memory price drops!

Effective immediately, prices of SIMMs suitable for the Risc PC are 8 MBytes for �50, 16 MBytes for �100 and 32 MBytes for �200, fully inclusive. These SIMMs are guaranteed compatible with your Risc PC. If you would like to trade in your existing SIMM please phone us for latest prices on (01603) 766592.

StrongARM Risc PC highly rated

The Performance Database Server has listed the Risc PC in 8th place in a chart of powerful processors. The machine was fitted with a StrongARM processor running at 200 MHz. It achieved 204.1 MIPS (million instructions per second).
ART also took a random sample 200 MHz card and upclocked it to 276 MHz. It worked. ART went further to state that it was "unconditionally stable at all times". It was being operated well beyond DEC's recommended limits but operated flawlessly, delivering 276 MIPS.
As you can see from the chart below, this would raise the Risc PC to 5th place in the overall standings...

PDS: The Performance Database Server
dhrystone 
Alfred Aburto / Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego / 
[email protected] 
                                                    CPU   MIPS   MIPS
   System                 OS/Compiler      CPU     (MHz)  V1.1   V2.1
## ---------------------- ------------ ----------- ----- ------ -----
01 DEC Alpha 600 5/266    OSF/1 V3.2c  21164-EB5   266.0 ------  366.8
02 DEC Server 2100 5/250  UNIX V3.2b   DEC 21064   250.0 ------  360.4
03 DEC 3000/900  AXP      OSF/1 V3.0   DEC 21064   275.0 ------  291.9
04 DEC Alpha 600 5/266    OSF/1 V3.2c  21164-EB5   266.0 ------  290.0
05 DEC 200 4/233          OSF/1 V3.2   DEC 21064A  233.0  189.3  245.8
06 DEC Alpha 250 4/266    OSF/1 V3.2c  ----------- 266.0 ------  226.2
07 DEC 10000/610 AXP      OpenVMS V1.0 DEC 21064   200.0  194.9  214.8
08 Acorn RiscPC           RiscOS       ARM SA110   200.0 ------  204.1
09 DEC 7000/600  AXP      OSF/1 V1.3a  DEC 21064   200.0  195.5  203.3
10 DEC Alpha 250 4/266    OSF/1 V3.2c  ----------- 266.0 ------  196.0
11 DEC 7000/610  AXP      OpenVMS V1.0 DEC 21064   182.0  177.3  195.6
12 DEC 3000/800  AXP      OSF/1 V1.3a  DEC 21064   200.0  192.9  189.7
13 DEC 4000/710  AXP      OSF/1 V1.3a  DEC 21064   190.0  188.7  189.7
14 HP 9000/735            HP-UX 9.03   PA-RISC7150 125.0  224.5  189.2
15 Sun Ultra 1            Solaris 2.5  UltraSPARC  167.0  189.7  179.0
16 DEC 4000/610  AXP      OpenVMS V1.0 DEC 21064   160.0  159.0  173.0
17 DEC 3000/600  AXP      OSF/1 V1.3a  DEC 21064   175.0  168.5  167.4
18 PowerMac 9500/120      System 7.5.2 PowerPC 604 125.0 ------  167.4
19 DEC 3000/500  AXP      OpenVMS V1.0 DEC 21064   150.0  146.7  160.1
20 Sun Ultra 1            Solaris 2.5  UltraSPARC  143.0  162.2  153.0

It is interesting to note that all the top 13 machines use processors manufactured by DEC.

It is understood that Texas Instruments have a new .18 micron facility, and could be making the 400 MHz version of the StrongARM. I have yet to find any solid evidence for this, so if anyone has any, let me know!