Press/Alpha 21164 Microprocessor Streaks to 600MHz, Sets New Records
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Digital Equipment Corporation
Maynard, Massachusetts 01754-2571
Editorial contact:
Lois Marie
(508) 568-6225
Marianne Mills
(508) 568-5102
Alpha 21164 Microprocessor Streaks to 600MHz,
Sets New Industry Performance Records
...New Motherboard Enables High-End Desktop Designs...
MAYNARD, Mass., March 31, 1997 -- Digital Equipment Corporation
today increased the performance advantage of its Alpha micro-
processor family by announcing a faster, 600MHz version of its
Alpha 21164 microprocessor for workstations and servers.
The new Alpha 21164-600MHz chip, with a peak execution rate of
2.4 billion instructions per second (BIPS), delivers an estimated
18.0 SPECint95 and 27.0 SPECfp95, the industry's top figures for
both RISC and CISC processors. Samples are available now from
Digital Semiconductor, a Digital Equipment Corporation business.
A new, ATX-form-factor motherboard, the AlphaPC 164LX, to
support the latest Alpha processors, was also announced. The
AlphaPC 164LX motherboard enables OEMs to create Alpha workstations
and servers, using standard components for high-performance Windows
NT applications such as visual computing, computer-aided design,
financial analysis, and Internet servers. The AlphaPC 164LX board
will be available in the summer of 1997.
Best Performance for Servers, Desktops
"Reaching 600MHz demonstrates the performance leadership that
was built into the Alpha architecture," said Tim Miller, Digital
Semiconductor's strategic marketing manager for Alpha products.
"With this month's announcements, Digital offers the industry's
top-performing microprocessor -- the Alpha 21164-600MHz -- for
servers and workstations, and best price and performance in the
Windows NT desktop market with the Alpha 21164PC chip."
The Alpha 21164 product family's superior floating point
performance enables it to handle the algorithms required for
graphics and motion video. These top-performing chips push the
performance envelope for visual computing applications such as video
conferencing, modeling, video editing, multimedia authoring, image
rendering, and animation.
New Motherboard for Rapid System Design
The AlphaPC 164LX motherboard enables rapid design of systems
using standard components such as synchronous DRAM memory modules,
PCI option cards, power supplies and enclosures, and the Windows NT
operating system. The new board accommodates Alpha 21164
microprocessors operating at speeds from 400MHz to 600MHz and
supports 2MB of synchronous SRAM level 3 cache memory over a 128-bit
data path. Four PCI slots (two 32-bit, two 64-bit) and two ISA
expansion slots are included along with normal system support
functions. Windows NT ARC firmware supports installation of Windows
NT 4.0 software.
Digital expects to announce personal workstations based on the
Alpha 21164-600MHz microprocessor in the near future.
Digital Semiconductor, a Digital Equipment Corporation business
headquartered in Hudson, Massachusetts, designs, manufactures and
markets industry-leading semiconductor products including Alpha
microprocessors and PCI chips for networking, bridging, and
multimedia, plus low-power StrongARM microprocessors under license
from Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
and Samsung Electronics Company Ltd. are alternate sources for Alpha
microprocessors. Web site: http://www.digital.com/semiconductor
or 800-332-2717 for more information.
Digital Equipment Corporation is a world leader in open client/
server solutions from personal computing to integrated worldwide
information systems. Digital's scalable Alpha and Intel platforms,
storage, networking, software and services, together with industry-
focused solutions from business partners, help organizations compete
and win in today's global marketplace.
####
Note to Editors: Digital, Digital Semiconductor, DIGITAL FX!32,
OpenVMS, and the Digital logo are trademarks of
Digital Equipment Corporation. Windows is a
registered trademark and Windows NT is a trademark
of Microsoft Corporation. SPEC is a registered
trademark of System Performance Evaluation
Corporation. UNIX is a registered trademark in
the U.S. and other countries, licensed exclusively
by X/Open Company Ltd. StrongARM is a trademark
of Advanced RISC Machines Ltd. Intel is a
registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
CORP/97/587
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