Item Subject: cc:Mail Text
 
From HP's web site.  The complete release is at:
http://www-dmo.external.hp.com/csopress/96apr4.html
 
Press Release
 
Industry's Most Powerful 64-Bit
Microprocessor Attains Performance Level That
Outperforms Competitors By Up To 260 Percent
 
PA-8000 Performance Results Exceed Earlier Estimates
 
April 4, 1996
 
 
PALO ALTO, Calif., April 4, 1996 -- Hewlett-Packard Company, the leading
supplier of RISC(1)-based systems, today announced new levels of performance
for its PA-8000 chip -- the industry's most powerful microprocessor. The
PA-8000, HP's latest microprocessor, surpassed performance expectations in
recent SPEC95 performance benchmark tests and outperformed its competitors
by up to 260 percent. HP has been shipping 64-bit PA-8000-based systems to
independent software vendors (ISVs) since January and plans to ship systems to
customers this month.
 
Processor Performance Benchmark
 
 
                     HP       IBM         SUN          DEC       MIPS
                  PA-8000  PowerPC620  UltraSparc  Alpha 21164  R10000
                  (180MHz)  (133MHz)    (167MHz)     (400MHz)  (200MHz)
SPECint95           11.8    5.6*/**       5.6        11.0 **     8.9
SPECfp95            20.2    5.6* /**      9.1        14.0 **    12.5
 
* Source:  Microprocessor Report Jan. 22, 1996
** Manufacturer's; estimates -- systems not shipping
 
The final SPEC95 performance measurements for the PA-8000 of SPECint95 of
11.8 and SPECfp95 of 20.2 far exceed HP's earlier estimates of 8.6 and 15,
repectively, and outpace all competitors. The PA-8000's SPECint95 and
SPECfp95 numbers are 110 percent and 260 percent higher, respectively, than
those of IBM's PowerPC620. The PA-8000's SPECint95 and SPECfp95
numbers are 110 percent and 120 percent higher, respectively, than those of
Sun's UltraSparc. The PA-8000's SPECint95 and SPECfp95 numbers are 7 percent
and 31 percent higher, respectively, than those of Digital's Alpha.
 
"These are exceptional numbers," said Richard W. (Rich) Sevcik, HP vice
president and general manager of the Systems Technology Group. "Customers will
clearly see outstanding performance levels and can expect productivity increases
with PA-8000-based systems."
 
HP continues to provide leading-edge performance and technology in a broad
family of system products and is a co-developer, along with Intel, of the 64-bit
Instruction Set Architecture.
 
HP Uses Advanced Optimizing Compilers as a Function of Performance Improvement
 
HP's last-year estimates of a SPECint95 rating of 8.6 and a SPECfp95 rating of
15 for the PA-8000 were made prior to the completion of HP's PA-8000-focused
compiler enhancements. Compiler technology is integral to the performance of all
RISC-based systems.
 
HP designed sophisticated heuristic algorithms to perform comprehensive analysis
of application source and to produce executable code that efficiently and fully
exploits the features of the PA-8000.
 
More than ever, HP's compilers track all system elements that affect PA-8000
throughput. Instruction scheduling, instruction and data pre-fetching, branch
elimination, branch prediction and conflict and dependency avoidance are just a
few of the optimizations made to ensure and enhance instruction-level
parallelism within the microprocessor.