DEC Alpha AXP 21064 Microprocessor die photo

Package for DEC Alpha AXP 21064 Microprocessor

Alpha AXP 21064 bare die mounted on a business card with some statistics

The DEC Alpha, also known as the Alpha AXP, is a 64-bit RISC microprocessor originally developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corp (DEC). Designed to power successors to the VAX line of computers, it was used in a variety of DEC workstations and servers, eventually forming the basis for almost all of their mid-to-upper-scale lineup. Several third-party vendors also produced Alpha systems, as well as PC compatible form factor motherboards. Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Metadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (930x930, 57 KB) Description: Alpha AXP 21064 Microprocessor Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (930x930, 57 KB) Description: Alpha AXP 21064 Microprocessor Source: http://www. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 445 pixelsFull resolution (1288 × 716 pixel, file size: 544 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 445 pixelsFull resolution (1288 × 716 pixel, file size: 544 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC), is a microprocessor CPU design philosophy that favors a smaller and simpler set of instructions that all take about the same amount of time to execute. ... A microprocessor is a programmable digital electronic component that incorporates the functions of a central processing unit (CPU) on a single semiconducting integrated circuit (IC). ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Fabrication plant. ... The DEC logo Digital Equipment Corporation was a pioneering American company in the computer industry. ... VAX is a 32-bit computing architecture that supports an orthogonal instruction set (machine language) and virtual addressing (i. ... One of the first PCs from IBM - the IBM PC model 5150. ... Form factor refers to the linear dimensions and configuration of a device as distinguished from other measures of size (for example Gigabytes; a measure of storage size): in computing, form factor is used to describe the size and format of PC motherboards (see AT, ATX, BTX), but also of hard... Sony Playstation motherboard A motherboard, also known as main board, logic board or system board, is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a computer. ...

Alpha supports both the OpenVMS operating system and Tru64 UNIX (previously known as DEC OSF/1 AXP or Digital UNIX). Open source operating systems also run on the Alpha, notably Linux and BSD UNIX flavors. Microsoft supported the processor in Windows NT until NT 4.0 SP6 but did not extend Alpha support beyond RC1 of Windows 2000^[1]. OpenVMS[1] (Open Virtual Memory System or just VMS) is the name of a high-end computer server operating system that runs on the VAX[2] and Alpha[3] family of computers developed by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts (DIGITAL was then purchased by Compaq, and is now owned... // An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... Tru64 UNIX is HPs (formerly Compaq; formerly DEC) 64-bit Unix operating system for the DEC Alpha AXP platform. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ... Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD, sometimes called Berkeley Unix) is the Unix derivative distributed by the University of California, Berkeley, starting in the 1970s. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. ... Windows NT 4. ... A software release is the distribution, whether public or private, of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product. ... Windows 2000 (also referred to as Win2K) is a preemptible, interruptible, graphical and business-oriented operating system that was designed to work with either uniprocessor or symmetric multi-processor 32-bit Intel x86 computers. ...

The Alpha series was sold, along with most parts of DEC, to Compaq in 1998. Compaq, already an Intel customer, decided to phase out Alpha in favor of the forthcoming Intel IA-64 architecture, and sold all Alpha intellectual property to Intel in 2001, effectively "killing" the product. Hewlett-Packard purchased Compaq later that same year, continuing development of the existing product line until 2004, and promising to continue selling Alpha-based systems, largely to the existing customer base, until October 2006. Compaq Computer Corporation is an American personal computer company founded in 1982, and now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC, SEHK: 4335), founded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation, is an American multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... In computing, IA-64 (short for Intel Architecture-64) is a 64-bit processor architecture developed cooperatively by Intel Corporation and Hewlett-Packard (HP), and implemented in the Itanium and Itanium 2 processors. ... For the 2006 film, see Intellectual Property (film). ... The Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ), commonly known as HP, is a very large, global company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. ...

In November 2006, HP announced an extension to sales until 27th April 2007.

History

Alpha was born out of an earlier RISC project named PRISM, itself the final product of several earlier projects. DEC had been marketing the DECstation line of workstations based on the MIPS architecture, and unsurprisingly PRISM shared many features with MIPS. Among the differences between PRISM and MIPS, however, was that PRISM supported a user-programmable microcode known as Epicode. PRISM had been designed with the intent of releasing a new operating system along with it, known as Emerald, which would allow it to run "native" programs at full speed while also supporting Digital's existing VMS programs from the VAX after minor conversion. DEC management doubted the need to produce a new computer architecture to replace their existing VAX and DECstation lines, and eventually killed the PRISM project in 1988. PRISM was a 32-bit RISC CPU design from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). ... A DECstation 5000/120 The DECstation was a brand of computers built by DEC, and refers to two distinct lines of computer systems—the first released in the 1970s as a word processing system, and the second (and more widely known) released in 1989 as computer workstations based on the... A MIPS R4400 microprocessor made by Toshiba. ... A microprogram is a program consisting of microcode that controls the different parts of a computers central processing unit (CPU). ... // An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... OpenVMS[1] (Open Virtual Memory System or just VMS) is the name of a high-end computer server operating system that runs on the VAX[2] and Alpha[3] family of computers developed by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts (DIGITAL was then purchased by Compaq, and is now owned... VAX is a 32-bit computing architecture that supports an orthogonal instruction set (machine language) and virtual addressing (i. ...

By the time of cancellation, however, second-generation RISC chips (such as the newer SPARC architecture), were offering much better price/performance ratios than the VAX lineup. It was clear a third generation would completely outperform the VAX in all ways, not just on cost. Another study was started to see if a new RISC architecture could be defined that could directly support the VMS operating system. The new design used most of the basic PRISM concepts, but was re-tuned to allow VMS and VMS programs to run at reasonable speed with no conversion at all. The decision was also made to upgrade the design to a full 64-bit implementation from PRISM's 32-bit, a conversion all of the major RISC vendors were undertaking. Eventually that new architecture became Alpha. The Alpha instruction set architects were Dick Sites and Rich Witek. The PRISM's Epicode was developed into the Alpha's PALcode, providing an abstracted interface to platform- and processor implementation-specific features. Sun UltraSPARC II Microprocessor Sun UltraSPARC T1 (Niagara 8 Core) SPARC (Scalable Processor Architecture) is a RISC microprocessor instruction set architecture originally designed in 1985 by Sun Microsystems. ... In economics and engineering, the price/performance ratio refers to a products ability to deliver performance, of any sort, for its price. ... VAX is a 32-bit computing architecture that supports an orthogonal instruction set (machine language) and virtual addressing (i. ... OpenVMS[1] (Open Virtual Memory System or just VMS) is the name of a high-end computer server operating system that runs on the VAX[2] and Alpha[3] family of computers developed by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts (DIGITAL was then purchased by Compaq, and is now owned... In computing, a 64-bit component is one in which data are processed or stored in 64-bit units (words). ... In computing, on the DEC Alpha microprocessor, PALcode (Privileged Architecture Library code) is the name used by DEC for a set of functions in the SRM or AlphaBIOS firmware, providing a hardware abstraction layer for system software, covering features such as cache management, translation lookaside buffer (TLB) miss handling, interrupt...

The main contribution of Alpha to the microprocessor industry, and the main reason for its excellent performance, was not so much the architecture but rather superb implementation. At that time (as it is now), the microchip industry was dominated by automated design and layout tools. The chip designers at Digital continued pursuing sophisticated manual circuit design in order to deal with the overly complex VAX architecture. The Alpha chips showed that manual circuit design applied to a simpler, cleaner architecture allowed for much higher operating frequencies than those that were possible with the more automated design systems. These chips caused a renaissance of custom circuit design within the microprocessor design community. VAX is a 32-bit computing architecture that supports an orthogonal instruction set (machine language) and virtual addressing (i. ...

Officially, the Alpha processors were designated the DECchip 21x64 series, the "21" signifying the 21st century, and the "64" indicating 64 bits, with the middle digit corresponding to the generation of the Alpha architecture. Internally, Alpha processors were also identified by EV numbers, EV officially standing for "Extended VAX" but having an alternative humorous meaning of "Electric Vlasic"[1]. Vlasic Pickles grew out of a Detroit creamery and fresh pickle business begun by Eastern European immigrant Joe Vlasic in the 1920s. ...

The first few generations of the Alpha chips were some of the most innovative of their time. The first version, 21064 or EV4, was the first CMOS microprocessor whose operating frequency rivalled higher-powered ECL minicomputers and mainframes. The second, 21164 or EV5, was the first microprocessor to place a large secondary cache on chip. The third, 21264 or EV6, was the first microprocessor to combine both high operating frequency and the more complicated out-of-order execution microarchitecture. The 21364 or EV7 was the first processor to include an Integrated Memory Controller. The unproduced EV8 would have been the first to include simultaneous multithreading, but this version was caught up in the sale to Compaq. The Tarantula research project, which most likely would have been called EV9, would have been the first processor to feature a powerful vector core. Static CMOS Inverter Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) (see-moss, IPA: ), is a major class of integrated circuits. ... In electronics, emitter coupled logic, or ECL, is a logic family in which current is steered through bipolar transistors to compute logical functions. ... In computer engineering, out-of-order execution, OoOE, is a paradigm used in most high-performance microprocessors in order to make use of cycles that would otherwise be wasted by a certain type of costly delay. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Simultaneous multithreading, often abbreviated as SMT, is a technique for improving the overall efficiency of the hardware that executes instructions in a computer. ... Compaq Computer Corporation is an American personal computer company founded in 1982, and now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard. ...

A persistent report attributed to DEC insiders suggests the choice of the AXP tag for the processor was made by DEC's legal department, which was still smarting from the VAX trademark fiasco. After a lengthy search the tag "AXP" was found to be entirely unencumbered. Within the computer industry, a joke got started that the acronym AXP meant "Almost Exactly PRISM". VAX is a 32-bit computing architecture that supports an orthogonal instruction set (machine language) and virtual addressing (i. ...

Versions

At the time of its announcement, Alpha was heralded as an architecture for the next 25 years. While this was not to be, Alpha has nevertheless had a reasonably long life. The first version, the Alpha 21064 (otherwise known as the EV4) was introduced in 1992 running at up to 192 MHz, a slight (0.75μm to 0.675μm) shrink of the die (EV4S) ran at 200 MHz a few months later. The 64-bit processor was a superpipelined and superscalar design, like other RISC designs, but nevertheless outperformed them all and DEC touted it as the world's fastest processor. Careful attention to circuit design, a hallmark of the Hudson design team, like a huge centralized clock circuitry, allowed them to run the CPU at higher speeds, even though the microarchitecture was fairly similar to other RISC chips. In comparison, the less expensive Intel Pentium ran at 66 MHz when it was launched the following spring. Term referring to a CPU architecture which further divides each of the traditional pipeline stages (see Pipeline_(computer), Classic RISC pipeline) to obtain improved thruput and higher clock rates. ... Simple superscalar pipeline. ... Pentium MMX - top view The Pentium is a fifth-generation x86 architecture microprocessor by Intel which first shipped on March 22, 1993. ...

The Alpha 21164 or EV5 became available in 1995 at processor frequencies of up to 333 MHz. In July 1996 the line was speed bumped to 500 MHz, in March 1998 to 666 MHz. Also in 1998 the 21264 (EV6) was released at 450 MHz, eventually reaching (in 2001 with the 21264C/EV68CB) 1.25 GHz. In 2003, the EV7 Marvel was launched, essentially an EV68 core with four 1.6 Gbyte/s inter-processor communication links for improved multiprocessor system performance, running at 1 or 1.15 GHz. Around 500,000 Alpha based systems were sold by the end of 2000. Multiprocessing is traditionally known as the use of multiple concurrent processes in a system as opposed to a single process at any one instant. ...

In 1999, the production of Alpha chips was licensed to Samsung Electronics Company. Following the purchase of Digital by Compaq the majority of the Alpha products were placed with API NetWorks, Inc. (previously Alpha Processor Inc.), a private company funded by Samsung and Compaq. In October 2001, Microway became the exclusive sales and service provider of API NetWorks' Alpha-based product line. Samsung Group is one of the largest South Korean business groupings. ... Compaq Computer Corporation is an American personal computer company founded in 1982, and now a brand name of Hewlett-Packard. ... Microway is a high end computer manufacturer making servers and clustering products. ...

On June 25, 2001, Compaq announced that Alpha would be phased out by 2004 in favor of Intel's Itanium, canceled the planned EV8 chip, and sold all Alpha intellectual property to Intel. HP, new owner of Compaq later the same year, announced that development of the Alpha series would continue for a few more years, including the release of a 1.3 GHz EV7 variant called the EV7z. This would be the final iteration of Alpha, the 0.13µm EV79 also being canceled. HP will continue selling AlphaServers with OpenVMS and Tru64 UNIX until April 27, 2007, and has promised support until at least 2012. is the 176th day of the year (177th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC, SEHK: 4335), founded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation, is an American multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... Itanium 2 logo Old Itanium logo The Itanium is an IA-64 microprocessor developed jointly by Hewlett-Packard and Intel. ... Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC, SEHK: 4335), founded in 1968 as Integrated Electronics Corporation, is an American multinational corporation that is best known for designing and manufacturing microprocessors and specialized integrated circuits. ... AlphaServer was the name given to a series of server computers, produced from 1994 onwards by Digital Equipment Corporation, and latterly by Compaq and HP. As the name suggests, the AlphaServers were based on the DEC Alpha 64-bit microprocessor. ... OpenVMS[1] (Open Virtual Memory System or just VMS) is the name of a high-end computer server operating system that runs on the VAX[2] and Alpha[3] family of computers developed by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts (DIGITAL was then purchased by Compaq, and is now owned... Tru64 UNIX is HPs (formerly Compaq; formerly DEC) 64-bit Unix operating system for the DEC Alpha AXP platform. ... April 27 is the 117th day of the year (118th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 248 days remaining. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

Ironically, in mid-2003, as the Alpha was about to be phased out, the fastest and second fastest computers (in 2002) in the United States were both implemented using Alpha processors (in the case of the former, a cluster of 4096 Alpha processors).

Model history

ISA extensions:

• R: ?
• B: BWX, the "Byte/Word Extension", adding instructions to allow 8- and 16-bit operations from memory and I/O
• M: MVI, "multimedia" instructions
• F: FIX, instructions to move data between integer and floating point registers and for square root
• C: CIX, instructions for counting and finding bits
• T: Support for prefetch with modify intent to improve the performance of the first attempt to acquire a lock

Performance

To get an idea of the performance of Alpha-based systems, here are some SPEC performance numbers (SPEC92, SPEC95). Note that the SPEC results report the measured performance of a whole computer system (CPU, bus, memory, compiler optimizer), not just the CPU. Also note that the benchmark and scale changed from 1992 to 1995. However, the idea here is to give a rough idea of the Alpha architecture performance compared with Intel-based offerings at the same time. Perhaps the most obvious trend is that while Intel could always get reasonably close to Alpha in integer performance, in floating point performance the difference was considerable. The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) is a non-profit organization that aims to produce fair, impartial and meaningful benchmarks for computers. ...

Alpha-based systems

The first generation of DEC Alpha-based systems comprised the DEC 3000 AXP series workstations and low-end servers, DEC 4000 AXP series mid-range servers, and DEC 7000 AXP and 10000 AXP series high-end servers. The DEC 3000 AXP systems used the same TURBOchannel bus as the previous MIPS-based DECstation models, whereas the 4000 was based on FutureBus+ and the 7000/10000 shared an architecture with corresponding VAX models. DEC 3000 AXP was the name given to a series of computer workstations and servers, produced from 1992 to around 1995 by Digital Equipment Corporation. ... A DEC 3000/M600. ... A MIPS R4400 microprocessor made by Toshiba. ... Futurebus (IEEE 896) is a computer bus standard, intended to replace all local bus connections in a computer, including the CPU, memory, plug-in cards and even, to some extent, LAN links between machines. ... VAX is a 32-bit computing architecture that supports an orthogonal instruction set (machine language) and virtual addressing (i. ...

DEC also produced a PC-like Alpha workstation with an EISA bus, the DECpc 150 AXP (codename "Jensen", also known as the DEC 2000 AXP). This was the first Alpha system to support Windows NT. DEC later produced Alpha versions of their Celebris XL and Personal Workstation PC lines, with 21164 processors. The Altair 8800 was among the first microcomputers to be affordable by an individual, although it initially lacked peripherals and memory. ... EISA means: Extended Industry Standard Architecture European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA Awards). ... Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. ...

The 21066 chip was used in the DEC Multia VX40/41/42 compact workstation and the ALPHAbook 1 laptop from Tadpole Technology. A Multia computer and monitor The Multia, later re-branded the Universal Desktop Box, is a line of computer workstations produced by the Digital Equipment Corporation in the mid-1990s. ...

In 1994, DEC launched a new range of AlphaStation and AlphaServer systems. These used 21064 or 21164 processors and introduced the PCI bus, VGA-compatible frame buffers and PS/2-style keyboards and mice. The AlphaServer 8000 series superseded the DEC 7000/10000 AXP and also employed XMI and FutureBus+ buses. AlphaStation was the name given to a series of computer workstations, produced from 1994 onwards by Digital Equipment Corporation, and latterly by Compaq and HP. As the name suggests, the AlphaStations were based on the DEC Alpha 64-bit microprocessor. ... AlphaServer was the name given to a series of server computers, produced from 1994 onwards by Digital Equipment Corporation, and latterly by Compaq and HP. As the name suggests, the AlphaServers were based on the DEC Alpha 64-bit microprocessor. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a computer display standard first marketed in 1987 by IBM. VGA belongs to a family of earlier IBM video standards and largely remains backward compatible with them. ... The framebuffer is a part of RAM in a computer allocated to hold the graphics information for one frame or picture. ... The PS/2 connector is used for connecting a keyboard and a mouse to a PC compatible computer system. ...

The AlphaStation XP1000 was the first workstation based on the 21264 processor. Later AlphaServer/Station models based on the 21264 were categorised into DS (departmental server), ES (enterprise server) or GS (global server) families.

The final 21364 chip was used in the AlphaServer ES47, ES80 and GS1280 models.

A number of OEM Alpha motherboards were also produced by DEC, Samsung and API, including the EB64+, EB164, API UP1000 and UP2000. Original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, is a term that refers to a situation in which one company purchases a manufactured product from another company and resells the product as its own, usually as a part of a larger product it sells. ... A motherboard is the central or primary circuit board making up a complex electronic system, such as a modern computer. ...

The 21164 and 21264 processors were used by Network Appliance in various Network Attached Storage systems, while the 21064 and 21164 processors were used by Cray in their T3D and T3E massively parallel supercomputers. Network Appliance, Inc. ... Network-attached storage (NAS) systems are generally computing-storage devices that can be accessed over a computer network, rather than directly being connected to the computer (via a computer bus). ... For alternate meanings, see Cray (disambiguation). ... Categories: Stub ... The Cray T3E was a massively parallel supercomputer sold by Cray Research from 1995. ... Massively parallel is a description which appears in computer science, life science, medical diagnositcs, and other fields. ...

Supercomputers

The fastest supercomputers based on Alpha processors:

• ASCI Q at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Machine: HP AlphaServer SC45/GS Cluster. CPU: 4096 Alpha (1.25 GHz). Rmax: 7.727 Teraflops.

Cray Research used the 21064 and 21164 processors respectively in the Cray T3D and Cray T3E massively parallel supercomputers. Cray-2 supercomputer Cray Inc. ... Categories: Stub ... The Cray T3E was a massively parallel supercomputer sold by Cray Research from 1995. ... Massively parallel is a description which appears in computer science, life science, medical diagnositcs, and other fields. ... A supercomputer is a device for turning compute-bound problems into I/O-bound problems. ...

References

1. ^ Aaron Sakovich (2001). Windows 2000?. The AlphaNT Source. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 1st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Documents from Digital

• Digital Technical Journal, Volume 4, Number 4, Special Issue 1992 Alpha AXP Architecture and Systems This issue contains several articles from Alpha's Architects
• DEC Alpha Documentation Library Technical documentation for Alpha microprocessors and motherboards, last updated in 1999 (includes the Alpha Architecture Handbook)
• DEC Alpha Documentation Archives Technical documentation for older Alpha products

AlphaServer News Sites

• Tru64.org Tru64 UNIX on Alpha
• OpenVMS.org OpenVMS on Alpha

Free Operating Systems for Alpha

• Plan 9 on Alpha
• L4Ka::Pistachio/alpha
• Alpha Core - Fedora Core for Alpha
• CentOS Linux on Alpha
• Gentoo Linux on Alpha
• Debian on Alpha
• NetBSD/alpha
• OpenBSD/alpha
• FreeBSD/alpha

Emulators for Alpha

• Alpha Replacement

Other Sources

• Alpha: The History in Facts and Comments
• Top Architect Leaves
• Alpha Architect(Michael Pachos) Quits