Power Computing Corporation announced PowerTower Pro, a new line of high-performance Mac OS systems that outperform all Intel-based Pentium and Pentium Pro systems running Microsofts Windows 95 as well as existing Mac OS systems.

The introduction of the PowerTower Pro line marks the worldwide debut of the new PowerPC 604e microprocessor featuring breakthrough performance and clock speeds of up to 225 Megahertz(MHz), making the PowerTower Pro the fastest personal computer available.

"PowerTower Pro represents a quantum forward leap for the entire computer industry and puts the Mac OS firmly back on top," said Steve Kahng, president and CEO of Power Computing. "There isn't a higher performing Windows 95-based PC available today that can match our new PowerTower Pro."

The PowerTower Pro line, which joins Power Computing's current family of high-end systems, PowerTower, is available at speeds of 225, 200, 180 MHz and features increased expandability with six PCI slots, a total of 9 expansion (6 front accessible) bays, 1 MB of Level 2 Cache, an 8X CD-ROM as well as the highest performing PCI graphics accelerator on the market. With these features, the PowerTower Pro offers more options than any other Mac OS system and takes advantage of the new PowerPC 604e processors speed and flexibility.

Faster and More Flexible

The new system design allows for exceptional configuration flexibility and more options for expandability than any other Mac OS system available today. All PowerTower Pro systems have six PCI slots, eight DIMM slots with Interleaved memory, and four front accessible 5 1/4 bays, two 3 1/2 front accessible bays, a floppy drive bay and two internal bays in a tower configuration. When users install memory modules in pairs, the interleaved memory capability increases memory performance by up to 5 percent, thus allowing users to run more applications faster.

The PowerTower Pro also includes internal fast SCSI at 10MB/second. Moreover, graphics performance is further improved since all PowerTower Pro systems include the IMS Twin Turbo 128-bit graphics card with 8 MB of VRAM and a fast 2 Gigabyte 7200 RPM AV capable hard drive.

With the increased speed and graphics capabilities, the PowerTower Pro is ideal for processor-intensive tasks such as the handling of large files, running graphics applications and performing complex calculations within scientific applications. Power Computing offers options such as Ultra SCSI/RAID solutions and AV capabilities designed with these processor intensive tasks in mind.

Power Computing Corporation: The first with the PowerPC 604e

Power Computing's introduction of the PowerTower Pro marks the worldwide debut of the new PowerPC 604e microprocessor from the AIM (Apple Computer, IBM and Motorola) Alliance. The PowerPC 604e is a 32-bit implementation of the PowerPC family of Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) microprocessors. The PowerPC 604e is a functionally equivalent, enhanced microarchitecture derivative of the PowerPC 604 microprocessor. Enhancements to the PowerPC 604e over its predecessor 604 include: -

-- Size of instruction and data caches have been doubled

-- Higher clock frequencies with increased bus divider ratios

-- A new performance enhancing feature which supports misaligned little endian accesses for certain operating environments

-- A built-in performance monitor.

Initially, the PowerPC 604e will be available in PowerTower Pro systems in clock speeds of 180, 200 and 225 MHz. The PowerPC 604e 225 MHz will be exclusively available to Mac OS customers from Power Computing.

Like all Mac OS systems from Power Computing, every system is built-to-order to the exact customized preference of each user. All PowerTower Pro systems are available immediately. The base configurations are as follows:

All PowerTower Pro systems also include on-board AAUI and 10BaseT Ethernet, six PCI expansion slots, up to 1 GB of RAM, extended keyboard, mouse and over $1,200 in additional bundled software including Mac OS System 7.5.3.

Upgrade Paths for Installed Power Computing Systems

In continuing with its aggressive upgrade policies for its installed base, Power Computing is now offering CPU upgrade cards for existing Power Computing customers who own PowerTower, PowerCenter, PowerWave and PowerCurve Mac OS systems. These user installable daughtercards are designed with both the new PowerPC 604e processor at 180 MHz and 200 MHz; the PowerPC 604 processors at 120 MHz, 132 MHz, 150 MHz, and 166 MHz. Customers can simply call Power Computing, providing their system serial number to qualify for ordering a processor upgrade card. The CPU upgrade cards will be available in September of this year. Pricing is as follows:

604e / 200 MHz Upgrade Card $ 1,195
604e / 180 MHz Upgrade Card $ 895
604 / 166 MHz Upgrade Card $ 595
604 / 150 MHz Upgrade Card $ 495
604 / 132 MHz Upgrade Card $ 395

 

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