When the CHRP specification was originally created, it was designed to offer faster computers, better cross-platform support, and use industry-standard components. Now that CHRP is becoming a reality, we are getting our first glimpses of the promises the CHRP specification offers.
CHRP stands for Common Hardware Reference Platform and computers based on this specification use components that are standards across the entire computer industry, not just in the Macintosh world. The CHRP specification allows for a more open platform since Mac licensees will no longer be using Apple-designed motherboards. Apple and Mac clone-makers will have a wider choice of suppliers, lower component prices, and a less chance of being caught in a parts shortage. CHRP also allows for faster adoption of emerging technologies such as the Universal Serial Bus, the FireWire high-speed peripheral bus, and the Advanced Graphics Processor slot.
Motorola is the first Mac maker that has announced a
CHRP-based computer. Code-named Viper, the prototype of this computer
is the fastest system ever tested. It uses the brand-new G3 PowerPC
CPU running at 266MHz (there is a good chance the final product will
ship with a fast 604e processor instead) and ships with 32MB or 64MB
of RAM.
The Viper uses a 66MHz bus instead of the usual 33MHz-50MHz. The faster bus increases overall system performance drastically. The Viper also will come with the ATI Rage chip which is even faster in rendering 3-D graphics than the IMS Twin Turbo card used in many high-powered graphics systems.
The final Viper system, set to be released at the same time Apple ships Mac OS 8, will use either a 250MHz PowerPC 604e or the G3 chip, and will include 512K of EDO Level 2 cache, an internal Zip drive, 10BaseT Ethernet, 4MB of VRAM, and a parallel port. It will come in two versions, with either a 2.5 GB or a 4 GB hard drive, and 32MB or 64MB of RAM. The Viper will include PC-style parallel ports, so you can use almost any PC printer.
By the end of the year, Motorola will introduce the successor to the Viper, code-named Cobra. This motherboard will move the video circuitry onto a card and will use a version of the G3 that has a direct high-speed cache to significantly increase system performance. In early 1998, the successor to the Cobra, code-named King Cobra, will use an 83MHz system bus and will use synchronous DRAM for even better system performance.
The Viper represents the first prototype of a CHRP system, and it completely changes my idea of a fast computer. The Viper is so fast that it out-paces any other computer in both the Macintosh world and the PC world. Watch out...the Viper is coming!
