IBM RS/6000

IBM RISC System/6000
Also known as	IBM RS/6000
Developer	IBM
Type	Desktop; Workstation (POWERstation); Server (POWERserver); Supercomputer platform (RS/6000 SP line);
Release date	February 1990
Discontinued	October 2000 (servers); 2002 (workstations);
CPU	IBM POWER; PowerPC;
Predecessor	IBM RT PC
Successor	eServer pSeries; IntelliStation POWER; IBM ThinkPad Power Series;
Related	IBM PC Power Series
Website	rs6000.ibm.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2000-03-01)

Dual 375 MHz IBM POWER3-II processors on the CPU module of a RS/6000 44P 270

IBM RS6000 44P: model 170 and model 270

The RISC System/6000 is a family of RISC-based (Reduced Instruction Set Computer-based) Unix servers, workstations and supercomputers made by IBM in the 1990s. The RS/6000 family replaced the IBM RT PC computer platform in February 1990 and is the first computer line to see the use of IBM's POWER and PowerPC based microprocessors. In October 2000, the RS/6000 brand was retired for POWER-based servers and replaced by the eServer pSeries. Workstations continued under the RS/6000 brand until 2002, when new POWER/-based workstations were released under the IntelliStation POWER/ brand.

The RS/6000 floating-point execution unit (FPU) enabled major improvements in the speed and accuracy of floating-point operations. The key feature of the FPU was introducing the MAF (multiply-add fused) operation, which has since become standard in most modern processors. ^[1]

^ Montoye, R. K.; Hokenek, E.; Runyon, S. L. (January 1990). "Design of the IBM RISC System/6000 floating-point execution unit". IBM Journal of Research and Development. 34 (1): 59–70. doi:10.1147/rd.341.0059. ISSN 0018-8646.

[1] Montoye, R. K.; Hokenek, E.; Runyon, S. L. (January 1990). "Design of the IBM RISC System/6000 floating-point execution unit". IBM Journal of Research and Development. 34 (1): 59–70. doi:10.1147/rd.341.0059. ISSN 0018-8646.

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