NEC PC-9801 (Platform)

NEC PC-9801

PLATFORM» PC98» October 1982

A 16/32-bit Japanese personal computer system launched by NEC in 1982. It was the most successful computer platform in Japan and one of the best-selling computer systems of the 20th century. It has a very large video game library with thousands of titles, the majority of which were never released outside Japan.

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Overview

PC-98 is a series of 16/32-bit Japanese personal computers, designed by NEC, but also licensed to other companies (including Sony). In contrast to its PC-88 predecessor, the PC-98 was initially created as a business machine, but over time it eventually became popular with game developers. The PC-98 is based around Intel 8086 and later MIPS compatible processors, but the design is proprietary, and it is not compatible with the IBM PC or clones, although versions of DOS, UNIX and Windows NT were ported to it. The system has a very large library of video games, consisting of more than 4,000 commercial titles and countless more doujin (indie) titles. The games and system are difficult to find outside of Japan, even on eBay. There are a few sites however that sell the games and systems.

History

When the PC-98 was launched in 1982, it was initially priced at ¥298,000 (about $1400 in 1982 dollars, equivalent to about $3400 in 2012 dollars). The PC-98 computer platform eventually went on to sell more than 18 million units in Japan (Location) by 1999, surpassing the Commodore 64 (Platform) (17 million units) as the best-selling home computer system of the 20th century. Laptop versions of the PC-9801 were also being sold in the late 1980s. The first was the PC-98 LT, one of the first mass-market laptops, released in 1986. It is considered the world's first major laptop PC. The world's first notebook computer was released in 1989, NEC's UltraLite. By 1990, the 32-bit PC-9801 NC model became the world's first laptop/notebook computer with a colour TFT LCD display.

NEC APC and rivalry with IBM PC overseas

In the early 1980's, the PC-9801 was more advanced than Western computer platforms. The PC-98 featured the first dedicated computer GPU chip, the NEC 7220 GDC, along with a 16-bit NEC CPU. It featured higher VGA display resolutions (initially up to 640x475 pixels, then up to 1024x1024 in 1983, and then up to 1120x750 pixels by 1985) in order to more accurately display Japanese text, a wider color palette (16, 64, 256 or 4096 colors displayed out of a 65536 color palette), Yamaha FM synthesis sound chips for higher-quality audio, and a modem for online internet access. NEC attempted to introduce the NEC PC-9801 in North America (Location), where it was re-branded as the NEC APC in 1982. NEC, the largest semiconductor company of the 1980s, marketed the APC III as the most powerful computer on the market and more reliable machine than leading competitor IBM (Company)'s PCplatform, with the APC III offering twice as much speed (8 MHz), storage (720 KB floppy disks) and resolution (640x479 pixels) at around the same price. Despite the superior hardware compared to its competitors, the APC III eventually failed to make in impact in North America, largely due to the rise of IBM PC clones, which also negatively impacted IBM's share of the North American PC market. While the NEC APC was unsuccessful in North America, it became successful in the Asia (Location)-Pacific region, particularly in Australia (Location).

Rivalry with Sharp X68000 and FM Towns in Japan

The PC-98 was later technically surpassed by fellow Japanese rivals Sharp and Fujitsu (Company) when they launched their own more powerful 16/32-bit computers, the Sharp X68000 (Platform) and FM Towns (Platform), in 1987 and 1989, respectively. In response, the PC-98 began using 32-bit Intel CPU (or in Sony's case, MIPS CPU) processors from 1987 and supported the CD-ROM format from 1989. While both rival computers were capable of more advanced, arcade quality graphics (especially in the X68000's case) and/or greater multimedia features (in the FM Towns' case), neither computer platform was able to dethrone the PC-98 as the Japanese computer market leader.

3D graphics cards and rivalry with IBM-compatible PC's in Japan

Just as IBM-compatible PC's were on the rise in the mid-1990s, NEC and Sony came back by releasing the first 3D graphics accelerator cards on the market, initially for the PC-98. By 1984 onwards, Sony started working on the first 3D graphics board, the System G which would be later released in 1987 exclusively for the PC-88 and PC-98. This allowed the PC-98 to produce the most advanced 3D graphics seen on a home system up until that time, with a polygon rendering performance directly influencing the PlayStation (Platform) console and even rivaling the then upcoming Nintendo 64 (Platform); in contrast, rival early 1996 3D graphics accelerators for IBM PC clones, such as Creative Labs' 3D Blaster and NVIDIA's NV1, were unable to rival the PlayStation's 3D graphics. By 1994 onwards, Sony released the DTL-H2000 development board which allowed users to develop games for the PlayStation (Platform) on the PC-98 and DOS/V computers. In 1995, NEC released the second 3D graphics card, the PC-FXGA (PC-FX Game Accelerator), exclusively for the PC-98. The PC-FXGA was originally intended for both the PC-98 computer and the PC-FX console, with as a homebrew development kit for the PC-FX console, allowing the PC-98 to play PC-FX games. However, the PC-FX console lacked the 3D graphical capabilities of the PC-FXGA card, due to the FXGA's HuC6273 graphics chip (originally intended for the PC-FX) never actually being used by the PC-FX console. The PC-FXGA was the most powerful 3D graphics card on the market up until it was surpassed by NEC's successor, the PowerVR, in early 1996. Unlike the PC-FXGA, the succeeding PowerVR was no longer exclusive to the PC-98, but supported both the PC-98 and IBM-compatible PC's. The PowerVR was able to produce near arcade quality 3D graphics, demonstrated by a near arcade quality port of Namco (Company)'s Rave Racer (Game), though this PowerVR port was later cancelled. The PowerVR would not be rivaled until the arrival of the 3dfx Voodoo graphics card for IBM-compatible PC's in late 1996. Though both the PowerVR and Voodoo were more or less evenly matched when it came to 3D capabilities, it was the Voodoo that became the most popular graphics card line-up of the late 1990s, due to the PowerVR's lack of third-party software support. Besides the PowerVR, the PC-98 very few other 3D graphics cards supported the PC-98.

Decline

The PC-98 would continue to dominate the Japanese computer market until the late 1990s, when the arrival of Microsoft Windows 95 alongside 32-bit consoles like the PlayStation (Platform) made it possible for IBM-compatible PC's to accurately output Japanese text, leading to the rise of IBM-compatible PC's in Japan and marking the end of the 'Golden Age' of Japanese computer gaming. By the end of the 1990s, the PC-98's dwindling market share as well as NEC's greater support for the growing IBM PC market eventually led to the PC-98 slowly losing ground to IBM-compatible PC's. In 1997, the PC-98 NX and (Sony VAIO) became one of the first computer platforms produced in line with the PC97 System Design Guide standard, which would later become the worldwide standard for IBM-compatible PC's. As a result, PC-98 standards eventually merged with IBM-compatible PC standards and as well PlayStation standards, bringing an end to the traditional PC-98 platform by the early 2000s, succeeded by IBM-compatible PC-98 NX computers which are still manufactured through to the present day.

Technical specifications

Main processors

Main CPU (Central Processing Unit) processor:

1982: 16-bit NECμPD8086 (i8086 compatible) @ 5 MHz
1983: 16-bit Intel 8086-2 @ 5-8 MHz
1984: 16-bit NEC V30 @ 8-10 MHz / 16-bit Intel 80286 @ 8 MHz
1986: 16-bit NEC V50 @ 8 MHz / NEC V30 @ 8-10 MHz / Intel 80286 @ 8-10 MHz
1987: 32-bit MIPS R2000 @ 12.5 MHz / Intel 80386 @ 16 MHz / NEC V30 @ 10 MHz / Intel 80286 @ 8-10 MHz
1988: 32-bit MIPS R2000A @ 15 MHz / Intel i386DX @ 16-20 MHz / NEC V30 @ 8-10 MHz / Intel 80286 @ 10-12 MHz
1989: 32-bit MIPS R3000 @ 20 MHz / Intel i386DX @ 20 MHz / Intel i386SX @ 16 MHz / NEC V30 @ 8-10 MHz
1990: 32-bit MIPS R3000A @ 25 MHz / Intel i486DX @ 25 MHz / Intel i386DX @ 25-33 MHz / Intel i386SX @ 20 MHz
1991: 32-bit MIPS R3000A @ 40 MHz / Intel i486SX @ 16-25 MHz / Intel i386DX @ 25-33 MHz
1992: 64-bit MIPS R4000 @ 100 MHz / 32-bit TI 486SXLC2-40 @ 32-40 MHz / Intel i486DX2 @ 66 MHz / Intel 80486 @ 16-20 MHz / Intel i386SX @ 16-20 MHz
1993: 64-bit MIPS R4400 @ 133 MHz / 32-bit Intel i486SX @ 33 MHz
1994: 64-bit MIPS R4600 @ 133 MHz / 32-bit Intel DX4 @ 100 MHz / 32-bit Intel Pentium @ 66-90 MHz
1996: 64-bit MIPS R10000 @ 195 MHz / 1-2x Pentium Pro @ 200 MHz, 1-2x Pentium @ 120-200 MHz, AMD X5-133ADZ @ 133 MHz
1997: 64-bit MIPS R10000A @ 250 MHz / 1-2x Pentium II @ 266 MHz / Pentium MMX @ 200 MHz / Pentium @ 166 MHz
2000: 64-bit MIPS R12000 @ 360 MHz / Intel Celeron @ 443 MHz

Additional processors:

'Additional CPU processor': 16-bit NEC V30 @ 8 MHz (1986 onwards)
ODP (OverDrive Processor)
1992: 32-bit NEC PC-9801BX-01 (based on Intel i486DX2 ODP) @ 40 MHz
1993: 32-bit NEC PC-9801BX-01 (based on Intel i486DX2 ODP) @ 40-66 MHz
1996: 32-bit Intel DX4 ODP @ 100 MHz
FPU (Floating Point Unit) co-processor
1982: Intel 8087 @ 5 MHz
1983: Intel 8087 @ 8 MHz
1984: Intel 8087 @ 10 MHz
1987: MIPS R2010 @ 16MHz / Intel 80387 @ 16 MHz
1988: MIPS R2010 @ 16-20MHz / Intel 80387 @ 16-20 MHz
1989: MIPS R3010 @ 20MHz / Intel 80387 @ 20 MHz
1992: 32-bit Cyrix Cx83S87-33 @ 16 MHz / Cyrix Cx83S87-25 @ 20 MHz / Intel 487SX

Graphics

Main GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) processors:
1982: 2x NEC µPD7220 GDC (Graphics Display Controllers) (one for graphics, one for text)
1983: NEC GRCG (Graphic Charger) / 2x NEC µPD7220
1986: NEC μPD72120 AGDC (Advanced Graphics Display Controller) / 2x NEC µPD7220
1987: NEC EGC (Enhanced Graphic Charger) / 2x NEC µPD7220 / Sony System G 3D Graphics Accelerator
1992: NEC EGC / 2x NEC µPD7220 / S3 86C775 (Trio64V2/DX, 4 MB VRAM)
1997: STMicroelectronics RIVA 128 3D Multimedia Accelerator (AGP)
Maximum resolution: 640x475 (1982), 1024x1024 (1983), 1120x750 (1985), 1280x1024 (1987), 1280x768 (1994), 1600x1200 (1996), 1920x1440 (1997)
Maximum colour palette: 4096 (1982), 65,536 (1987), 16.78 million (1993)
On-screen colours: 16 (1982), 256 (1986), 4096 (1993), 16.78 million (1995)

2D graphics accelerator cards:

1983: NEC PC-9801-24 (NEC GRCG, 4096 colour palette, 16 simultaneous colours)
1987: NEC EGC (Enhanced Graphic Charger, 65536 colour palette, 16 to 65536 colours simultaneously)
1992: NEC EGC / S3 86C775 (Trio64V2/DX, 4 MB VRAM)
1993: Matrox MGA-II (2 MB VRAM) / S3 86C928 (1 MB VRAM) / Cirrus Logic GD5428 (1 MB VRAM)
1994: NEC PC-9821X-B01 (Matrox MGA-II GPU @ 175 MHz, 2-4 MB VRAM) / S3 Vision864 (2 MB)
1995: NEC PC-9821X-B03 (Matrox Millenium MGA 2064W GPU @ 175 MHz, 2-4 MB VRAM)
1996: NEC PC-9821X-B03 (4 MB VRAM) / Trident Providia9685/TGUI9682TMXGi (2 MB VRAM)

3D graphics accelerator cards:

1994: Sony DTL-H2000 (Development Tool) * Additional CPU: 32-bit MIPS R3051 (CXD8530CQ) RISC CPU @ 33.8688 MHz
Main GPU: 32-bit Sony GTE (designed by Toshiba and LSI Logic)
Additional GPU: V1 (Rev 90025), V2 (Rev 90048), V3 (Rev 90082), V4 (Rev 90182)
Motion JPEG decoder: Motion Decoder (MDEC)
Additional sound chip: Sony SPC-700 (ADPCM, PSG, mixer, DAC)
Video RAM (VRAM) memory: 4.25 MB * 2 MB main DRAM (Dynamic RAM), 1 MB frame buffer RAM, 1.25 MB fast-page DRAM
Performance: 100,000 polygons/sec, 10 million pixels/second
Resolution: 256x240, 256x256, 512x240, 512x256, 512x480, 512x512, 640x480 (@ 30 frames/sec), 768x512, 800x600, 1024x768, 1024x1024, 1280x1024
Colours: 16.78 million
Features: Flat shading, Gouraud shading, texture mapping
1995: NEC PC-FXGA (PC-FX Game Accelerator) * Additional CPU: 32-bit NEC V810 (μPD70732GD-25) RISC CPU @ 21.48 MHz
Main GPU: HuC6273 (designed by Hudson and Kubota Comps)
Additional GPU: Hudson HuC6272, HuC6271, 2x HuC6270, HuC6261
Motion JPEG decoder: Hudson HuC6271
Additional sound chip: Hudson HuC6230 (ADPCM, PSG, mixer, DAC)
Video RAM (VRAM) memory: 4.25 MB * 2 MB main DRAM (Dynamic RAM), 1 MB frame buffer RAM, 1.25 MB fast-page DRAM
Performance: 100,000 polygons/sec, 10 million pixels/second
Colours: 16.78 million
Features: Flat shading, Gouraud shading, texture mapping
1996: NEC PC 3DEngine / NEC PC-9821VC-B03 * Main GPU processor: 64-bit NEC PowerVR PCX1 (μPD62010) @ 66 MHz
Additional GPU processors: * NEC ISP (Image Synthesis Processor)
NEC TSP (Texture &amp; Shading Processor)
NEC MC (Memory Controller)
Video RAM (VRAM) memory: 4 MB
Bandwidth: 492 MB per secondc (including 264 MB/sec texture memory bandwidth)
Performance: 250,000 polygons/sec, 60 million pixels/sec, 60 million texels/sec
Resolution: 320x200, 640x480 (@ 30 frames/sec), 800x600, 1024x768, 1024x1024
Colours: 16.78 million
Features: Lighting, shading (including pixel shader and vertex shader), texture mapping unit, perspective correct texture mapping, texture filtering, bilinear filtering, mipmapping, per-pixel fogging, exponential fogging, shadows, translucency, render output unit, anti-aliasing
1997: NEC PC 3DEngine2 * GPU: 64-bit NEC PowerVR PCX2 (μPD62011) @ 66 MHz
Video RAM (VRAM) memory: 4 MB
Texture memory: 1-4 MB
Bandwidth: 541 MB/se
Performance: 66 million pixels/sec, 66 million texels/sec * Polygons/sec: 500,000 (practical performance), 1.5 million (theoretical peak)
Resolution: 640x480, 800x600 (@ 30 frames/sec), 1024x768, 1024x1024, 1920x1440
Colours: 16.78 million
Compatibility: Direct3D, RenderWare, SurRender, GLQuake, PowerSGL Direct
Features: Adaptive bilinear filtering, 32-bit Z buffer, real-time shadows, lighting, smooth shading, highlighting, fogging, hidden surface removal, plane modeling, render output unit, texture mapping unit, mipmapping, 32-bit depth precision, 8/16-bit texture, anti-aliasing, translucency
1997: NEC PK-UG-X003 * GPU: 3DLabs Permedia 2 @ 230 MHz
Video RAM (VRAM) memory: 8 MB
Performance: 1 million polygons/sec (theoretical peak)
1998: NEC PK-UG-X003E (3DLabs Permedia 2 GPU @ 230 MHz, 8 MB VRAM)
1998: NEC GA-VDB16/PCI (3dfx Voodoo Banshee GPU @ 100 MHz, 16 MB VRAM)

Sound

Default: * 1982: Internal beeper
1985: NEC PC-9801-26 sound board * Sound chip: Yamaha YM2203 (OPN)
Channels: 3 FM (Frequency Modulation) synthesis, 3 SSG/PSG
1987: NEC PC-9801-26K sound board, Yamaha YM2608 (OPNA) FM synth sound chip
1991: 16-bit NEC PC-9801-86 sound board * Sound chip: Yamaha YM2608B (OPNA)
Channels: 6 FM synth, 5 rhythm, 3 SSG/PSG, 1 noise, 1 ADPCM (8-bit @ 2-16 Hz)
Other features: Stereo, CD-quality PCM (16-bit @ 44.1 Hz), linear PCM
1992: NEC PC-9801-86 board, Yamaha YM2203C (OPN) FM chip, Crystal CS4231 chip
Supported: Sound cards (from 1985), CD audio (from 1989), DVD audio (from 1997)
Sound cards: NEC sound boards, Yamaha FM synthesis sound chips, Roland MIDI modules, Creative Sound Blaster cards

Memory

Main RAM (Random Access Memory)* Default: 128 KB (1982), 128-256 KB (1984), 256-640 KB (1985), 384-1152 KB (1986), 1536-1664 KB (1987), 1-2 MB (1988), 1-3 MB (1989), 1-8 MB (1990), 2-22 MB (1992), 8-34 MB (1994), 16-34 MB (1995), 32-34 MB (1997), 32-256 MB (1998)
Upgradable: 640 KB (1982), 768 KB (1985), 9 MB (1986), 14.5 MB (1987), 15 MB (1989), 34 MB (1990), 48 MB (1991), 64 MB (1992), 74 MB (1993), 256 MB (1994), 512 MB (1996)
Dynamic RAM (DRAM) memory* 1992: Parity, non-parity, NEC PC-9801-61 (parity SIMM)
1996: FPDRAM (Fast-Page DRAM), EDO DRAM (Extended Data-Out DRAM)
Main VRAM (Video RAM) memory* Default: 48 KB (1982), 204 KB (1983), 256 KB (1987), 1-4 MB (1992), 2-4 MB (1994), 4 MB (1996), 4-6 MB (1997)
Upgradable: 4 MB (1992), 8.25 MB (1994), 11.25 MB (1995), 12 MB (1996), 14 MB (1997), 32 MB (1998)
Text VRAM memory: 12 KB
L1 (1st-level) cache memory: 8 KB write-back cache (1992)
L2 (2nd-level) cache memory* Default: 64 KB (1990), 128 KB (1992), 256-512 KB (1994)
Upgradable: 256 KB (1992), 512 KB (1994)
ROM (Read-Only Memory) memory: 96 KB (1993)

Storage

Storage: Floppy disk (8", 5" & 3.5"), (1982) hard disk drive (1984), CD-ROM (1989), DVD-ROM (1997)
Hard disk drive: 10-20 MB (1984), 20 MB (1985), 40 MB (1987), 40-100 MB (1990), 40-730 MB (1992), 120-730 MB (1993), 510-1024 MB (1994), 1-3 GB (1996), 2-3 GB (1997), 8 GB (2000)
CD-ROM speed: 1x (1989), 2x-4x (1994), 4x-8x (1996), 6x-13x (1997), 8x-20x (1998), 24x (2000)

Other specifications

Display: * 1982: 15" colour CRT monitor
1990: TFT LCD display
1994: 15" TFT LCD monitor
1997: 17" display (with built-in PC-9821C166 speakers)
Input: Keyboard, NEC PC-9872K mouse, joystick, gamepad
Supported operating systems: DOS, OS/2, SMC-UX, GX-Windows, Windows NT 3.1 / 3.5 / 3.51 / 4.0
Expansion slots: 5 (1982), 4-6 (1983), 5-6 (1993), 4-8 (1994), 7-9 (1996), AGP (1997)
Other options: Online (Concept) modem, joystick, gamepad, SCSI, VGA, LAN, headphone, microphone, wireless mouse, wireless keyboard, NEC FC-9801-KB7 keyboard, printer, TV tuner, MPEG card

External links

With98, PC-98 hardware database
PC-98, RetroPC hardware database
NEC PC-9801, IPSJ Computer Museum hardware database
[http:/fullmotionvideo.free.fr Tokugawa Corp], PC-98 game database
PC-98 graphics chipsets
NEC's 7220 GDC Chip

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