<s>
The	O
Digital	B-Device
Personal	I-Device
Workstation	I-Device
,	O
code	O
named	O
"	O
sports	O
car	O
"	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
family	O
of	O
entry-level	O
to	O
mid-range	O
workstation	B-Device
computers	I-Device
developed	O
and	O
manufactured	O
by	O
Digital	O
Equipment	O
Corporation	O
(	O
DEC	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
workstations	B-Device
are	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
DEC	B-Device
Alpha	I-Device
and	O
Intel	B-Device
Pentium	I-Device
Pro	I-Device
or	O
Pentium	B-General_Concept
II	I-General_Concept
microprocessors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Members	O
of	O
this	O
family	O
can	O
run	O
the	O
Digital	B-Operating_System
UNIX	I-Operating_System
,	O
OpenVMS	B-Operating_System
,	O
and	O
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
i-Series	O
,	O
based	O
on	O
Pentium	B-Device
Pro	I-Device
,	O
was	O
introduced	O
first	O
,	O
on	O
September	O
23	O
,	O
1996	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Digital	B-Device
Personal	I-Device
Workstation	I-Device
i-Series	O
is	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
Intel	B-Device
Pentium	I-Device
Pro	I-Device
or	O
Pentium	B-General_Concept
II	I-General_Concept
microprocessor	O
and	O
runs	O
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
workstations	B-Device
support	O
either	O
one	O
or	O
two	O
microprocessors	O
and	O
use	O
standard	O
Intel	O
chipsets	O
:	O
Pentium	B-Device
Pro	I-Device
models	O
use	O
the	O
Intel	O
440FX	O
,	O
Pentium	B-General_Concept
II	I-General_Concept
models	O
suffixed	O
with	O
"	O
i	O
"	O
use	O
the	O
Intel	B-Device
440BX	I-Device
whereas	O
ones	O
suffixed	O
with	O
"	O
i+	O
"	O
use	O
the	O
Intel	O
440LX	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
superscript	O
"	O
2	O
"	O
suffix	O
indicates	O
a	O
dual	B-Architecture
processor	I-Architecture
configuration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
i-Series	O
has	O
four	O
DIMM	B-General_Concept
slots	O
on	O
its	O
main	B-Device
logic	I-Device
board	I-Device
and	O
supports	O
standard	O
unbuffered	O
or	O
registered	O
100MHz	O
ECC	B-Error_Name
SDRAM	O
DIMMs	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Using	O
unbuffered	B-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
,	O
the	O
i-Series	O
can	O
support	O
32	O
to	O
512	O
MB	O
of	O
memory	O
,	O
with	O
registered	B-General_Concept
memory	I-General_Concept
,	O
64	O
MB	O
to	O
1	O
GB	O
is	O
supported	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unbuffered	O
and	O
registered	B-General_Concept
DIMMs	I-General_Concept
cannot	O
be	O
mixed	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Unbuffered	O
DIMMs	B-General_Concept
have	O
capacities	O
of	O
32	O
,	O
64	O
and	O
128	O
MB	O
,	O
whereas	O
registered	B-General_Concept
DIMMs	I-General_Concept
have	O
capacities	O
of	O
64	O
,	O
128	O
and	O
256	O
MB	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Digital	B-Device
Personal	I-Device
Workstation	I-Device
a-Series	O
,	O
code	O
named	O
"	O
Miata	O
"	O
,	O
uses	O
the	O
Alpha	B-General_Concept
21164A	I-General_Concept
microprocessor	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Models	O
suffixed	O
with	O
"	O
a	O
"	O
run	O
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
(	O
with	O
AlphaBIOS	O
)	O
as	O
shipped	O
,	O
whereas	O
models	O
suffixed	O
with	O
"	O
au	O
"	O
run	O
Digital	B-Operating_System
UNIX	I-Operating_System
or	O
OpenVMS	B-Operating_System
(	O
with	O
SRM	B-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Both	O
models	O
can	O
be	O
switched	O
between	O
AlphaBIOS	O
and	O
SRM	B-General_Concept
via	O
the	O
system	O
firmware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
COMDEX	O
1997	O
,	O
the	O
Digital	B-Device
Personal	I-Device
Workstation	I-Device
500a	O
was	O
a	O
finalist	O
in	O
Byte	O
magazine	O
's	O
Best	O
of	O
Show	O
award	O
for	O
the	O
best	O
workstation	B-Device
category	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Alpha	B-Device
microprocessor	O
is	O
socketed	O
in	O
a	O
zero	B-General_Concept
insertion	I-General_Concept
force	I-General_Concept
(	O
ZIF	O
)	O
socket	B-General_Concept
and	O
can	O
be	O
upgraded	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
workstations	B-Device
use	O
Digital	O
's	O
21174	O
chipset	O
,	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
the	O
"	O
Pyxis	O
"	O
chipset	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
revisions	O
of	O
the	O
Miata	O
motherboard	B-Device
were	O
produced	O
,	O
known	O
as	O
MX5	O
and	O
MiataGL	O
respectively	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
later	O
MiataGL	O
motherboard	B-Device
has	O
a	O
revised	O
Pyxis	O
chipset	O
(	O
which	O
fixes	O
a	O
PCI	B-Protocol
DMA	B-General_Concept
bug	O
)	O
,	O
a	O
different	O
ATA	B-Protocol
controller	O
,	O
an	O
on-board	O
QLogic	O
1040	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
host	O
adapter	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
USB	B-Protocol
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
a-Series	O
has	O
a	O
144-bit	O
memory	O
bus	O
,	O
with	O
128	O
bits	O
used	O
for	O
data	O
and	O
16	O
bits	O
for	O
ECC	B-Error_Name
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
three	O
memory	O
banks	O
,	O
each	O
consisting	O
of	O
two	O
DIMM	B-General_Concept
slots	O
,	O
for	O
a	O
total	O
of	O
six	O
DIMM	B-General_Concept
slots	O
,	O
which	O
supports	O
32	O
MB	O
to	O
1.5	O
GB	O
of	O
memory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
machines	O
accept	O
standard	O
unbuffered	O
only	O
PC100	O
ECC	B-Error_Name
SDRAM	O
DIMMs	B-General_Concept
with	O
a	O
maximum	O
capacity	O
of	O
256	O
MB	O
per	O
DIMM	B-General_Concept
,	O
which	O
must	O
be	O
installed	O
in	O
identical	O
pairs	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
match	O
the	O
width	O
of	O
the	O
memory	O
bus	O
.	O
</s>
