IBM 2365 Processor Storage

The IBM 2365 Processor Storage is a magnetic-core memory storage unit that is a component of the IBM System/360 models 65, 67, 75 and 85 computers, which were released between 1965 and 1968.

Storage is implemented using magnetic cores with a storage width of 72 bits, which comprise 64 data bits (8 bytes, or one doubleword) plus 8 parity bits. The IBM 2365 model 1 contains 131,072 (128 K) bytes of memory; all other models contain 262,144 (256 K) bytes. The model 2 could be converted in the field to a model 13.

All models other than the model 1 consist of two memory stacks. Addressing for the stacks is interleaved, so the first 64-bit word is in one stack, the second in the other stack, and so forth. This improves performance when doing sequential access.

All models other than the model 5 have a cycle time of 750 nanoseconds.

Models

The various models are used as follows:

  • Model 1 is used on the System/360 model 65 when not used as a multiprocessor.
  • Model 2 is used on the System/360 models 65 (when not used as a multiprocessor) and 67-1.
  • Model 3 is used on the System/360 model 75.
  • Model 5 is used on the System/360 model 85.
  • Model 12 is used on the System/360 model 67-2.
  • Model 13 is used on the System/360 model 65 when used as a multiprocessor.

Use with the System/360 model 85

The IBM 2365 model 5 is special because the System/360 model 85 accesses memory in 128-bit (16 byte) units, unlike the other System/360 models which support the IBM 2365, all of which access 64-bit (8 byte) units. On the System/360 model 85, the IBM 2365 model 5 operates with a cycle time of 1040 nanoseconds, and two or four of them are required. Because the System/360 model 85 CPU is so much faster than memory, if there are two IBM 2365 model 5 components they are two-way interleaved, and if there are four IBM 2365 model 5 components they are four-way interleaved. Because the IBM 2365 model 5 is internally two-way interleaved, sequential 128-bit memory operations issued by the System/360 model 85 CPU traverse all the memory components before cycling back to the first.

The IBM 2365 model 5 is used only with the System/360 model 85 with 524,288 (512 K) or 1,048,576 bytes (1 MB) of storage.

IBM 2385 Processor Storage

The IBM System/360 Model 85, when configured with 2,097,152 (2 MB, 360/85 K85) or 4,194,304 (4 MB, 360/85 L85) bytes, uses the IBM 2385 instead of the IBM 2365 Processor Storage. The IBM 2385 has a cycle time of 960 nanoseconds compared to 1,040 nanoseconds for the IBM 2365 model 5.

References

Uses material from the Wikipedia article IBM 2365 Processor Storage, released under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.