Editing Acorn Archimedes A310 (section)

== Hardware Specifications ==

=== Processor ===
The ARM2 processed about 3x as many instructions per clock cycle as the Intel 80386 and 40% more per clock cycle than the Motorola 68030 . Acorn's publicity claimed a performance rating of 4 MIPS, with Archimedes taking the crown as the fastest microcomputer in the world at the time, able to achieve 4.5 MIPS, although some claimed 18 MIPS .

=== Memory ===
The A310 had 1 MB memory standard . Despite the A310 being limited to 1 MB of RAM officially, several companies made upgrades to 2 MB and 4 MB, with the smaller upgrades augmenting the built-in RAM and the larger upgrades replacing it entirely .

=== Architecture ===
The A310 had an 8MHz ARM2, MEMC1 memory controller, 1MB RAM . The system used custom VLSI chips designed specifically for the Archimedes: ARM2 processor, MEMC memory controller, VIDC video/sound controller, and IOC input/output controller.

=== Display and Sound ===
The 32-bit system was fully capable of displaying 256 colors and 8-bit sounds . Graphical and sound power was a giant step forward over the BBC micro, with 256 colour modes (from a palette of 4096) and 8 channel 8-bit stereo sound .