Risc PC

Like the Archimedes, the RISC PC continued the practice of having the RISC OS operating system in a ROM module.

The front side bus is usually recognised as being the most significant fault of the computer; and the arrival of the (five times faster) StrongARM processor in 1996 meant that the Risc PC had a CPU vastly faster than that for which the computer had been designed.

Acorn set about designing the Risc PC2 - a design with a 64MHz front side bus, PCI slots, and a yellow-coloured NLX form-factor case. Slated for release in late 1998, the project was canned just before completion.

Variants of the Risc PC design are still sold today, but Risc PCs have reached the end of their production cycle with the advent of RISC OS computers based around the XScale ARM processor and PCI bus (namely the Iyonix PC). Second-hand Risc PCs command very high prices relative to PCs of similar age and specifications. Significantly better performance has been pulled out of the aged Risc PC design by using the newer 302MHz StrongARM CPU, using third-party video cards, overclocking, and having specially-designed CPU cards with RAM located upon them to sidestep the speed bottleneck of the slow system bus.