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CPC

6 bytes removed, 07:27, 16 February 2007
/* The 464 */ Launch date
== The 464 ==
[[Image:464.png|right|thumb|250px|Amstrad CPC [[464]] with colour monitor]]
First came the CPC464, the father of the CPC family, released during on the summer of 21st June 1984 (with production ceasing in 1990). This model used an integrated tape recorder and offered 64KB of RAM. It sold around two million units in Europe and, technologically-wise, was more impressive than the ZX Spectrum and on a similar level with the Commodore 64. (One notable exception was the sound chip; while the C64 employed the splendid custom SID chip, Amstrad opted for a generic sound chip - AY-3-8912 - with unremarkable features. That said, the firmware of the CPC was leagues ahead of the C64.) At its core was a [[Z80]] clocked at 4MHz - though screen display considerations, and the particular design of the Gate Array limited this to an effective 3.3MHz in practice - while the display was managed by the 6845 CRTC along with a gate-array chip.
The CPC464 sported a palette of 27 colours and three distinct resolutions: 160x200x16 colours (mode 0), 320x200x4 colours (mode 1) and 640x200x2 colours (mode 2, 80-column mode).
 
== The 472 ==
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