[geeks] SGI values

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Sun, May 12, 2002 at 04:26:55AM +0100, Chris Byrne wrote:
> A friend of mine was asking me about various video and 3d workstation
> options, and I was trying to convince him of the value of used SGI's. He
> wants to do 3d work with texturing plus some compressed video work.

> Anyway I got the point across that they are extremely capable machines, and
> it came down to the costs for the configurations, so I'm wondering about the
> fair market values of the following machines:

Sigh.  Did you ask him what software he planned to use?  If he can afford
the software he needs, then most SGIs are going to be viewed as affordable.

> This was the system I was thinking about for him for all around use if he
> wants to do some texturing and video but is mainly concerned with 3d
> geometry performance
> 
> Indigo 2
> r10k/195
> MaxIMPACT +impcom
> 512mb ram
> 2 x 4 or 9 gig drives
> cdrom

How is he going to do any video on that?  By copying it over the
network to/from a Mac?  Getting video I/O on that is going to be expensive
and probably won't work as well as desired anyway (ie, compressed will
really suck since everything will require rendering then, and uncompressed
will be hard because of the cost and difficulty of getting additional SCSI
chanels).
 
> This is the system if he wants to concentrate on video more or do more
> texturing
> 
> O2
> r10k/250 (I havent seen any r12ks in the used market yet but an r12k/300
> would be great)
> 1 gig ram
> AV module
> 1x9 gig drive

I've seen r12ks go for decent prices, but you want to stick with an r5k
or r5.2k.  The r10ks and r12ks can be problematic for video handling.  Search
the newsgroups for what I mean.  Some software packages specifically 
recommend or require r5ks.
 
> Im thinking that the Octane is too expensive, and the video options for it
> are WAY too expensive. He'd need to get an MXI or MXE and those are still at
> least 2-3k plus the cost of the vidcap card.

I fail to see why he would need an MXI or MXI.  Why wouldn't a SI+Tram work?
Such a machine would cost $900.  Reputable sells the personal video option
for $1350, other places are far less (but not a constant source).  So, a little
more than $2k, and you can't get much software for any SGI for less than $2k.

Maya complete is $2k, and I think it can be used for editing (my understanding
is that Wavefront Composer got folded into Maya, and it could do limited
editing, even though that wasn't what it was meant for), but I'm not positive 
of that.  Prices go sharply upwards after Maya.  I think Mule is the cheapest
video editing package, and if memory serves, it is $8k.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd

Social Security - I have greater faith that Elvis is alive
and programming VAX assembler than that I will ever receive
a dime from it.  --  Patrick Giagnocavo