[rescue] SGI hardware (WAS hardware FS/FT)

[Robert Darlington]

My system of choice is the Indigo 2 with R10000 proc and *two* solid impact
boards.   I run mine with two monitors and it just friggin' works.

-Bob

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 8:10 PM, Scott Quinn <saquinn624 at aol.com> wrote:

> Indys and O2s are the quietest SGIs, but Indys max out at 256MB RAM (though
> you can do a reasonable amount with a 256MB Indy, even with IRIX 6.5). O2s
> and
> Fuels seem to be the SGIs of ill repute reliability wise, as their chasses
> aren't quite up to the quality of the other boxes and they have certain
> model-specific ailments (O2 can often have bad RAM and it's easy to blow
> the
> logic board, early Fuels had wonky environmental monitoring and rumor has
> it
> that the PSU isn't quite up to former SGI standards).
>
> As far as bang-for-value R5000 Indy isn't bad (you can get them for
> free-$50),
> but the memory limit can be annoying. They are quiet, small and light, but
> they don't have the graphics weehaa that SGI is known for, which brings us
> to:
>
> Indigo2: Also in the free-$50 range most of the time. R4400/250 isn't too
> bad,
> but R10k is much nicer. IMPACT class graphics are great, though the fastest
> (Maximum IMPACT with the TRAM expansion) runs very hot and if you're not
> careful you can cook your graphics (keep the ventilation clean and watch
> the
> thermal compound on the graphics). Solid IMPACT doesn't do texturing, but
> it's
> fast and can be had with R10k for cheap. If you can afford 64-MB 72-pin
> parity
> SIMMS you can put a gigabyte of RAM in these, but most people make do with
> 384MB.
>
> O2: replaced the Indy at the lower end. Great for texturing, limited
> geometry
> performance. RAM can get expensive if you want the whole gig, and the
> machines
> seem to hold their value better than I2 or Octane, both of which can
> perform
> better (Octane at almost anything, I2 at certain tasks that aren't disk
> drive
> or memory limited). Small and quiet.
>
> Octane: Kicks Indigo2 in the lower regions. IMPACT graphics also available
> and
> reasonably cheap (SI=Solid IMPACT, SI+Texture= High IMPACT, SSI=Solid
> IMPACT
> x2 but no texturing, MXI is Max IMPACT. "E" class graphics are a geometry
> speedup). You can also get ODYSSEY graphics (VPro), they're faster and have
> better texturing but are also more expensive and the cheaper ones (V6/V8)
> have
> a bug that can make life difficult on certain monitors (SGI monitors ran
> them
> at 90-120Hz refresh rates to get around this bug. Buisiness 101: if you've
> made a mistake, don't admit it and fix it for free, just make your
> peripherals
> able to work around the bug and then you don't get people buying third
> party).
> Much more efficient memory and system layout, well-built, and cheap in the
> 300MHz and under range. You can also get a duallie if you want. Beware -
> they're heavy and shipping is expensive.
>
> Fuel/Tezro: last gen, faster than Octane (better system layout, faster
> processors), but more expensive and RAM has been harder to find. Takes
> standard PCI cards without an adaptor, but few supported. VPro graphics,
> none
> of them have the bug that afflicted V6/V8.
>
> All of these are happy at home, though they aren't whisper quiet (excluding
> the O2 and the Indy).
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