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Home > SGI Octane

The SGI Octane (and the very similar SGI Octane2) are UNIX workstations marketed by SGI. Both are SMP-capable (up to 2 identical processors) workstations, originally based on the MIPS architecture R10000 processor. Newer Octanes are based on MIPS R12000 and R14000. Octane2 has four improvements compared to Octane. Octane2 has revised power supply, system-board and xbow. Octane2 also shipped with VPro graphics and supports all available VPro cards (V6, V8, V10 and V12). Later revision Octanes also included some of the improvements mentioned.

The Octane was the direct sucessor to the SGI Indigo2, and itself was succeeded by the SGI Tezro, and its immediate sibling is the SGI O2. SGI withdrew the Octane2 from the price book on May 26 2004, and will cease Octane2 production on June 25th, 2004. Support for the Octane2 will be withdrawn in June 2009.

1 System architecture overview

The Octane's system-board is designated as IP30. The system is based on SGI's Xtalk architecture. This means it does not use a system bus; instead it has a router (Xbow) that connects any two of its ports. One of the ports is used for the processor and memory subsystem, one is available for PCI (actually PCI-64) expansion and four are XIO slots (packet-based high-bandwidth bus, somewhat similar to HyperTransport). This makes it very similar to a single node of the SGI Origin 200 system.

The XIO is here and there bridged to PCI-64 , using a chip named BRIDGE. The places where it happens include the system board (for the IOC3 multi-I/O chip, two ISP1040B SCSI controllers and RAD1 audio), MENET cards (four IOC3s) and the PCI cage (used for PCI cards in Octane).

2 Processors overview

Here's a table of processors that have been available for Octane series.

Octane series has single and dual CPU modules. You cannot add second CPU; so only option is to replace whole module.

3 Memory subsystem

The Octane allows 256 MB to 8 GB of system memory, using proprietary 200-pin DIMMs. There are two system board revisions. The first revision (part number 030-0887-003, easily distinguished with its black handle) only allows 2GB of RAM, while the later one (part number 030-1467-001, with a silver handle) allows up to 8GB. The memory subsystem has vast reserves of bandwidth that can be directly served by the Xbow router to any XIO card.

The Octane's memory controller is aptly named HEART. It acts as a bridge between the processor, the memory ( SDRAM) and the XIO bus.

4 Graphics subsystem

Graphics on the Octane are provided by a series of cards: SI, SI+T, SSI, SSI+T, MXI. These are updated XIO versions of Solid Impact (SI), High Impact (SSI) and Maximum Impact (MXI) from the SGI Indigo2 that were internally designated by SGI as 'MARDIGRAS'. The boards were accelerated and reengineered to create their new versions: SE, SE+T, SSE, SSE+T, MXE. The '+T' indicates an additional high speed Rambus RDRAM-basedRambus DRAM or RDRAM is a type of synchronous dynamic RAM, created by the Rambus Corporation. It has also been incorporated into the Sony PlayStation 2 and a line of Cray Supercomputers. Intel originally advocated the use of RDRAM in all Pentium 4 motherb texture board, which is practically indispensable, though quite expensive and fragile. Later Octanes and Octane2s support the SGI VPro graphics board series, designated 'ODYSSEY'.

The details of the gfx subsystem are not known, however it is clear that (after loading correct microcode to the Geometry Engines) it implements OpenGL directly in hardware. This, and the fact that the card sports a programmable DMA engine (in the HQ4 bus interface chip) helps offload the processor of most graphics-intensive tasks.

IMPACT Series

RE: Raster Engine GE: Geometry Engines Texture: Texture Modules

Note: Only cards with texture memory offer hardware accelerated texturing, however you can add hardware texturing to TRAMless card by adding TRAM modules to it.

VPro Series

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Topics: SGI Octane Sgi Graphics Octane2 System Series Vpro Subsystem...

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SGISGI is a TLA for at least three separate companies: Saskatchewan Government Insurance Silicon Graphics, Incorporated Soka Gakkai International TLAs. SGI Indigo2 and Challenge MThe SGI Indigo2 and the SGI Challenge M were UNIX machines marketed by SGI from 1993 to 1997. The Indigo2 was a desktop workstation. The Challenge M was a server which differed from the Indigo2 only by the absence of graphics hardware. Indigo2 and Challen SGI IndyCamThe IndyCam was a small fixed-focus camera intended to sit on top of the monitor of SGI systems. SGI originally distributed it with the Indy workstation. It can also connect to the Indigo2 video option. It was designed for videoconferencing, and it shows. SGI OctaneSGI Octane2 (2000-2004). SGI Octane (1997-2000). Usage of these images is restricted. Trademarks on this page belong to their owner. See Image use policy. The SGI Octane (and the very similar SGI Octane2) are UNIX workstations marketed by SGI. Both are SM SGI IndyOverview The Indy was the fruit of SGI's effort to muscle into the market for desktop publishing, low-end CAD, and multimedia. At the time, the market was mostly dominated by Apple. The Indy was the first computer to include a digital video camera, and wa SGI FuelOverview The SGI Octane's direct successor was the SGI Fuel, a high-end workstation primarily based around a single R14000 MIPS CPU. SGI introduced the Fuel in January 2002 with a list price of US$11,495. Its successor is the SGI Tezro. Architecture The F SGI Tezro Sgian Dubh SGI O2