re SGI (was RE: [SunRescue] 5 major manufacturers?)

[BjornRamqvistbrt at osk.sema.se]

Dave McGuire wrote:
> 
> > On a side-note here; the Indigo2 R10k/180 isn't half the speed of an
> > Octane R10k/175. Why is that?
> > Crappy bus, crappy bandwidth. The Indigo2 just isn't made for those kind
> 
>   I wouldn't call it crappy by any stretch...It's a damn fast bus with
> plenty of bandwidth.  But yes, faster buses with more bandwidth do
> exist.

The combination EISA/GIO and the non-crossbar memory subsystem keeps the
R10k performance down. As said, the Indigo2 was never originally
desgined for this processor, which reflect on system performance.
It's fast, but it could have been faster, was my point of view..

>   My point?  I can get an R10K Indigo2 for less than $1000.  I can't
> touch an Octane for less than FIVE TIMES that cost.

I sure can buy an Octane over here (Sweden) for $4000. Of course a used
item, but still a fresh 20" Monitor, 256MB RAM, 4GB harddrive, 175MHz
CPU, IRIX 6.5, SI graphics.
Even SI graphics is something I could live with. No TRAM ofcourse, but
it's still the same graphics subsystem (Solid IMPACT) as on the Indigo2,
and is still quite beefy. It's sitting on the XIO-bus, which helps up on
bustransfers. This might not give that much effect until you plug in
that other CPU.
Upgrade to SSI (High IMPACT) or MXI (Max IMPACT) and get a full-featured
system.

>   To me, the real appeal of the Octane is its multiprocessor
> capability.  At this piont, my R10K Indigo2 is fast enough that most
> compiles don't even give me long enough for a bathroom break.  That's
> plenty fast for me (an acknowledged speed demon).

Looking at SPECmarks and feeling the "general feel" over the Octane
shows how much you loose on the Indigo2. It's still a very very beefy
machine, but 100Mbit Ethernet, Optical ADAT Audio, XIO/PCI buses, SCA
SCSI-disks and all that nifty stuff is not that far away...  And
ofcourse, you also get that awesome cool green-sorta plastic cover. ;-)

My $0.02

	/Bjorn