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From: karlton@fudge.wpd.sgi.com (Phil Karlton)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x,comp.graphics
Subject: Re: Graphics workstation for computational medical modeling
Message-ID: <1991Feb5.014549.28934@odin.corp.sgi.com>
Date: 5 Feb 91 01:45:49 GMT
References: <CURTISS.91Jan22140927@truffula.umiacs.umd.edu> <1991Feb3.161604@cs.Buffalo.EDU>
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In article <1991Feb3.161604@cs.Buffalo.EDU>, okeefe@cs.Buffalo.EDU (Paul
O'Keefe) writes:
|> 
|> I agree that SGI makes the best graphics workstation bar none,
|> however, as with driving a Mercedes Benz, you PAY for the privilege.
|> So, I guess the decision comes down to what you need and what you can
|> afford.
|> 
|> If one needs to interactively manipulate a volume rendering of a
|> 256x256x256 data set, then don't hesitate to plunk down
|> $250k on a high end Silicon Graphics VGX machine.
|> Of course, you'll have to program it in SGI native graphics
|> environment GL and DGL (distributed graphics library) in order
|> to make use of that expensive graphics engine.
|> And ofcourse, SGI will charge extra for alot of the system software
|> that they consider optional, like NFS and X11.
|> Also, SGI's standard university discount is 35% and unless
|> Maryland is a major SGI customer you're not going to get them
|> to go any lower.

I don't want to make a product announcement, but I do feel compelled to
correct a a misleading impression.

It is true that you can spend $250K on a a single SGI workstation. To do
that you would probably end up getting a 380 processor (8 33Mhz MIPS
R3000 => 243 mips) for ~$145K plus a $60K VGX graphics board (1.1M
Triangles or 180K Polygons a second) and fill it up with some memory and
disk. (A GTX graphics board is only $30K @ 150K Triangles and 100K
Polygons a second). On the strength of the 3xx series machines,
_Dataquest_ lists SGI as a super computer manufacturer.

SGI also makes machines with more modest performance goals and a
correspondingly modest price. For instance a 4D/20 (10 MIPS, 14.5K
Triangles a second) can be had diskless for $11,500; a 4D/35TG (33 MIPS,
57K Triangles a second) would be ~$31K. The 4D/25 is somewhere in
between for $s and mips.

The above prices are for single unit, non-discounted, orders.

When IRIX 4.0 is released, then X11 and Motif runtime environments will
be bundled with the release.

|> The bottom line: the SPARCSStation and DECstation are general
|> pupose techinal workstations. Silicon Graphics makes 3D true color
|> workstaions with special hardware for fast rendering and interactive

The bottom line is that SGI makes a broad range of general purpose
technical workstations.

PK