New SGI workstation information 'leaked'

[Mazer]

:surprised Is it just me, or the page refuses to load? Do you have some details?

[MCronin]

SGI has pulled details on the upcoming Tezro workstation off its Web site, but a diligent Register reader has filled us in on the missing kit.

True to SGI form, the Tezro system appears to be one of the most powerful workstations around. It will ship with one, two or four R16000 processors and be available as a 2U high rack mountable system. The kit will ship with 512MB of memory standard but can support up to 16GB.

Some early specs on the system were available here until a sharp SGI worker yanked them last night.

SGI continues to be happy hammering away on the high end graphics and scientific computing markets. The new system should serve this niche well and help pay the bills as the company transitions to Intel's Itanic processor.

The Tezro workstation will also have a 128MB VPro graphics engine with DVI-I output, built-in gigabit Ethernet and a host of PCI-X expansion slots.

Expect to see more about the product this month. ®

[Mazer]

well, this is good news:thumbsup: and now I hunderstand why some companies seemed to be suicidal by continuing to develop for sgi only...

For instance this new composing package, the replacement of Jaleo:
http://www.mistika.tv/main.htm

[headengine]

Few more specs for the hardcore SGi posse :)

http://sgistuff.g-lenerz.de/machines/tezro.html

Cheers

[thomaspecht]

apparently this information wasn't leaked but someone over at sgi put end-user-manuals of their new workstation and their onyx-successor online by accident :D

as much as i appreciate these new systems, i still fear that they will sell them at prices similar to what they wanted for their octane2's and fuel's - too much for anyone but big corporations, governments or military. and not enough "bang for the buck" to convince pc-buyers that sgi has a lot to offer for 3d artists.

remember the times when you had to trade in your car to afford an indy (and your parents, too if you wanted an indigo2 maximpact) to get rid of shitty pc's and 3d studio from autodesk but instead work with the real stuff of that time? ;)

[KolbyJukes]

I wonder what that's going to cost....urgh... In my experience SGIs are way overpriced, I'd rather build the computer most of the time.

-Kol

[Mazer]

"In my experience SGIs are way overpriced, I'd rather build the computer most of the time."

It depends on what you are doing with them, for Maya you would be way better with a todays pc or mac, but for thind like eavy video editing/compositing where there is alot of real time video flowing, sgi are still the best choice in many cases. Jaleo for instance only runs on sgi irix and its widely used at least in Europe. A professional in that field told me the while you have exelent software for windows linux and Osx, the thing that keeps them working in "old" and "slow" O2 workstations is the hardware for data I/O.

[jeremybirn]

Originally posted by Mazer
now I hunderstand why some companies seemed to be suicidal by continuing to develop for sgi only... For instance this new composing package, the replacement of Jaleo:
http://www.mistika.tv/main.htm

I visited that site -- and they are selling a Linux renderfarm option (Totem), so you only need an SGI for the front-end. Not suicidal at all. :applause:

-jeremy

[Mazer]

Yes, but its still seemed strange that the didn't at least have an optional Linux fronthend vertion... Maybe Sgi isn't as dead as people thought... Lets see if they can regain they'r highend workstation crown... they have a very strong and established competition...

[beaker]

Originally posted by jeremybirn
I visited that site -- and they are selling a Linux renderfarm option (Totem), so you only need an SGI for the front-end. Not suicidal at all. :applause:

-jeremy
Also when your looking at a system like Jaleo, your in the same price range as a Discreet FFI or Avid DS, so your allready spending in the 100k range. I doubt the difference between a 10k SGI and a 5k windows box is going to make that much of a difference.

[beaker]

Originally posted by Mazer
Yes, but its still seemed strange that the didn't at least have an optional Linux fronthend vertion...
Jaleo is a edit and compositor, so they really need to support multichannel sound. Sound support in Linux is still pretty crappy(till the 2.6 kernel comes out in another year). It will play your dvd and mp3's just fine, but I wouldn't trust it for keeping multiple channels of sound in sync for a professional video product for a client.

[Mazer]

Ok, I gess that explains-it, but you are talking about the open source sound modules, right? Isn't there comercial products to solve that problem? I think i've seen something related to that in a linux web somewere, but I'm not realy sure:shrug:

[flipnap]

holy cizzow!!! two or four R16000 processors !!!

wish i had the stash with the cash !!!

[Kenter]

Thanks muchoooo.:beer:

[Thalaxis]

Originally posted by Mazer
Yes, but its still seemed strange that the didn't at least have an optional Linux fronthend vertion... Maybe Sgi isn't as dead as people thought... Lets see if they can regain they'r highend workstation crown... they have a very strong and established competition...

I don't think that they stand a chance at that anymore.

Have you seen HP's latest workstation announcement?

[Mazer]

You meen the Itanium based? Yes like I said the competition is very strong, from the Itanium workstation and also from the Opteron, and the new Mac G5. But SGI as a tradition of being on the edge for new tecnologies, and remember they invented Opengl so theyr suport for it is always the best.... Lets see, things can change very fast in this industry:)

[Thalaxis]

For floating point performance, there isn't anything that's even close to what the Itanium2 offers... not even Power4+ is able to match its FP performance.

The catch, of course, is that there's very little software available for Itanium presently. Intel/HP are taking the "if you build it they will come" approach.

When the software shows up, then things will get interesting -- especially if competition from IBM and AMD provide incentive enough for Intel to drive Itanium into the workstation market more aggressively. Supposedly, the Deerfields are going to be priced at under $1000....

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.