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silicon graphics prices

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chemdream

Experienced Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2013
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Location
Detroit, MI
Why are silicon graphics workstations still worth so much? For a while I thought it was just for proprietary software on irix. But now that all video needs to be in hd, and most vintage irix boxes can't output hd, what do people need them for? Or is it just collectors keeping the price up?

Also, think there will ever be a silicon graphics designated sub forum on this site?

Thanks!
 
A decade ago, you couldn't give them away. At Hamfest a guy had dozens of different models for $20-50. I guess they all dried up and people still want them... :)
 
A vintage computer is not used for anything practical. You may love it precisely because it is outdated. By the way,,I love the machines where i can count the pixels on the screen!.
I owned a SGI machine many years ago, it did cost 6000 USD second hand!. A few years ago i sold it for 10USD. I still own the books, technical manuals and software. I recall the debugger in Prodev development package was very good, i have never seen anything alike.
 
I used to use an SGI Onyx2 at work. Finally got my boss to replace it...in 2011. Desktop Xeon with a couple of Quadros was way more powerful by then.

It was the size of two refrigerators, sounded like a C130 taking off, required a special power conditioner, and drew ~6000 watts. Nobody local wanted it...I think it ended up being scrapped.

I know SGI has a cult following but you have to be really dedicated to want a computer like that in your house.
 
Things like Fuel workstations and the later Origin 3000-type machines (Tezro, etc.) are still used for some CAD applications and in certain engineering environments. The areas they remain in are usually where certification and consistent operation are more important than performance. They're long in the tooth for CGI, you're right, but that's not why folks still use them.

I adored the Indy, and used one for protein visualization work at Salk Institute when I was an undergrad. That was my first SGI and it does very nicely, but my typical workhorse is a maxed out Fuel with a 900MHz CPU and a V12 DCD.

If you just want a cheap SGI to play with, look at the earlier IP22 systems like the Indy, Indigo^2, etc. These are inexpensive and a nice introduction to Irix. The O2 is also a nice starter system but make sure the seller packs it very carefully -- they are notorious for not taking punishment.
 
Come to think of it, I have not seen any of the r4000 desksides or even the early 4d machines in quite a while on eBay.
I second a machine like the indigo2. They are not too proprietary and they are still somewhat common with decent CPUs and video cards.
 
Thanks for all the replies!

Any ideas what I could do with a lower end octane now? I just love how they look and how irix feels. Ie I'm looking for an excuse to get one...

In the early 2000s I was a net admin. I convinced my boss to get me 2 indigo 2s... One for my desktop and one for our dhcp server. Heh.
 
I have several SGI's, and where I work we had some older ones before they were sent to the electronics recycler (a 4D series and some original Indigo's). Work still has a set of teal Indigo[SUP]2[/SUP] and I have a purple IMPACT version that I use for certain digital audio production tasks (IRIX has a fully functional DAW that can use specific DAT drives with the SGI firmware to read and write audio DAT (not DDS DAT)). I also have an Indy and a pair of O2's with a spare power supply and a spare mainboard module, and some memory modules. And a full set of IRX CD's for 6.5.19, with updates to 6.5.30 as I recall. I also have a number of older releases on CD, back in the 5.x versions.

The hardest things to find are working 50-pin narrow SCSI drives for the Indigo[SUP]2[/SUP]. Getting 80-pin SCA drives for the O2 isn't too hard.

Work also has three Altix systems, but those are not IRIX machines. I have rebuilt CentOS 5 from source up through 5.9, but haven't kept current as yet (I need to fire up the 28-CPU Altix 350 again to do some building, but I have to justify every powered-on hour or pay for the power myself, since the beast draws 5KW at full load).
 
There sure are some proprietary CAD and CNC systems that do require these machines.

As long as those applications are around (two decades minimum) SGI machines will still sell for a lot to those users.
 
I figured people collected them because of the chips used, kind of why I bothered to get a SUN (sparc) Ultra 5 machine a long time ago.
 
rittwage said:
A decade ago, you couldn't give them away. At Hamfest a guy had dozens of different models for $20-50. I guess they all dried up and people still want them... :)
Click to expand...

Back in the late 90s/early 00s they were a common sight at computer shows around here. Usually the "junk guys" had a stack or two of decommissioned Indys and Indigos. They mostly sat because they were stripped and WAY too expensive to get running again. The requirement of uncommon memory and SCSI drives, plus needing to find IRIX was enough for people to not bother. That and you needed an adapter for the monitor.
 
I remember back in the early 90's when I was around 14-15 years old, reading about the Indigo2 & Indy machines in PCW magazine and being amazed at how cool they were. I decided at that point that if I ever won the lottery, I would buy one and use it just for word processing! As the years went on, I've owned several machines from the Indy up to an 24 CPU Onyx IR yet I've never found a decent word processor for them :)
 
Well, I have a few SGI machines - seems to be at least five O2, more than I thought.. one is a relatively new O2+. The old ones have brittle plastic. One of those I was getting disintegrated while handling, so it ended up in the dumper (minus the innards which I keep as spares). And a couple of Indys. Said 'no' to Octanes so far, they're not only very noisy but they also heat a small room something unbelieavble. I had a setup with an Octane and a CCT drive to read my old tapes, that was diifficult due to the heat.
I also definitely said 'no' to the Challenge L, so it's getting dumped as I speak. It's just too big. May still get a Fuel, but I haven't checked how much heat it emits.
 
My Octanes have a productivity far beyond SGI dreams.. Computer & Heating.. 3 Temp settings.. 1=1 Octane turned on.. 2=2 Octanes turned on.. I think you get the drift.
 
uunix said:
My Octanes have a productivity far beyond SGI dreams.. Computer & Heating.. 3 Temp settings.. 1=1 Octane turned on.. 2=2 Octanes turned on.. I think you get the drift.
Click to expand...

That's funny. I'm picturing someone with an Octane under their desk, their feet on the Octane, with a blanket over them. hah.
 
chemdream said:
That's funny. I'm picturing someone with an Octane under their desk, their feet on the Octane, with a blanket over them. hah.
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:) There is a reason the 28 CPU Altix 350 here is called 'winterstar' after all.... a bit over 5KVA of load on the beast. Two more compute bricks and a second router brick and I'd have a maximum Altix 350 (the Altix 3700 can go a lot higher, up to 512 CPU's in a single system image; NASA's Columbia supercomputer had a 20 image cluster with 512 CPUs in each image totalling 10,240 CPUs). Much of the hardware is descended from the Origin/Onyx 350 line, with the notable exception of the processor used. Here's a link to nekochan's info http://www.nekochan.net/wiki/Altix_350 and a couple of screenshots......
altix350-efi.jpgaltix350-top.jpg
 
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