TLDR
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A 2003 field guide for buying used SGI workstations covering model selection, IRIX licensing, and sourcing via eBay.
Key Takeaways
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Octane is the recommended desktop buy: dual CPU, three drives, dual graphics, and strong floating-point for IRIX development.
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O2’s UMA architecture and hardware texture mapping make it the best value for graphics and video editing workloads.
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IRIX CDs sold separately from machines; a full install set (12+ discs) ran ~100 EUR extra, and upgrades past 6.5.17 were not free.
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MIPS R10000 at 195 MHz benchmarks roughly equivalent to a 300 MHz Pentium II due to fast dual-channel memory.
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Buy the target system outright; upgrading entry-level SGI hardware piecemeal costs significantly more than buying complete.
Hacker News Comment Review
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The sole comment flags the guide’s age by noting its own admission that SGIs were “six years old” in 2003, making the hardware now 20+ years obsolete.
Original | Discuss on HN
