At 09:06 AM 1/7/97 EST, you wrote:
>Hello,
>  I was wondering if anyone read the article about SGI's O2 system
>in the Jan 97 issue of BYTE. It compares the single processor
>O2 to a dual 200MHz Pentium Pro. The price of the tested SGI
>was $8342 while the price of the tested Pentium was $11,432.
>The article also quotes that O2 starting prices are below $6000.
>
>  The O2 model they wrote about had 128Mb of RAM, 2 2-Gb
>hard drives, and a 180MHz clock. The dual Pentium model also
>had an extra 16Mb of something called "Intense 3D".
>
>  The artice compared OpenGl performance. The dual Pentium
>performance was only slightly better (for $4000 more). I wonder
>about floating point operations though. I would be surprised
>if the dual Pentium could perform more quickly in that area,
>based on the Pentium Pro and R5000 (O2's CPU) floating point
>specifications I've seen/heard.
>
>  I'm wondering what the microscopy community's views are
>on the PC vs. UNIX (SGI specifically) issue. Or does anyone
>have anymore information on this topic?
>
>  Personally, I was really surprised by the article in BYTE even
>though it's only an OpenGl comparison. I had heard about
>how the dual Pentium Pro's were going to blow the SGI's out
>of the water and at a cheaper price. The hardware alone that is
>being bundled with this SGI was a shock given past
>SGI prices I've seen (in an academic setting).
>
>Nathan
>
>email: [log in to unmask]
>
I too am very impressed with the pricing of the SGI O2.  I just purchased
one with the standard 64 Meg Ram and a 21 inch monitor for $8K.  Moreover,
they can write to the standard 4 gigabyte hard disk at video rates and come
standard with video in and out so you can make VCR tapes off your monitor
with ease!  SGI is clearly going after the PC market.
Rich Nuccitelli
Richard Nuccitelli
Molecular and Cellular Biology
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616
(916)752-3152 FAX:(916)752-1449