Mail Bag
Mail Bag
| Wednesday, April 3, 1998 |
Today? MIP envy:Date: Thu, 2 Apr 1998 101315 -0800 (PST)
From: Tony Fabris
Subject: SGI EnvyThat 2560x1024 screenshot you linked on the news page was pretty nifty... I wanted to bring to your attention something interesting about it that might not have occurred to those viewing the screenshot...
I just did the math. If the SGI system is playing that size at 18 FPS, that means the video subsystem is pumping over seven megabytes of pixel data to the screen per frame. That's over 141 megabytes per second. Not counting the rendering- that's just pixel movement alone. WOW.
Well, OK, that's assuming 24-bit. If it's only 16 bits per pixel, then it's five megabytes per frame. Still pretty amazing, if you ask me.
Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 235438 -0500
From: matt lazarowitz
Subject: mailbag-super high res screen shot"Damn!!" That was all I had to say after seeing that screenshot taken of the SGI machine. That screen shot had me thinking. Anyone remember when id bought their 8 way SGI machine and a couple of Intel salesmen offered to show that a 8 way p-pro could whoop it? just goes to show what is tome come in what I hope to be the not to distant future. (I don't see any reason why this stuff couldn't end up in our basements or living rooms. Capitalism and that drive to make as much $$ as you can at the time will be the limiting facto as I see it). This made me think. If a 8 processor p-pro system could beat a 8 way SGI, then what would a 8 way Alpha 1000 system do? (yes, for those unaware there is now a 1000 MHz Alpha. play games and microwave that burrito). Then I started to think exotic. I remembered an article I saw on a custom VR machine that was a couple 100 thousand processors each controlling their own 512K memory segment (guess this could be I-RAM). But here is what I really want to know: Has anyone tried Quake on the latest round of Crays? I'd love to see what a computer that costs more to run in a year than that SGI Onyx2 costs could manage.