CPU Modules

CPU Modules

A CPU is a hardware module containing a MIPS processor chip such as the R8000, together with system interface chips and possibly a secondary cache. Silicon Graphics CPU modules have model designation of the form IPnn; for example, the IP22 module is used in the Indy(TM) workstation. The CPU modules supported by IRIX 6.2 are listed in Table 1-1.

CPU Modules and System Names
Module MIPS Processor System Families
IP17 R4000 Crimson(TM)
IP19 R4x00 Challenge (other than S model), Onyx
IP20 R4x00 Indigo®
IP21 R8000 POWER Challenge(TM), POWER Onyx(TM)
IP22 R4x00 Indigo2, Indy, Challenge S
IP25 R10000 POWER Challenge R10000
IP26 R8000 POWER Indigo2(TM)

CPU Modules and System Names
Module	MIPS Processor	System Families
IP17	R4000	Crimson(TM)
IP19	R4x00	Challenge (other than S model), Onyx
IP20	R4x00	Indigo®
IP21	R8000	POWER Challenge(TM), POWER Onyx(TM)
IP22	R4x00	Indigo2, Indy, Challenge S
IP25	R10000	POWER Challenge R10000
IP26	R8000	POWER Indigo2(TM)

Modules with the same IP designation can be ordered in a variety of clock speeds, and they can differ in other ways. Also, the choice of graphics hardware is independent of the CPU model. However, all these CPUs are identical as seen from software.

Interrogating the CPU Type

At the interactive command line, you can determine which CPU module a system uses with the command

hinv -c processor

Within a shell script, it is more convenient to process the terse output of

uname -m

(See the uname(1) and hinv(1) reference pages.)

Within a program, you can get the CPU model using the getinvent() function. For an example, see "Testing the Inventory In Software".