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- Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.hardware
- Path: sparky!uunet!munnari.oz.au!uniwa!cujo!pride!copes
- From: copes@pride.cs.curtin.edu.au (Simon Cope)
- Subject: Re: Vivid 24 graphics card
- Message-ID: <copes.715412375@pride>
- Sender: news@cujo.curtin.edu.au (News Manager)
- Organization: Curtin University of Technology
- References: <1992Aug13.002149.15986@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> <1992Aug15.003630.23701@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> <1992Aug15.212812.17639@sol.UVic.CA> <94532@bu.edu>
- Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 05:39:35 GMT
- Lines: 60
-
- kiki@bass.bu.edu (Keith Baccki) writes:
-
-
- >In article <1992Aug15.212812.17639@sol.UVic.CA> bdonison@bigbird.UVic.CA (Only AMIGA!) writes:
-
- >>The SGI is NOT just a 24 bit graphics system, it is a 32 bit system, and I
- >>think some have 48 bit graphics, (I don't have the info here at the moment).
- >>Comparing any Amiga system to a high end SGI system is pointless, but comparing
- >>it to the low end SGI machines does more for Amiga.
- >>
- >>For the money, the Amiga with a graphics board looks good compared to
- >>an SGI IRIS for example.
- >>
- >>Brad
-
- > IRIS? Not the IRIS's I'm familiar with... Perhaps a 24-bit
- >Indigo is a better comparison. Still, if your talking in the $10,000
- >range would you rather have a RISC-based Unix workstation, or a 68040
- >based high-end Amiga? Also, keep in mind that those SGI's have all
- >those fancy little geometry engines that let you do things like
- >real-time Gouraud shading... if you're avoiding "apples to oranges"
- >comparisons, be sure to realize the limits and potentials of both
- >machines.
-
-
- > Keith (yes, I do own an Amiga)
-
- Actually, the Indigo range is only 8 bit colour, with double buffering and
- zbuffering. For ~$13000 for a diskless version (for an NFS net), they do NOT
- have all the 'fancy little geometry engines', its all done in software by the
- single mips RISC chip (cheaper). They are also only 1024*768 res, and you
- have to buy an extra board with a standards convertor on it if you want to plug
- it into a video recorder, which adds another $2000 (I think).
-
- I am typing this on an older personal iris, which was ~$20000 a couple of years
- ago. It is 8 bit colour, with hardware z buffering (I think) and the geometry
- engines etc., but its also pretty slow, especially now that IRIX 4.01 uses
- Motif and X windows.
- Behind me there is a 4d70GT, which is a 4 processor machine with 24 bit couble
- buffered display, 24 bit z buffering and a 24 bit overlay channel. Yep, its
- got a whoppind 96 bit planes at 1280*1024 res, which is 12 megs of ram just for
- the screen display. It also has all the geometry gadgets etc., the speed of it
- is quite good in terms of graphics, but compiles are pretty slow.
- Price: ~$60000.
- Neither of these two machines are still in production.
-
- A high performance 24 bit graphics board for the Indigo equivalent to the GT
- will be ~$10000 when released. That makes one with 24 bit, hardware graphics,
- and disk for around $25000, or over twice what you would pay for an A3000 with
- PP&S Mercury 33/040, Rembrandt board etc. The Amiga IS one of the most, if not
- the most, cost effective video workstations under $20000 for a complete system.
-
- These prices are in OZ currency and are only what the Uni has told us, so they
- are only approximate figures, and then at Uni price.
-
- PS: If anyone who reads this has some comparisons between all the different
- 040 boards, could they please bash it in and post it.
-
- --
- copes@cs.curtin.edu.au
-