O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - Printable Version

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O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - Jacques - 10-20-2018

Below is the process I followed to upgrade my SGI O2 from a RM5200 (R5K) 300Mhz module to a R10K 250Mhz module. The process is quite straight forward, however, you do need an hour or so and most importantly, the correct parts for the upgrade 

The upgrade is unfortunately a bit more complicated than say swapping the R5K CPU module for a R10K/R12K one, for one the chassis are different, so are the motherboard trays, CPU stand-off connectors, PCI trays and hard drive arrangements. I’ve tried to set this out in a step-by-step process, though it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done the swap so forgive any omissions. I’ve added some photos as well for completeness.

Part two of this process for me was the physical mod of the 250Mhz R10K CPU module into a 300Mhz R12K module, this will follow under a separate thread.

A few words of caution…

You’ll be working inside your O2 and you (and you alone)  are responsible for the work you do to it, I take no responsibility if anything goes wrong with your machine. If in doubt, ask! And make sure you take all the usual anti-static precautions when working with sensitive electronics. 

Before we get started with the actual upgrade, make sure you upgrade your PROM to the latest (4.18) and you’ll also need a relatively recent IRIX install - 6.5.22 should be good, though you can go lower but I’m not sure at what point R10K/R12K support was introduced…

I will also say that by now, everybody’s O2 plastics are VERY brittle and will crack / shatter if you even look at them in a funny way. I’ve broken off almost every tab on my O2 plastics, apart from the two on the base, and I’ve treated it very well!  Be careful and keep some epoxy / super glue to hand. So be gentle with the plastics, including the skins and base, they are very susceptible to breaking.


Your shopping list.

You should have the following to perform the upgrade. I sourced my chassis parts from Ian Mapleson at SGIDepot and the CPU from Toby Jennings at 3D System Sales Ltd.

To bake your R10K O2 cake you will need (over an above what is already in your R5K O2) :

1. A chassis that will accept an R10K/R12K CPU module. There are essentially 3 breeds of chassis out there, R5K only with no removable drive divider, R5K with removable drive divider and finally an R10K/R12K chassis where the divider is already missing. You can tell the difference between the first two by flipping your O2 over and, if you see two screws on the bottom (around the middle) of the base then you have a removable drive tray divider, lucky you! You can also tell by a tell tale division in the black plastic below the drive trays on the rear. I had the original R5K chassis with no divider so instead of drilling my drive tray out and cutting plastic I opted to purchase a new R10K chassis from Ian.


R10K chassis

2. An R10K / R12K CPU pimm of course, you will also need the plastic tray/holder the CPU sits in, I have a clear crystal type plastic one and a newer solid white one. The PIMM is secured to the plastic tray/holder with 4 machine screws.




R10K 250mhz PIMM

3. You will also require the three screws used to secure the plastic tray to the motherboard (one screw from the underside) and the motherboard tray (two screws, slightly longer from the top) You cannot reuse the R5K screws as they have a wider thread for screwing into plastic, you need machine thread screws. 


R5K screws on the left, R10K ones on the right.

4. A suitable motherboard tray, this has different side and rear panels to accommodate the gap where the extra drive would have been in the R5K chassis. It also has a slightly different backplate which has an extra screw fitting. I’m not convinced the backplate is a must have, but Ian included one in any case, so I used it.


R5K tray


R10K / R12K tray


Backplates - R10K / R12K on the top. 

5. CPU stand off connectors. This is where it gets really tricky as these are not readily obtainable, unless you acquire a motherboard with these already fitted or a CPU which includes these. These are probably the hardest to come by of the whole upgrade. The second photo below shows the difference between the R5K ones and the R10K/R12K ones. 





Longer R10K connectors

6. PCI Riser. I haven’t got the full riser here as I don’t have any PCI cards for my O2. I opted to run with just the riser pcb board as this is required to run the O2. The PCI riser pcb contains   a little Dallas chip with the O2’s hardware address on it. I will eventually fit the perforated metal tray, when I buy / obtain one. You’ll note the R5K riser and tray are quite a bit different than the R10K/R12K ones.


R10K riser


R5K tray and riser PCB

Things you will not need to change that are common between all systems -

You can keep your frontplane, powersupply, skins (yay!), CDROM/DVD-ROM, base and top plastics, drive caddy, AV module and lastly (and thankfully), your motherboard. You can also keep the SCSI cable for the CD/DVD and power connector. 


Lets start the upgrade 
(I’ll cover changing the R5K chassis first)

A) The first thing to do is to make sure you unplug the power cord and all other cables / cords from your O2. Never, and I repeat NEVER pull the system tray / motherboard out while the power cord is still plugged in.



*** If you have an O2 with a removable drive compartment, unscrew the two screws on the base of the machine and remove the drive separating panel. Then jump to the System Tray section ***

B) Remove the rear PSU cover and black top cover, followed by the rear components : Power supply, drives, AV module and system board tray. Next, on the top of the unit unscrew the two outer skin retaining screws that hold the skin to the optical drive outer tray / cover. Remove the blue (purple for O2+) outer skin by lifting it up and place to one side, out of harms way. Clean the inside of the skins while you have them off.

C) Remove the optical drive holder by unscrewing the two screws near the front of the metal enclosure. Slide the drive and enclosure forward so you can unplug the drive power connector and SCSI cable. Put the drive to one side.

D)  To remove the bottom skirt we need to turn the machine over and stand it on it’s head. Make sure you unplug the speaker cable from the frontplane connector before removing the skirt. 
The bottom panel (or skirt) is held on with two black indent tabs and a series of plastic prongs that fit into the chassis. The two indent tabs simply prevent the skirt from sliding sideways and keeps the tabs engaged in the chassis. 

I find the best way to remove the skirt is to lift the tabs slightly in order to slide the skirt sideways to release the prongs from the chassis. Once released it simply lifts and slides out. Take it slow, you don’t want to brake only of these tabs / prongs!

E) To remove the frontplane you will take off the shiny metal cover / faceplate. Have a look at the corners of the cover, you’ll note there are tabs with round ridged protrusions holding this to the chassis, simply push these in slightly and you should be able to remove this slowly. To stop the faceplate / cover from bending, work loose all the corners then pull it away a bit at a time. Once exposed, unscrew the frontplane from the chassis. 


Empty chassis


Frontplane with SCSI ribbon cable and CDROM power connector still connected. 

You should now have an empty chassis! Well done. It goes without saying, but re-assembly into the R10K / R12K chassis is the reverse of the above disassembly procedure. Give the chassis a good clean while you’re at it.

Lets move on to part two…

(Archived version) https://archive.is/4ZeVT

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RE: O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - Jacques - 10-21-2018

Part two...

System Tray

A) The system R5K and R10K board trays are different on account of the higher PCI card riser and higher CPU stand-off and heatsinks. My R10K/R12K tray is pressed metal while the R5k Tray is plastic. Start by removing the PCI tray + riser assembly by pressing the lever above the CPU module down. You can now remove the tray and Riser card.






B) Remove your RAM modules, then remove the CPU carrier by unscrewing the two retaining screws - you can leave the CPU pimm on the carrier if you want. The CPU + carrier lifts off quite easily, do not twist while pulling the module. 


PCI tray removed.


R5K 180Mhz PIMM on tray 

C) Remove the two R5K CPU stand offs (little white plastic risers) using a very small flat screw driver (the ones you get in jewellers sets are fine) or blade edge. The stand-offs clip onto the motherboard connector and can be pried off where they clip on to the motherboard quite easily. Store your old ones away safely.



D) Next up, remove the rear IO panel screws that hold the motherboard to the backplate and tray. The motherboard slides out for an inch or so, you need to then pull it out at a bit of an angle. (If you have an FP1600 adapter card it’s probably wise to remove this first and replace it once you’ve changed the backplate.) You should now be able to replace the backplate if you intend to do so. The backplate is held on with a few screws and IO hex nut screws, it’s a simple swap. While the motherboard is out, give it a good clean with some compressed air and brush off any stubborn dust.




E) Slide the motherboard back in and screw the metal backplate to the tray, it’s reverse procedure again. You can now fit the R10K/R12k risers, they can only go on in one direction / orientation, do not force them on. If they don’t want to slide on easily you’ve probably got them on the wrong way.

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F) Fit the 1600FP adapter, if required.

G) Next up fit the R10K/R12K CPU PIMM carrier to the motherboard and screw in the top two screws. Turn the motherboard and tray over and screw in the slightly shorter screw from the bottom. Ensure all three screws are fitted.





H) Turn the assembly back over again and fit the CPU to the carrier tray, you have to gently push the CPU onto the little riser connectors, once again do not twist while applying light pressure. it screws in with 4 machine screws. Make sure the CPU is properly seated on the risers, if the contacts aren’t doing their thing you’ll get a solid red light at boot. 



I) Fit your R10K/R12K PCI riser card and PCI tray, followed by RAM modules. Ensure everything is seated properly, otherwise you’ll just have to pull out the tray again, which is just additional wear and tear on vintage hardware.


Assembly complete (minus the perforated PCI tray)

Your tray is now ready to go back in.

Finishing up

You should now be able to reassemble your O2 by installing the power supply, single drive caddy, AV module, system tray and PSU cover (if you have one). 

When booting for the first time, you may be greeted by a solid red light, this means there is a CPU initialisation error, which probably suggest the CPU isn’t seated on the little riser cards properly. I had to take my system board and, with one hand on top of the CPU and the other on the bottom of the tray, apply gentle pressure to get the PIMM to fully engage with the riser cards. 

All going well, you should be greeted with a booting O2 and typing ‘hinv’ at the PROM command monitor should yield a happy R10K / R12K system! 




...it's alive!...

You may not be able to boot directly into IRIX because your boot env variable is still pointing to disk1, change to disk2 and you should be good to go. (although mine seemed to correct itself)

Congrats on the upgrade and see you in part two for : R10K 250Mhz to R12K 300Mhz upgrade! 



Any questions please pop them below, 

Have fun!

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RE: O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - jebmayers - 10-21-2018

Nice detailed guide there, good work!

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RE: O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - Irinikus - 10-22-2018

Very neat!

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RE: O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - jirka - 10-22-2018

Thank you very much for so detailed guide!

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RE: O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - amatecha - 10-23-2018

Dang, that's great! Hmm, not sure I'd ever undertake this process unless I got lucky with acquiring all the necessary hardware, but this is a super excellent "howto"!!

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RE: O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - gijoe77 - 10-25-2018

I don't think the PCI riser is needed, when troubleshooting my o2's (aka they dont boot or there is no graphics being displayed or just some strange solid color on bootup and I have to reseat the CPU 20 times in a row) I just leave the PCI riser out. The o2 still comes up fine. I suppose you can just change the sysid to whatever you want from there, if really pressed with not using the PCI riser.

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RE: O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - dexter1 - 10-26-2018

(10-25-2018, 11:14 AM)gijoe77 Wrote:  I don't think the PCI riser is needed, when troubleshooting my o2's (aka they dont boot or there is no graphics being displayed or just some strange solid color on bootup and I have to reseat the CPU 20 times in a row) I just leave the PCI riser out. The o2 still comes up fine. I suppose you can just change the sysid to whatever you want from there, if really pressed with not using the PCI riser.

The O2 will boot without a PCI riser, but because the system ID is on the riser board, you will lose functionality which require the ID, like networking or host-based software licenses.

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RE: O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - Jacques - 10-31-2018

Just a correction folks, that's my 180Mhz R5K pimm on the tray, not RM5200.

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RE: O2 R5K -> R10K upgrade : A guide - cascatino - 04-09-2019

Hi Jaques, great job!
Which are the benefits by upgrading the CPU? I mean, I have a 5200 O2 with lots of RAM and 6.5.30 installed but it is quite slow: did you experience an improvement in performances?

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