[Irinikus]

Just one question:

Why was the RM10 more expensive than the RM11? (I am aware that there is a 5-year difference in time between the publication of these prices, but things usually become more expensive over time.)

- HU-VRM-256 add. 256 MB Texture Memory € 66.483
- $55,000 013-3126-005 BOARDSET ASSY RM11

€ 66.483 is quite a bit more than $55,000!

[jan-jaap]

Just one question:

Why was the RM10 more expensive than the RM11?

- HU-VRM-256      add. 256 MB Texture Memory  € 66.483
- $55,000 013-3126-005 BOARDSET ASSY RM11

€ 66.483 is quite a bit more than $55,000!

I'm not in sales & marketing, but there's 5 years between the two. You shouldn't really compare prices of spare parts with prices of options on new systems. A price chart for educational customers may have discounts applied already. And of course a lot of things are negotiable.

It's probably best to compare numbers only within a single price sheet. From late 2006:

Code:

$30,000 013-2464-002 PCA SET RM9 & TM7-64 FR
$45,000 013-2954-001 PCA SET RM9 AND TM8-256 FR
$55,000 013-3126-005 BOARDSET ASSY RM11 FR

(RM9 + TM7-64 is an RM9 a.k.a. IR2E, and RM9 + TM8-256 is an RM10 a.k.a. IR3)

Origin/Onyx 3K were introduced when -- 2000 or 2001? These were the prices of parts for those looking to service or upgrade their by then ~ 6 or 7 year old Onyx2. Also remember, most people with such is a system in active service would have it covered with by maintenance contract. The cost are non-trivial, but management likes fixed annual rates better than the risk to fork out $55K when you least expect it when a system you depend on craps out. You could even say these numbers are meant to scare people into taking a maintenance contract.

One thing is certain: it was all very expensive.

[Irinikus]

Cool! Thanks for clarifying things!

[Irinikus]

One thing that's also for sure, is the fact that the IR4 graphics system was definitely one of the physically largest and most expensive graphics solutions of all time!

---

I'm going have my IR3 graphics system neatly framed! (The module/board-set will look absolutely awesome, framed on a black background)

I have two RM10's and a spare DG5-2, all I need is another GE16-4.

I will keep the working RM10 intact and have the faulty one disassembled, revealing it's makeup. (So it's going to be a very long, heavy frame!)

I'll have it professionally mounted and framed by a local art gallery!

[drmadison]

So these bigger systems I've never really read up on as much, despite them being insanely interesting haha.
Are you able to just swap the IR3 for IR4 boards in the Onyx 2? What's the supported range for an Onyx2? IR2 all the way to IR4?
And I'm assuming you can't mix /match various combinations of DGs, RMs, TMs, and GEs? Do they all have to be the same "generation" so to speak?

[Irinikus]

So these bigger systems I've never really read up on as much, despite them being insanely interesting haha.
Are you able to just swap the IR3 for IR4 boards in the Onyx 2? What's the supported range for an Onyx2? IR2 all the way to IR4?
And I'm assuming you can't mix /match various combinations of DGs, RMs, TMs, and GEs? Do they all have to be the same "generation" so to speak?

This table from Wikipedia should largely answer your question: (Although it doesn't show the parts which constitute the various RM's)

[jan-jaap]

It's not advisable but it is possible to use a GE14 with newer RMs. I've (temporarily) used a GE14-4 with RM9 or RM10 RMs. It's still considered an IR2E or IR3 even though those should have a GE16-4.

The DG5 works with all GEs and RMs

[Adrenaline]

Neat! About 5.5 years ago I tried various combinations for my Onyx2 with Quake 3. At the time the RM11's were just silly expensive (even the RM10s were in retrospec also expensive).

Even after upgrading it to 2xRM10s + GE16-4 I was CPU bound with the 4xR12k 400mhz I had. 1280x1024 32bpp I was hitting ~27fps in that same level from your screenshots.

[Raion]

Wew, good to see you again Adrenaline. Been so long since I've seen you around.

[Irinikus]

Today I checked to see if the "timedemo 1" command works in ioQuake3 on my O2 R12K@400MHZ. And it does!

The commands are as follows:

\timedemo 1
\demo four

Here are the O2's results (12FPS, not that impressive, but it at least proves that it works!)



I need to get hold of a VGA extender cable as well as PS/2 extender cables and then I'll hopefully try it out on the Onyx2 later this week! (As I really want to run it using the monitor, keyboard and mouse placed with the O2, and really don't want to have to move things around!!!)