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Id Auctioning Off SGI That Created Q2 And Q3A

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the only-for-the-truly-obsessive dept.

shiwala writes: "id software is auctioning the SGI Origin 2000 used to process all of the map data for Quake II and Quake III Arena." Hemos and I have been debating auctioning off the case that was the 2nd Slashdot (for a six months). I've been trying to find the alpha that was Slashdot for the first 9 months of its life (it served the first million pages: if I only knew that we would serve that many pages every day). Probably donate the $ to the FSF or Project Gutenberg or something. Anyway this id box amuses me: opening bid is $7500.

14 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. In an unrelated story... by Valar · · Score: 3

    Microsoft held an auction over the weekend for the computer on which the first Windows was designed. It sold for $.50, was taken into the parking lot, and burned. Bill Gates was seen, later that day, crying over the loss of his 'baby' and screaming 'First my company, then my dearest!'.

    --

    ====
    Crudely Drawn Games
  2. Re:It's a supercomputer that's why! by Shoeboy · · Score: 4

    a shared memory supercomputer, even to today's standard...you may have to add more processors though.
    With Apple claiming the G4 as supercomputer, you will actually need to subtract processors from your Origin to make it meet todays standard of supercomputing.
    --Shoeboy

  3. .plan entries by philj · · Score: 3

    Here is one of the .plan anouncements that first pointed to it, and
    here are a few pictures of the actual machine.

  4. Re:To compare by Pengo · · Score: 3


    It's not just the raw-cpu power of these things but the internal-bandwidth the ccNuMA architecture can support.

    I guess as it goes today, they are a bit out-dated on the processor level, but would still make a fantastic file server. (That spec of Origin can maintain about 2 gigabyte of sustained internal bandwidth per second. A top end 1Ghz Athlon can only sustain about 800mb per second on the bus.

  5. But the real question is... by MalaclypseJr · · Score: 4

    Do they wipe it when they auction it off?
    Or do we finally get their sgi compile tools?
    I know quite a few mappers with 64 processor sgi machines that want to know ;)

    --
    "And real life has warts and smelly feet" -- Paul Jaquays, id Software
  6. Obligatory Poll Mastah Poll by PollMastah · · Score: 3

    Poll: how many people are interested in this SGI box?

    1. I want it!
    2. What's the current bid on it? Are they bidding on eBay?
    3. Does it come with the Quake SGI tools?
    4. Gah, who cares. Slashdot is boring.
    5. Oh no!! Id is going bankrupt! I mean, heck, with Corel selling the peripheral business and Id auctioning off their computers, the IT industry is collapsing! Aaarrrgghh!!!
    6. (RMS voice imitation:) I hereby declare this SGI Box the GNU/Quake GNU/SGI workstation!
    7. Segmentation fault
      Caffeine underflow
      Brain dumped
    --

    Poll Mastah

  7. i'm in this too by fluxrad · · Score: 3

    ladies and gentlemen...i, FluXraD, am auctioning off the first ever computer i installed linux on

    a beautiful IBM Craptiva with an enormous 64 meg of RAM, a beautifully stylish mobo with onboard crystal sound and an ATI Rage video card (you guessed it: the 2meg) This beautiful desktop unit is fully functional, it can be used as BOTH a paperweight for those outside offices, or a projectile. Either way, you'll be a winner with this baby!

    Bidding will start next week...reserve is a bargain at a low low $32k. (Make checks payable to the FluXraD retirement fund. Seller makes no guarantee of implied warranty or viability of said IBM Craptiva. Purchaser takes product as is with no refunds unless expressly stated. Upon return a %100 stocking fee may be charged the buyer. Offer not valid in UT, VT, TX and The People's Republic of China)


    FluX
    After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network

    --
    "It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
  8. Well, why not? by Chairboy · · Score: 5

    I would like to announce the auctioning of the first computer I ever used to chat in an adult IRC chat room. It's a Mac 512ke that works fine, but the keyboard is a bit... sticky.

    Back on topic....

    Could the Auction will become the defacto engine behind the new economy?

    In a way, we'd come full circle. In the beginning, purchases were bartered for. Two people would negotiate back and forth until the price was agreed on. Eventually, fixed prices started to replace this. Money became the accepted tender, and everyone was happy.

    Now, however, it's becoming easy to do the bartering without the social interaction, bluffing, etc. Stores could set an opening bid on the things they wanted to sell. When demand went up, the prices would go up, but not because they raised prices, instead because customers would bid against each other.

    Eventually, people might bid against each other from whatever evolves from web-enabled cell phones or bluetooth devices. The winner would get the goods right then, and the loser would need to wander around the store waiting for the next bidding cycle to start on that item. On the plus side, the customer might be able to snake great bargains if they come in at off peak hours, reducing the mob scene you find in stores between 5-7PM. People who needed to shop at peak hours would pay for the convenience, bidding against other people of like-mind.

    Whole new services might even appear where people pay fixed fees to 'professional bidders' who would take care of the whole bidding process for them. This would appeal to people who just want to buy stuff, and would create a whole new career.

    Maybe it's our destiny to go back to our roots, economically...

  9. It's a supercomputer that's why! by theHippo · · Score: 5
    Even if Id isn't the one auctioning it, it still is news! I'm surprise to see an Origin2000 being auctioned! This is a very expensive piece of equipment and actually is a shared memory supercomputer, even to today's standard...you may have to add more processors though. Although per-processor wise it is not as fast as the current fastest PIIIs, this is a fine grained shared memory machine, unlike Beowulf clusters which have a distributed memory coarse grained architecture. At 200 Mhz per R10k, it still has got a lot of life in it...look at the Top 500 site for more info. Also the R10000 are 64-bit processors, and SGI's compilers does take advantage of this fact so if you need higher-accuracy computation than this is the way to go. I predict that this system will go for at least 100k+ considering the prices the prices that the four-processor little brother O200 systems are going for at the moment.

    According to the 1998 review of a Sun Enterprise 10000 at UnixReview (previously Performance Computing)

    Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) has published results for its Origin2000, a cache-coherent Non-Uniform Memory Architecture (ccNUMA) system, of 9,478 for SPECfp_rate95 and 5,922 for SPECint_rate95, both for system configurations with 64 195MHz Mips R10000 CPUs. The SGI floating-point score was on a system with 16GB RAM, while the integer score was obtained on a system with 48GB RAM. The SGI machine's floating-point performance is significantly higher than Sun's, while the Origin2000's integer performance is only slightly higher than the Starfire's. Additionally, SGI issued a press release on Feb. 25, 1998 announcing SPECrate scores for its latest 250MHz Mips R10000 CPU of 11,984 for SPECfp_rate95 and 8,021 for SPECint_rate95. At review time, however, those results had not yet been posted on the SPEC Web site, so configuration details of the test systems were not available.
  10. Re:Things to consider when buying by Stephen+Samuel · · Score: 5
    Actually, it probably uses a 30A plug -- 20A if you're lucky. Even at 30A, you could rewire a clothes dryer or oven circuit to power it. Better yet, though -- just ask any decent electrician to run a new circuit for you.

    With half the processors dead, chances are that you could pull the dead boards and coax it to run on a 15A circuit (as long as you didn't have much/anything else on the circuit) Kitchen counter plugs are a good bet, since most building codes require each plug to be on a separate circuit.

    The heat issue is real, though. I worked with an SGI crimson once, in a small room with not enough air conditioning to handle the output of the thing. At night we had to close the door to the room, and the temperature would consistently hit ~35C (~95F) (this was in Vancouver, not Phoenix). One night it got so hot that a termal protection fuse blew. It stumped the SGI service guy for a while (he didn't know about the thermal fuse).

    Due to bureaucratic heel-dragging, it took almsost 6 months to upgrade the air conditioning in the room.

    I don't know why it's power requirements would stop you from using it in a residential neighbourhoood, but chancces are that it's only FCC 15B (industrial) rated. -- I mean, who's going to put an Onyx in their basement?? (OK, put your hand down, I take that back!)

    --
    Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
  11. Q3A by the_tsi · · Score: 3

    And the best part is... Q3A for IRIX just went alpha today. So you can have your quake and eat it, too.

    -Chris

  12. A collector's item by Cubic_Spline · · Score: 3
    {Cheesy announcer}

    "Comes autographed by the id development team and an official certificate of authenticity!"

  13. Re:Yeah, but does it run vi? by Spirilis · · Score: 3
    I can't believe you've never heard of an Origin 2000... but anyway... It uses a MIPS R10000 64-bit processor, at either 195MHz or 250MHz (reading off a spec sheet I have)... Supports the XIO I/O system, which sustain 1.25 GB/sec bandwidth for each XIO device. The "maximum rack system" supports: 1 to 64 node cards (multiple numbers of these racks can link together)... to form a 2 to 128 CPU system "I/O bandwidth: 80 GB/sec sustained, 100 GB/sec peak" Supports 128 3.5-inch Ultra SCSI devices, or 16 5.25-inch SCSI devices Supports fibre channel. The stock Origin 2K's run IRIX 6.5 according to this sheet, and it consumes about 5500 watts (rack machine), with 18750 BTU/hr heat production

    I got this all from a small booklet (Product Guide) that I got while on a field trip to SGI in highschool 2 years ago... As for comparing against a dual PIII 800, I'm not sure what the R10K's can do... they're not mega-powerful 64-bit processors but the machine concentrates on the I/O bandwidth more than anything...

    --
    the real at&t mix
  14. Au contraire by the_tsi · · Score: 3

    Actually, it DOES run linux. Or at least, there's partial kernel support for it. Download a 2.3 kernel and take a peek inside.. there's support for SGI IP27 systems. IP27's are Onyx2 and Origin 2000 boxes. Sure, it may not support multiple-module systems, but since this thing has half the node cards dead, you're set anyway.

    -Chris