Silicon Graphics Accelerates 3D Graphics and Application Performance Of Indy Line

New Indy XZ and R4600SC Models Broaden Silicon Graphics' Desktop Leadership

On July 26, 1994 Silicon Graphics, Inc. announced that it has increased the graphics and applications performance of its popular Indy(tm) desktop line with the addition of XZ graphics configurations and the MIPS(r) R4600(tm)SC microprocessor. Indy XZ brings to the Indy product line hardware-accelerated 3D graphics previously available only on higher-end Indigo(r) family systems -- the same high-performance 3D graphics that has revolutionized computer-aided design, animation and scientific visualization. Additionally, the 133MHz R4600SC processor boosts applications performance of midrange Indy systems without increasing the cost.

"In less than a year, the Indy line has evolved into a broad product line that offers the industry's most compelling combination of features and price/performance leadership," said Tom Furlong, vice president and general manager of Silicon Graphics' Digital Sight and Sound Division. "With this move, Silicon Graphics continues to drive down the cost of high-performance computing and interactive 3D graphics. The Indy line will now appeal to an even broader set of users in creative and engineering markets."

INDY XZ Graphics

The new Indy XZ graphics systems bring a higher level of interactivity to the Indy desktop line. The ability to interactively explore 3D models in real time allows CAD engineers to better leverage their solids modeling packages and gain greater insight into their designs. The Indy XZ high-performance systems will also give animators the interactive modeling and high-throughput rendering they require.

The Indy XZ system uses Silicon Graphics' Geometry Engine(r) graphics accelerators to instantly manipulate large 3D models and images. The Indy XZ system delivers 128MFLOPS of dedicated graphics compute power over a highly integrated 267MB/sec system bus. The Indy XZ system is a full 24-bit color workstation with a 24-bit hardware Z buffer.

The Indy XZ system is available immediately in two configurations. Complete new Indy XZ systems have the 100MHz MIPS R4600PC microprocessor, a 1GB system disk, 32MB RAM, a 17-inch 1,280 by 1024 color monitor, IndyCam(tm) color digital video camera, keyboard, mouse, IRIX(tm) 5.2 operating system and the Indigo Magic(tm) user environment. A higher performance system, based on the 150MHz MIPS R4400(tm)SC microprocessor, is also available. Like all Indy systems, the new Indy workstations support up to 256MB of RAM, 2GB of internal disk storage and seven fast SCSI-2 devices. The XZ graphics system is also available as an upgrade to current Indy systems.

133MHz R4600SC Microprocessor

The 133MHz MIPS R4600SC microprocessor replaces the 100MHz R4000(r)SC processor in Indy midrange configurations with no price increase. Compared with the original R4000SC systems, the R4600SC delivers approximately 40 percent higher application performance, with AIM results increasing from 74.0 to 104.0. Integer and floating point performance increase as well, with SPECint92 accelerating from 58.6 to 93.7 and SPECfp92 increasing from 63.2 to 72.96.

Availability of the Indy R4600SC system begins in August in configurations including Virtual24 bit (dithered 8-bit) color graphics, 32MB of main memory, 17-inch 1,280 x 1,024 resolution color monitor, IndyCam color digital video camera, keyboard, mouse, IRIX 5.2 operating system and the Indigo Magic user environment.

Indy Presenter Display

Silicon Graphics also announced today the Indy Presenter(tm) display, the industry's most advanced color flat panel display. The first flat panel to offer both direct view and overhead projection modes, Indy Presenter brings new capabilities to Indy system users. The light weight display enables users to carry a complete Silicon Graphics system in a shoulder bag, and to present ideas using the powerful 3D graphics, audio and video of the Indy system. Indy Presenter works with all 24-bit color Indy systems including the new Indy XZ configurations.

The Indy XZ systems are the latest addition to the Indy product line, following two CPU enhancements in the past six months. The Indy line shatters the conventions of desktop computing, combining IndyCam, its own digital color video camera, and an engaging user environment with a host of digital media capabilities. In addition, the Indy system offers the advanced 3D graphics, imaging and compute performance that the world has come to expect from Silicon Graphics.

View Indy Presenter Announcement

Silicon Graphics, Inc. is the leading manufacturer of high-performance visual computing systems. The company delivers interactive three-dimensional graphics, digital media and multiprocessing supercomputing technologies to technical, scientific and creative professionals. Its subsidiary, MIPS Technologies, Inc., designs and licenses the industry's leading RISC processor technology for the computer systems and embedded control markets. Silicon Graphics has offices worldwide and headquarters in Mountain View, California.