In an era where anyone can download Blender and create 3D graphics on a standard desktop computer, it's fascinating to look back at a time when 3D modeling required specialized hardware costing as much as a luxury car. The Silicon Graphics (SGI) POWER Indigo 2 workstation from 1995 represents a pivotal moment in computer graphics history, where cutting-edge technology came with an astronomical price tag.
The Era of Expensive Innovation
The POWER Indigo 2 with XZ Graphics and a 2GB SCSI drive would set you back approximately £58,000 ($73,000) in the mid-1990s. But the hardware was just the beginning. Professional 3D modeling software licenses for packages like Softimage or Alias could cost an additional $10,000-15,000. Despite these steep costs, the investment could quickly pay off for skilled artists:
If, in 1994, you did have an SGI and Alias and enough artistic skill and technical competence to produce liquid logos and dancing soda bottles and face morphs, you would certainly recoup that $80k investment quickly. It was a very rare skill that needed very rare hardware.
Key System Specifications (1995):
- Model: Silicon Graphics POWER Indigo 2 'Teal'
- CPU: MIPS R8000 (multi-chip module)
- Graphics: Express series 'XZ' graphics card (mid-range)
- System Cost: £58,000 (with 64MB RAM, XZ Graphics, 2GB SCSI drive)
- Software Cost: $10,000-15,000 (for professional 3D packages)
Industrial Design and Engineering Excellence
SGI machines stood out from their contemporaries not just in performance but in design. While most computers of the era were plain grey or black boxes, SGI workstations featured distinctive styling and personality. The Indigo 2 showcased exceptional engineering, from its sophisticated cooling system to the unique SCSI drive bay design. These machines even had their own startup sounds and matching peripherals with distinctive textures, creating a cohesive professional computing environment.
Mission-Critical Computing
The reliability requirements for these systems were extraordinary. Post-production companies running SGI Onyx supercomputers for film and advertising effects maintained 24/7/365 operations with dedicated service engineers who were required to stay within 25 miles of the servers at all times. This level of support reflected both the machines' critical role in production workflows and their substantial cost to businesses.
The Multi-Chip Revolution
The R8000 processor in the POWER Indigo 2 represented a fascinating approach to CPU design. Unlike today's single-chip processors, it was built from multiple discrete chips working together. This design philosophy was shared by other manufacturers like IBM with their POWER and POWER2 processors, allowing them to push performance boundaries in ways that weren't possible with single-die solutions of the time.
The End of an Era
The democratization of 3D graphics capabilities and the rise of commodity x86 hardware eventually spelled the end for specialized graphics workstations. The transition from proprietary RISC architectures to x86-64 marked a significant shift in the industry, as AMD and Intel's processors began delivering comparable performance at a fraction of the cost.
This historical perspective helps us appreciate how far computer graphics technology has come, from an era where creating 3D graphics required massive investment in specialized hardware to today's world where powerful creative tools are accessible to anyone with a modern computer.
Source Citations: My new POWER Indigo 2