SGI: Hardware

Hi all,

Although I love my I2, I've got an urge to pick up a newer SGI now that they're so affordable... but I'm concerned over the potential noise level. Is an Octane 2 (say mid spec; single r12k 400, V10, 15krpm cheetah) or a Fuel (500 or 600, V10, 15krpm cheetah) louder or quieter than my existing system? (it has the higher rated Impact PSU, if its any difference).

Of those two, the Fuel is doubtless a bit quieter, and probably more performant than the Octane(2).

I have all three systems, and I'd say that modulo disk noise, the Octane is the loudest, though none of them are horribly loud. Do watch out for noisy disks, though. The newer 15K RPM Seagate or Fujitsu drives aren't very loud, while some of the older 7200RPM units that are common in an Indigo2 can produce quite the din. If you've got a 73GB in yours, though, that's probably a more modern disk, so I'd expect disk noise to be similar.

My gut feeling is that the Fuel is quieter than the Indigo2, but that's just comparing mine side-by-side, which doesn't account for different frequencies (I have some mid-frequency hearing loss) and disk noise.

Yep, the disk in there is a brand new 15k4 Seagate Cheetah... a *lot* quieter than the full height 9Gb unit that came out

I'd say, in this order from noisiest to quietest:

Fuel, Octane, O2

I don't know but I'm on my third Fuel and that PSU fan is killing me. On full blow 3200rpm it's not a pleasant surprise!
(gone through replacing all the fans except PSU on my Fuel)
The Octane noise never bothered me that much and it ain't picky about fan RPMs either, so anything keeping a somewhat reasonable CFM-rating would suffice. On the Fuel you have to keep in mind both RPM and CFM-ratings, so it's a little bit tricky...

The O2 is kind of special. If you're R5k-class it's got only the PSU fan and it's easily replaced with a (much) quieter one. If it's R10k-class its got a CPU-fan too and they can be a little bit trickier to find a version that is quiet, but it's certainly doable.

Interesting; one vote for the Fuel as quieter, another for the Octane/Octane2.

I wonder if some of the different viewpoints come from the environment in which the systems are used? - my I2 is on feet, under my desk on a carpeted floor so it's reasonably ok - I don't think I could put up with it in a desktop configuration or on solid flooring though.

The user manual of each system should tell you how much noise it makes.

A couple of reasons why people have different opinions:

* Wear and tear. Fans make more noise when they wear out. If you happen to have a system which ran non-stop for several years, especially in a room with smokers, it will be more noisy. Similarly, a dirty fan makes more noise than a clean one.

* Position of the system vs. the user. You will think the Octane sitting on the desk next to the monitor is louder than a Fuel on the floor.

* Vibration. Depends on the floor the system is on.

* Perception. Personally, I find the Fuel the most annoying of the bunch. This is not because the amount of noise it makes, but because the pitch of the noise varies almost continuously as it adjusts the fan speed. It is almost like it is singing a tune. The Fuel also contains a couple of small fans in front of the graphics, where Octane and Indigo2 contain only fairly large fans. These systems 'hum', the Fuel has a higher pitched noise.

Oh: you don't want to be in the same room with an Octane in 'fastfan' mode. It's louder than an Onyx2 (untill the Onyx2 goes into 'fastfan', of course )

The usefulness of an unmodified SGI system as a general use desktop is directly proportional to the increase in background noise, and inversely proportional its ability to remain unnoticed.

Get the most powerful system you can afford, and don't put it where you sleep, pray, or routinely hold whispered conversations.

Or stick an Origin 300 in some distant / less lived in portion of the house, and remote the display to something with a small enough thermal footprint to fall within your comfort zone for up close and personal use.

recondas wrote: The usefulness of an unmodified SGI system as a general use desktop is directly proportional to the increase in background noise, and inversely proportional its ability to remain unnoticed.

32 processor rack system it is then!
Actually, I wouldn't mind an Onyx2 + IR2/3 deskside, but I think that's something I'll look at later.

I just use the Indigo2 to play with - old demos, the odd game of bzflag, and some cross platform linux/irix programming just for kicks.. I've plenty of modern stuff for desktop use. It's sounding more and more like the Octane is similar to the I2, with relatively constant sound, rather than the multiple different sized fans generating a whole symphony of sound in the Fuel.