SGI: Hardware

You can change the master/slave configuration by changing the rack/brick/slot designations . That can be accomplished with the L1 command "brick"; basic command syntax is available with the L1 command "help brick".

Looks OK.


It works just fine, my Origin's I-brick is connected to two C-bricks and it works without any problems.


Yes


It's most likely in there, yes. Try 'printenv' in the command monitor to see all the NVRAM variables.

OK, as usual it got late. So it is 00:30 in Brussels, that's after breakfast alright. So I will at least post the picture I promised. Forgot to do the * env before shutdown so that will have to wait.


While I was at it, I took some pictures of the "server room". Since it is a little off topic, I will post them in the gallery if neko admits me.

Well I wasn't actually bored last night but nevertheless I wanted to know if the I-Brick contains the same chips that cause the L1 troubles in the Fuels so I reopened it and had a closer look. On the front one of the two big boards the I-Brick contains I could make out 3 of the infamous DS1780 chips (see markings).

I tried to do a closeup shot but my camera didn't give me a picture where you can read the inscription of the chips. Anyway, since I have neither the knowledge nor the equipment to investigate any further: now what? Should I go and find a shop that can replace the chips for me and hope that they are responsible for the wrong -12V reading?

Silly question, but - what's the purpose of the O3200 vs the O300/350? Looks like almost everything the O3k can do the O.3k series can do. Slight memory advantage for O3k vs O300, but that was fixed in O350.

I suppose that leaves future expandability (provided you bought from SGI so they could re-serial the R-brick when added/expanded upon) and XIO connectivity, but it seems like you're paying a noticeable space premium for the O3k in a 2 C-brick config (2xC brick + I brick + power brick rather than 2xO300/350). Perhaps it was cheaper? Though I doubt that...

Keep in mind that the O350 came out long after the O3200 series - so the option wasn't even available for a lot of the O3200's lifetime. I'm imagining the O3200 was almost entirely superseded in sales by O350 racks (especially considering how many O350 racks we see on the market) once the O350 came out.

You get a huge power density bonus over O300/O350 by using power bays and CX-bricks in large O3x00 configs, but for the 3200 that's not really relevant.

I'm guessing that it was also probably easier to get SGI to sell you an O3200 with high-end options (V-brick, etc.) than to sell you an O350 configuration with similar options (InfinitePerformance), but as I've never been an SGI salesperson I'm not sure about that one (it just seems to me that that'd be smart business on SGI's part - mark people up to the bigger iron whenever possible).

Actually I asked myself the same question. Why would I want a C-Brick that uses 3U and can take 4 CPUs and 8GB and needs another 4U (I-Brick) to get harddrives, CDROM, PCI slots and such, if I can have an o300 that can also have 4 CPUs, I think 4GB but has all the basic I/O and comes as a nice 2U package.
Then I thought: Well the maximum of modules you can link with o300 are two, while the o3000 familiy scales up to somewhere I can't even imagine. But: wrong. Maybe the biggest O3000 configurations are bigger than the biggest O300, but using NUMALink modules you can build o300 configurations up to 128 processors. Well: who knows?

Going back on topic: any ideas about the DS1780?

It never made much sense to me either. As I see it, two numalinked O300s are roughly the equivalent of an O3200. The O300's take up 4U of rackspace, the O3200 is a rack (OK, a short rack, but still).


CX bricks and InfinitePerformance were introduced well after the O3200 as well.

The density of O3k C bricks is low, presumably because a lot of space was reserved for the anticipated larger and more power hungry Itanium CPUs. You could say the O3200 was ready for an Itanium upgrade that never happened, whereas the O300 wasn't.


Digikey sells it, Farnell doesn't. You can order some samples straight from Maxim: http://www.maxim-ic.com/datasheet/index ... /2775/t/or
If you don't dare to solder it in yourself, surely you know someone who can do it for you?

Didn't the O3000 series come first ? I really like the versatility of the brick concept, also. Plus, can't the latest c-bricks go to eight or even sixteen processors ?

Definitely when you go to large scale installations the O3k would be cheaper than the O300/350, because the O3k's C-bricks aren't hauling around I/O and power and the other O300 stuff.

CX is slick. CX+I-brick+G-brick or CX+O350 with V12 (provided a hack can be done) would be very nice.

@jan-jaap: Found a shop in Leuven who says they can do it. So I will try to get the chips now and then lets see. I just hope he knows what he is doing because now the IBrick is working with env monitoring off. So if replacing the chips doesn't fix it, so be it, but if it really gets destroyed in the process then I will have an Origin 3200 with no IBrick. And I have seen that these IBricks are relatively rare and expensive, so getting a new one will probably cost me more than the whole system.

Yes one Cx Brick would really be a nice replacement for my two CBrick(s).
It has 4U, so it is 1U higher than a CBrick but:
- It can contain 16 Processors as opposed to 4
- It can contain 32 GB of memory as opposed to 8 GB
- It contains the functionality of an RBrick, so it has 4 NUMALink and 4 XIO Ports (external)
- It works with all existing Bricks (C, I, P, X, N, G, V,...)

Anybody has one he wants to get rid of?

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16723644

The prices are pretty... serious, though.

Ummm ... I paid $3500 for a Fuel five years ago. Rothers paid more. Give it another couple years.

I jut paid 1800,- € for a dual processor Tezro without any flame or similar stuff. Only to see, that others offer them for 900$ two days later. I am even paying this in multiple pieces. (I don't know how you say that in english correctly).

Yes prices are serious but that's what you should expect if you are looking for "relatively modern" stuff.

But hey, where is the fun in collecting this stuff if you can get anything you want right now for free.

"installment plan"



CX will probably be pricey for a long time. Last-generation SGIMIPS and lots of compute power squished into a small box. Couple that with the numbers sold (not many, comparatively) and things are looking difficult for the hobbyist. Same thing will probably be the case with Tezro quaddies.

So I got the replacement DS1780s. Thanks jan-jaap for the tip. Had to pay customs. Damn.
Next week I will hand in the IBrick board and three chips to the shop that does the replacement. What I want you to do is:

a) keep your fingers crossed that at least the system is still running after the replacement

b) even better would be that this really fixes the false alarms

Will keep you posted.