SGI Tezro

The SGI Tezro was a series of high-end computer workstations sold by SGI from 2003 until 2006. It was the immediate successor to the SGI Octane line. The systems were available in both rack-mount and tower versions, and the series was released in June 2003 with a list price of $20,500. The Tezro was released alongside the SGI Onyx4 (and because of component sharing, the Onyx4 and rack-mountable Tezro shared many components, including skins.)

Tezro marked the return of the original 'cube' logo to SGI machines, which was welcomed by the loyal user base.

It was replaced in 2008 by the SGI Virtu product line.

Architecture

Similar to other SGI systems, the Tezro used a non-blocking crossbar interconnect to connect all subsystems together. Tezro was based on SGI's Origin 3000 architecture.

ARCS was provided as the boot firmware, as with other SGI computer systems of that era.

Processors

Tezro systems used one to four 64-bit MIPS R16000 CPUs. Available configurations included: 2 or 4 processors 1.0 GHz with 16 MB L2 cache; or 1, 2, or 4 processors at 800 MHz or 700 MHz with 4 MB L2 cache.

Memory

The Tezro shipped with 512MB of Special DDR SDRAM. It can be expanded using proprietary DIMMs, the tower version can hold up to 8GB of main memory, and rack-mountable version up to 16GB of main memory.

Styling

While visual appeal is probably one of the least considerations when purchasing a high end workstation, SGI had historically been known for making brightly colored machines with a dramatic appearance. The Tezro continued that trend with an appearance that was highly unusual, while in contrast the entry level Fuel was surprisingly conventional.

Graphics

Tezro supported the V10 and V12 Odyssey graphics options, though mostcustomers chose the V12 version. Dual-head and dual-channel optionswere also available, allowing a fully-equipped Tezro to drive 4 high-res monitorsat once.

Audio

Tower systems shipped with analogue audio output as standard, while PCI cards provided audio capabilities (including 2-channel 24-bit AES and 8-channel ADAT connectors) on rack-mountable versions.

Expansion

The number of available 64-bit PCI slots included in a Tezro system depended upon the number of CPUs installed in the system:

* 7 133/100MHz slots in two- or four-CPU tower systems
* 3 133/100MHz slots in single-CPU tower systems
* 6 100MHz slots and one 66MHz slot in 4U rackmountable systems
* 2 100MHz slots and one 66MHz slot in 2U rackmountable systems.

All PCI slots in each Tezro model are 3.3V card slots.

A single U160 SCSI connector was available for attaching external peripherals, as was an optional FireWire card.

Operating system

Tezro ran SGI's IRIX operating system.

External links

* [http://www.sgi.com/products/workstations/tezro/ Tezro home page]
* [http://www.silicon.hr/pdf/sgi/tezro_ataglance.pdf Press release announcing the Tezro]
* [http://techpubs.spinlocksolutions.com/irix/remote-irix-6.5-installation-from-linux.html Remotely installing SGI IRIX 6.5 from a GNU/Linux server]