From: skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Skip Sauls)
Subject: Re: A4000 or SGI for video
Organization: University of Mississippi, Dept. of Computer Science
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 04:16:26 GMT

In article <C1HsGv.HFI@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu> wjbaird@napier.uwaterloo.ca (Warren Baird) writes:
>In article <dmkasten.05b9@redorc.chi.il.us> dmkasten@redorc.chi.il.us (Bowie Poag) writes:
>>
>>Considering you can buy a board for an Amiga for $9000 that will give you 2x
>>the power of a $200,000 SGI Workstation, yup, id say the Amiga is a wise
>>decision.. 
>
>I'd like to see some numbers to back this up...  The IRIS Indigo
>workstation sells for roughly $10,000 (I have a price sheet at work,
>but not with me), and pack a hell of a punch...  I would be really
>surprised if a 4000 is twice as fast as the Indigo R4000 at anything...

How about running Amiga programs?  The Indigo would need to be mighty
fast to fully emulate the Amiga at the speed of an A500, let alone the
A4000.  I'd be willing to bet that the A4000 would run rings around
the Indigo when running Amiga software...

>I've got price sheets with all the relevant data for the various
>options, and I can post it if anyone is interested...  

Nah, don't bother.  While some have said that the Indigo is what every
Amiga wants to be when it grows up, the Amiga still has its good points
and many of us like it just fine.  Ask a few of the Clone users how
successful they've been in converting us heathens...

>I'd really like to see similar data for the 4000.  Does anyone know
>how many flat shaded polys per second you can get?  Will the Amiga do
>hardware or software Gouraud shading???

I seriously doubt that the A4000 does Gouraud shading in hardware, but
software is a different matter.  It could most certainly do it in software,
but the same can be said for practically any platform.  Or do you know
something that I don't about the way software works?  Perhaps the compilers
for the Amiga detect Gouraud shading code and automatically ignore it?

>The figures for the lowest end of the Indigo (without any graphics
>accelators) was around 100,000 flat shaded polys per second (I
>think...  Don't quote me on this until I check the info sheets).

Great!  Hey, most of us are not so stupid as to doubt the prowess of any 
of the SGI machines or to believe that an A4000 is going to seriously
compete with one as a graphics workstation.  But the A4000 and other Amigas
are better than any SGI machine as a personal computer.  When the amount
of free and/or inexpensive software for the Indigos increases and the prices
drop below $2000, you might see a mass exodus to that platform, but you
won't given their current hardware and software pricing.

An A4000 with $7500 worth of hardware and software would be a much better
machine for most users than a $10000 Indigo.

>>        +-----------------------------------------------------------+
>>        |o|              I think, therefore I Amiga.              |=|
>>        +-----------------------------------------------------------+
>>        | Douglas Michael Kasten (DMK) | Amiga 2000HD/5 with a tiny |
>>        |  dmkasten@redorc.chi.il.us   | little 21" Toshiba monitor.|
>>        +------------------------------+----------------------------+
>
>
>(P.S.  Please don't flame me for being "anti-Amiga".  I love my 2000,
>but I'm realistic enough to realize that it may not be the best
>possible graphics box...)

I tried not to flame you, but you might find my tone to be a bit on the
sarcastic side.  It is silly for people to go around believing that an
Amiga plus a third party board is seriously going to challenge an Indigo,
except maybe statistically.  The software for the Indigo is not only much
more diverse, it is also more likely to be mature and robust.  Similarly,
it is silly for people to compare the Indigos and Amigas in terms of which
one is better for personal use.  Even if one could easily afford the $10000
price, the software cost would tend to scare off most people.

I would love it if my Amiga were to have some of the power that an Indigo
has, but not if it means having to sell one's first-born to do so.

Skip Sauls, Amiga Advocate
skip@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu

Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc