The 60 is very capable of performing as a workstation and server. The Ultra 80 can have four processors and up to 4 GB of memory. The Ultra 60 can function as a server, but you may pay for some unneeded graphics and have some limitations on expandability. The true servers are the E250 and E450 which differ in their expandability. The minimum graphics recommendation on any workstation is 24 bit color with a 17 inch monitor.
Larger monitors are definitely preferred.
Hardware accelerated 3D graphics are availble for both Sun and SGI workstations. If possible, arrangements can be made to run your applications on machines which already exist in the College of Engineering. This will give a more accurate assessment of your needs and individual machine capabilities. Benchmarks of various machines in the College of Engineering are shown for matrix multiplication . Sun and SGI Performance Performance for current machines is listed in the following table.