The SGI Origin 200, code named ''Speedo'', was an entry-level

server computer In computing, a server is a piece of computer hardware or software (computer program) that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called " clients". This architecture is called the client–server model. Servers can provide vario ...

developed and manufactured by

SGI SGI may refer to: Companies *Saskatchewan Government Insurance *Scientific Games International, a gambling company *Silicon Graphics, Inc., a former manufacturer of high-performance computing products *Silicon Graphics International, formerly Rac ...

, introduced in October 1996 to accompany their mid-range and high-end

Origin 2000 The SGI Origin 2000 is a family of mid-range and high-end server computers developed and manufactured by Silicon Graphics (SGI). They were introduced in 1996 to succeed the SGI Challenge and POWER Challenge. At the time of introduction, these r ...

. It is based on the same architecture as the

but has an unrelated hardware implementation. At the time of introduction, these systems ran the

IRIX IRIX ( ) is a discontinued operating system developed by Silicon Graphics (SGI) to run on the company's proprietary MIPS workstations and servers. It is based on UNIX System V with BSD extensions. In IRIX, SGI originated the XFS file system and ...

6.4, and later, the IRIX 6.5

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

s. The Origin 200 was discontinued on 30 June 2002.

Hardware

The Origin 200 consists of one or two modules. In configurations with two modules, the NUMAlink 2 (originally CrayLink) interconnection fabric is used to connect the two modules together. Using two modules, the Origin 200's capabilities (the number of processors, the amount of memory, etc.) is doubled. The Origin 200 and the Origin 200 GIGAchannel enclosures can be configured as a tower with "skins" that covered the bare metal for cosmetic purposes, or as a rackmountable enclosure compatible with 19- or 21-inch racks.

Module

Each module contains a motherboard, seven 3.5-inch drive bays and two 5.25-inch drive bays. In configurations where an Origin 200 GIGAchannel expansion cabinet is used, the module also contains a Crosstown board that plugs into the motherboard. Each module was limited to two CPUs.

Motherboard

The motherboard contains the Hub

ASIC An application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC ) is an integrated circuit (IC) chip customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general-purpose use, such as a chip designed to run in a digital voice recorder or a high-efficien ...

, a PCI bridge, two

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, electrical, optical and logical interface ...

controllers, two

UART A universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART ) is a computer hardware device for asynchronous serial communication in which the data format and transmission speeds are configurable. It sends data bits one by one, from the least significan ...

s and an

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...

controller. The PCI bridge provides the PCI bus for the three

PCI-X PCI-X, short for Peripheral Component Interconnect eXtended, is a computer bus and expansion card standard that enhances the 32-bit PCI local bus for higher bandwidth demanded mostly by servers and workstations. It uses a modified protocol t ...

slots and the I/O controllers.

Processor

The processor(s) are located on a PIMM (Processor-Included Memory Module) that plugs into the motherboard. When first introduced, the Origin 200 supported one or two

R10000 The R10000, code-named "T5", is a RISC microprocessor implementation of the MIPS IV instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by MIPS Technologies, Inc. (MTI), then a division of Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI). The chief designers are Chris Rowe ...

processors with 1 or 4 MB L2 cache each. In August 1998, an upgraded PIMM featuring the 225 MHz R10000 processors was introduced. Later, 270 MHz

R12000 The R10000, code-named "T5", is a RISC microprocessor implementation of the MIPS IV instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by MIPS Technologies, Inc. (MTI), then a division of Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI). The chief designers are Chris Rowe ...

processors became available. The PIMMs come in two versions: single processor and dual processor. It is not possible to upgrade these systems to a dual processor system by using two single processor PIMMs, as there is only one PIMM connector on the motherboard.

Memory

The motherboard supports 32 MB to 2 GB of memory through eight

DIMM A DIMM () (Dual In-line Memory Module), commonly called a RAM stick, comprises a series of dynamic random-access memory integrated circuits. These memory modules are mounted on a printed circuit board and designed for use in personal compute ...

slots organised into four banks. DIMMs with capacities of 16, 32, 64 and 256 MB are supported. DIMMs are installed in pairs.

GIGAchannel

The Origin 200 GIGAchannel is an expansion cabinet that connects to the Origin 200 modules via two

XIO XIO is a packet-based, high-performance computer bus employed by the SGI Origin 2000, Octane, Altix, Fuel and Tezro machines. The XIO forms a bus between high-performance system devices and the memory controller. XIO is usually used in a sta ...

cables. It provides an additional four PCI-X slots and five XIO slots. The GIGAchannel contains a Crossbow (Xbow) ASIC, which is an eight-port

crossbar Crossbar may refer to: Structures * Latch (hardware), a post barring a door * Top tube of a bicycle frame * Crossbar, the horizontal member of various sports goals * Crossbar, a horizontal member of an electricity pylon Other * In electronic ...

provides the five datapaths to the five XIO slots and a single datapath to PCI bridge. The remaining two ports on the ASIC are connected to the XIO connectors used to interface the subsystem to the Origin 200 modules.

References

* Origin 200 and Origin 200 GIGAchannel Owner's Guide, 007-3708-002, 5 May 1999, Silicon Graphics {{Silicon Graphics

Origin 200 The SGI Origin 200, code named ''Speedo'', was an entry-level server computer developed and manufactured by SGI, introduced in October 1996 to accompany their mid-range and high-end Origin 2000. It is based on the same architecture as the Origi ...