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There will be 2 models available:

- SGI VW 320 aka the 'Hugh'
- SGI VW 540 aka the 'Borg'

Specs:




System bus:

The graphics chipset is called 'Cobalt' It has a data-bus to the memory of 3.2GB/s, compared to the 2.1 GB/s in the O2. The system uses an UMA architecture, called 'IVC' which stands for Integrated Visual Computing Architecture.

The photo shows 320 (Hugh, small case) and 540 (Borg, large case)  and SGI 1600SW LCD

Processors:
The 320 uses the Pentium II processor at 350/400/450Mhz,
while the 540 uses the Xeon processor at 450Mhz. It can take four of these at once..

Memory configuration:


320 (2 banks)	540 (4 banks)
128MB x 1 bank = 128MB	128MB x 1 bank = 128MB
256MB x 2 bank = 512MB	256MB x 4 bank = 1GB
512MM x 2 bank = 1GB	512MB x 4 bank = 2GB


The systems uses DIMM's. One bank consists of 6 slots, where the banks of memory can be mixed.

PCI Option cards
320: 3 slots (2 full size, 1 half size)
540: 6 slots (6 full size)

Stereo support
Silicon Graphics 320 and 540 support stereo
- SGI stereo card to drive IR emitter box available Q2 CY1999
- SGI device drivers available w/stereo card
- Monitor/display support:
- *21" Monitor 1024x768x120Hz
- *17" Monitor 800x600x120Hz
   *Not supported on SGI flat panel displays!
- Quad-buffered stereo (stereo-in-a window)

BIOS
It does not use a BIOS, but ARC, like all SGI boxes since early 1990's.
This allows you to boot from the actual filesystem instead of using a boot-sector on the harddisk.

Cobalt ASIC (the video chipset!)
Design goals:

- Optimize performance for OpenGL 1.2 and GDI running on Intel CPU's and under the constraints of NT
- Enable multi-processor rendering
- Enable dynamic allocation and assignment of graphics memory in system memory


Summary:

- Patents pending
- 1521 pin flip chip package
- 13.64mm x 13.65mm die size
- 10 million transistors
- Physical design done entirely by Cobalt team


Cobalt Micro-Architecture

The unit consists of four logical units, a Host Interface, a memory management unit, a Geometry pipeline and a Rasterization pipeline.
Details on the exact functioning of this will be added later.


Cobalt feature set:

High-level programming interface
Vertex and normal transforms, per vertex lighting
Full primitive setup and culling
Gouraud shading, Z-buffering and stenciling
Perspective correct texturing
Antialiased points and lines
Fogging
Alpha and chroma testing and blending
Logical operations 8,16,32-bit color/texel formats 16 and 24-bit z-buffer formats and 8-bit stencil format
Support for direct frame-buffer access 4x4 color matrix with scale and bias 4kx4k-pixel/texel frame-buffers and texture maps


Advanced features

Full scene antialiasing using 4x over-sampling (available Q4FY99)
Occlusion test feedback for scene visibility culling
Color space conversions through color matrix
Specular highlights post texturing
Depth offset generation


Arsenic:
- Generates Display Signal
- Continuous DMA of Frame Buffer
- Support for 1920x1080 @ 60Hz (HDTV 1080P standard)
- Supports Standard CRT and OpenLDI Flat Panel Interface
- Support for Stereo Viewing (Quad buffered) Q2CY99)


I/O stuff
Let's look at the traditional PC first, and see what kind of bandwidth you really got in there.
The CPU is connected to the 440XX Chipset, at 800MB/s, which is connected to the memory at the seems speed (also 800MB/s).
The 440XX also has a connection to the PCI-32 bus, running at 132MB/s. Traditionally, that's a shared bus.
Your videoboard, audio, network and disks are all connected to this single 132MB/s bus.
The video might be connected via a AGPx2 bus, running at 512MB/s.

Now lets look at the Visual Workstation.
Here the CPU is also connected to the central chipset with a 800MB/s bus. However, from here things get different.
Directly to that chipset there are connections to the network, a 1394 ("Firewire") interface, and the Video and Audio chip, all connected at 1.6GB/s.
There are also several PCI-64 busses connected to this chip, at 267MB/s. The disk interface is also directly connected to the central chip (unknown bandwidth, probably on the 1.6GB/s bus as well.)
The memory is connected to the central chip at 3.2GB/s.

Nice numbers, but what does it mean?
It means you get 6 times the memory I/O of AGP, with less latency, and 10 times the PCI I/O..

So, what do we have now?
On the graphics part: Accelerated OpenGL, Fast Geometry, Texturing
On the I/O: 10/100 Fast Ethernet, IEEE-1394 Firewire, USB, Serial, Parallel, Ultra 2 SCSI
The Video: Multi-stream uncompressed Analog I/O standard, Audio/Video Sync, Optional 2XCCIR-601.

Complete summary

Silicon Graphics 320 Visual Workstation
1 to 2 processors
128MB to 1GB memory
3 PCI expansion slots
2 HD bays, 1 removable bay
Integral floppy, CDROM, Ultra/ATA disk (SCSI optional)
1920x1200 resolution
Analog video I/O
Starts at US$ 3,395.-

Silicon Graphics 540 Visual Workstation
1 to 4 processors (Xeon)
128MB to 2GB memory
6 PCI expansions slots
3 HD bays, 1 removable bay
Integral floppy, CDROM, Ultra2 SCSI disk
1920x1200 resolution
Analog video I/O
Digital video I/O
Starts at US$ 5,995.-