Extreme Graphics

Not to be confused with Intel Extreme Graphics, a series of built-in graphics adapter.

Extreme Graphics is a computer graphics architecture for Silicon Graphics computer workstations. Extreme Graphics was developed in 1993 and was available as a high-end graphics option on workstations such as the Indigo2, released during the mid-1990s. Extreme Graphics gives the workstation real-time 2D and 3D graphics rendering capability similar to that of even high-end PCs made many years after Extreme's introduction, with the exception of texture rendering which is performed in software. Extreme Graphics systems consist of eight Geometry Engines and two Raster Engines, twice as many units as the Elan/XZ graphics used in the Indy, Indigo, and Indigo2. The eight geometry engines are rated at 256 MFLOPS maximum, far faster than the MIPS R4400 CPU used in the workstation.

Extreme Graphics consists of five graphics subsystems: the Command Engine, Geometry Subsystem, Raster Engine, framebuffer and Display Subsystem. Extreme Graphics can produce resolutions up to 1280 x 1024 pixels with 24-bit color and can also process unencoded NTSC and PAL analog television signals. It is reported by the PROM as GU1-Extreme.

The Extreme Graphics architecture was superseded by SGI's IMPACT graphics architecture in 1995.

External links

Silicon Graphics

Company	Silicon Graphics (1981–2009) Silicon Graphics International (since 2009)

People	James H. Clark Kurt Akeley David J. Brown Herb Kuta Abbey Silverstone Bob Lutz Rick Belluzzo Paul Haeberli

Motorola 68000 computers	SGI IRIS

MIPS computers	IRIS 4D Indigo Indigo² Indy Crimson O2 Octane Challenge Origin 200 Origin 2000 Onyx2 Origin and Onyx 3000 Fuel Tezro

Intel-based computers	Visual Workstation Altix Prism Virtu

Graphics hardware	Geometry Engine Elan Extreme Impact VPro RealityEngine InfiniteReality Reality Coprocessor

Other technology	IRIX Image format MEX Workspace 4Sight Interactive Desktop Xsgi 4Dwm XFS IRIS GL OpenGL GIO XIO NUMAlink IndyCam

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