Build and Maintain Your Graphics System One Brick at a Time

A new snap-together approach to system architecture allows you to configure--and reconfigure--systems that match your requirements precisely. Just choose the bricks that your applications require:

G-brick | N-brick | Cx-brick | R-brick | IX-brick | PX-brick | X-brick

G-brick (graphics expansion module):
With room for two graphics pipelines per G-brick, it's easy to enhance your graphics capabilities with modular expansion. Each densely packed G-brick is completely backward-compatible with Silicon Graphics® Onyx2® graphics pipelines, protecting your investment.

N-brick (dedicated graphics connectivity module):
For graphics expansion in a compact form factor, the N-brick reduces the physical size of large configurations by combining the C-brick-to-G-brick connectivity of four I- or X-bricks into a single 2U (3.5" high) module. The N-brick guarantees maximum graphics performance by excluding I/O traffic from the link and reduces system price.

Cx-brick (CPU module):
This new "super-brick" is the CPU building block of SGI® Onyx® 3900. The Cx-brick packs up to 16 MIPS processors and 32GB of memory into a compact 4U (seven-inch) module, offering quadruple the maximum computational capability of the previous C-brick. The Cx-brick offers enhanced configuration flexibility to scale more memory or I/O per processor.

R-brick (router interconnect expansion module):
As the structural building block of the system, the R-brick replaces the midplane, routes connectivity between C-bricks, provides scalable memory bandwidth, and enables each system component to be serviced or upgraded individually. Add infrastructure as you need it--from routerless single-rack systems to multirack configurations with multiple routers that deliver 128 processors in a high-memory bandwidth and low-memory latency shared-memory environment.

IX-brick (base I/O module):
The IX-brick enables the modular construction of base system I/O and provides 9 available PCI-X slots, distributed over six PCI/PCI-X buses. The PCI/PCI-X buses can support 32-bit and 64-bit PCI/PCI-X cards at the same time. To expand the I/O capabilities of the system further, PX bricks can be added to avoid unnecessarily duplicating the initial I/O infrastructure consisting of system disk(s), a CD-ROM and various I/O connectors such as Ethernet and SCSI.

PX-brick (PCI expansion):
For PCI/ PCI-X expansion, the PX-brick provides 12 PCI-X (hot-pluggable capable) slots distributed over six buses. The PCI/PCI-X buses can support 32-bit and 64-bit PCI/PCI-X cards at the same time. The scalable, high-bandwidth architecture ensures that every bus on every PX-brick operates without bandwidth contention at any time.

X-brick (XIO™ expansion module):
For the highest performance I/O expansion, X-bricks deliver four XIO slots that support HIPPI, GSN, VME, and other high-performance networking cards. In addition, X-bricks support the DMediaPro™ DM3, which delivers uncompromising multistream digital video I/O in a wide variety of high-definition and standard-definition formats.