Editing SGI Fuel (section)

== Architecture ==

The Fuel is based on the same architecture as the high-end [[Origin 3000]] server. It is essentially a single node, single processor Origin 3000, sharing many of the same features and components.

=== Processors ===

The Fuel features either a [[R10000#R14000|R14000]] or a [[R10000#R16000|R16000]] microprocessor. The R14000 is clocked at 500 or 600&nbsp;MHz, and is accompanied by a 2 or 4 MB L2 cache respectively. The R16000 is clocked at 700, 800 or 900&nbsp;MHz and is accompanied by a 4 MB L2 cache, except for the 900&nbsp;MHz variant, which has an 8 MB L2 cache. The speed of the L2 cache is clocked at half the speed of the microprocessor, e.g. 250&nbsp;MHz with the 500&nbsp;MHz R14000. The 900&nbsp;MHz R16000 is extremely rare, perhaps due to SGI's lack of promotion when it was introduced. While the speeds for these processors may seem low for the time, benchmarks show that for certain specialized tasks that involve small data sets, a Fuel with a 700&nbsp;MHz R16000 can be equivalent to a 3.0&nbsp;GHz Pentium 4 (e.g. [http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/c-ray.html C-Ray]).

The 700&nbsp;MHz R16000 became available on January 9, 2003.<ref>Silicon Graphics, Inc. (January 9, 2003). ''SGI Boosts Price/Performance on Silicon Graphics Fuel Visual Workstation Family up to 25%''. ([[Press release]]).</ref>

=== Memory ===

The Fuel includes 512 MB of memory as standard. Using proprietary [[DDR SDRAM]] [[DIMM]]s, it can be upgraded to a maximum of 4 GB via four slots in two banks.

=== Graphics ===

The Fuel ships with two alternative [[SGI VPro|VPro]] graphics options, the V10 and V12. V10 has 32 MB combined memory, V12 has 128 MB combined memory. In both cases, memory that is not being used for display is available for use as texture memory. The V12 supports high quality 48-bit RGBA imaging and both options support hardware-accelerated 2D imaging using the [[OpenGL]] ARB extensions (real-time rotation, zoom, pan, feature adjustments). The [[mplayer]] application uses the 3D graphics hardware to accelerate movie playback, giving good support for [[DivX]], [[MPEG4]] and other formats.

=== Audio ===

In its standard configuration, the Fuel does not come with any audio hardware, although speakers may be attached via a [[Universal Serial Bus]] sound card. The most common solution to add audio capabilities is to install a [[M-Audio]] Revolution 7.1 PCI sound card, although the [[Sound Blaster Audigy|Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS]] can also be used. Additional audio options using PCI expansion cards are available.

=== Expansion ===

The Fuel has four 64-bit 3.3V PCI slots for expansion, two of which run at 33&nbsp;MHz and two of which run at 66&nbsp;MHz. The system also has two internal [[SCSI|Ultra160 SCSI]] busses, with space for two internal 5.25" devices and three internal hard disks. The Fuel usually shipped with 10,000 rpm SCSI disks, but it can take good advantage of 15,000 rpm models, with sustained bandwidths up to three times faster than is possible with Octane2's internal UW bus. The Fuel was also the first SGI system to support USB devices in IRIX, although audio and HID USB devices were the only ones supported.