I got my hands on an SGI 320 workstation. I loove the shape of this box but I still wanna dress this baby up! (You know how we do it!) I'm getting ideas right now. With a new 8 week old baby along with my 17 month old, I've got time before I get to dremel this bad boy.

I did see a site documenting how I can trick it out to become a dual gigahertz box. All I need is to find two slot-1 1 Gig CPUs and a VRM for one. When I do I'm going to look for some RAM also and soup this up under the hood.

Also I've been wanting to play around with animation. I have a couple of early basic animation programs like macromedia's Extreme 3D. Any good ones that aren't too expensive (remember I got two little ones) that would be good for me to get started with?

I'll attach a pic of an unmodded 320 to get the creative juices flowing. Note the spring loaded door that slides down when you push on the bottom of the door.

Thanx!

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Quote: Originally Posted by Banzai-Z I got my hands on an SGI 320 workstation. I loove the shape of this box but I still wanna dress this baby up! (You know how we do it!) I'm getting ideas right now. With a new 8 week old baby along with my 17 month old, I've got time before I get to dremel this bad boy. I did see a site documenting how I can trick it out to become a dual gigahertz box. All I need is to find two slot-1 1 Gig CPUs and a VRM for one. When I do I'm going to look for some RAM also and soup this up under the hood. Also I've been wanting to play around with animation. I have a couple of early basic animation programs like macromedia's Extreme 3D. Any good ones that aren't too expensive (remember I got two little ones) that would be good for me to get started with? I'll attach a pic of an unmodded 320 to get the creative juices flowing. Note the spring loaded door that slides down when you push on the bottom of the door. Thanx!

I got some ram for it maby. Can you post a pic of the inside and mother board?

Quote: Originally Posted by CubanConnectionZ I got some ram for it maby. Can you post a pic of the inside and mother board?

I don't have my camera with me at the moment but I did find a pic of the same thing here http://pooh.selwerd.nl:81/gallery/sgi320mod/aao


Attached are a couple other shots of the board and what the RAM looks like.

Thanks!

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I'm also thinking of mod ideas such as putting LED's along the air fins of the blue curve. I still haven't thought of a color scheme yet.

I'm open to suggestions.

another question...this is one of those machines that has a plastic casing with the metal panel behind it. Anybody ever cut one of those? Is there a trick to it. Are there any ramafications of removing the thin metal panel? I'm sure it's there for shielding or cooling or something. I'm seriously considering a window with a curve to kind match the contour of the case.

With metal, you can cut it and it's so thin that if the acrylic is glued to it the whole panel is quite flat and thin. With thickness of the plastic, I just can't glue a pane of acrylic or plexi on the back. What's a good way to get a nicer result and possibly a more flushed look to the window? I thought about a gasket but some can look quite cheap and tacky.

Thanks in advanced for your suggestions.

what about cutting out the window hole and riviting it on and then some chrome trim, around the edge of the cut out?

Quote: Originally Posted by stereomod what about cutting out the window hole and riviting it on and then some chrome trim, around the edge of the cut out?

I guess the chrome trim will cover up the fact that the glas is not level with the rest of the plastic.

Since you are modding an SGI computer, you might want to check out Mashie's sight and the mod that he did there based on an SGI system.

http://www.mashie.org/casemods/oenone01.html

Just my $.02

Soldier

Quote: Originally Posted by SatcomSoldier Since you are modding an SGI computer, you might want to check out Mashie's sight and the mod that he did there based on an SGI system. http://www.mashie.org/casemods/oenone01.html Just my $.02 Soldier

Nyce! Very Nyce! I've got an Octane shell I'm thinking of doing that to. those things look like miniature fridges. This 320 I like as is because of the upgradability and the graphics system on it. I'd like to upgrade it but give it some style!

"I figured that if you're going to build a time machine out of a car, might as well give it some style!"
-Dr. Emmet M. Brown (paraphrased)

I dont really have any advice, but I was wondering, where can you buy one of those? It is awesome!


Thanks,
Jake

Your best bet is eBay. There usually is one or so out there.

They're pretty cheap because they only come with 450MHz CPU's under the hood. I guess some people just don't know what they really have.

If you really want to have fun just buy the motherboards that are out there. They usually go for $10 and all the hardware is onboard.

It currently has dual 450 MHz intel slot 1's. unfortunately I cannot afford the dual 1 GHz upgrade.

I can however ger my hands on a 600 MHz slot 1, but it's a single. I can't get a second one working with the VRM I have. Is it worth it to upgrade to a single 600 vs the dual 450 or are the speeds better for the 450's ? Since the graphics don't support Direct 3D I won't be doing any gaming on this.

Also if anyone does happen to have any old 1 Ghz slot 1's with a compatible VRM please let me know. I could also use some more RAM for this puppy.

Thanks!!

BTW: I'm still open for suggestions on modding this case. it's not like the square boxes i modded in the past.

How much ram you got? The sticks I got I dont know how many mb they are how can you tell? can you post a pic of the vrm and is it a special vrm?

Quote: Originally Posted by CubanConnectionZ How much ram you got? The sticks I got I dont know how many mb they are how can you tell? can you post a pic of the vrm and is it a special vrm?

I have only 256 MB RAM in one group. (6 slots). There should be an SGI Part# sticker on them. The ones I have say "SGI Part# 9210134B"

The VRM I'm currently using is one from an old HP box so I could add the second 450 processor. It's HP P/N 0950-3310. On the back it says "5V/12V IN" and "3.1VADJ OUT"

According to this site: http://www.leupen.com/~remko/sgi/CPU.htm, I need aVRM That is 8.3 compliant.


This other site that explains a little more http://www.alexia-media.com/sgi320/ says that I need a VRM
Voltage Regulator Module (VRM): Celestica 073-20772-01

Thanks!