Shopping for an SGI

Hey y'all I'm in the market for a used SGI machine, probably either an Octane or a reasonably buff O2. Something that'll run the newer versions of IRIX. I'm not looking to spend all that much money, so I've been lurking Ebay for a few days looking to snap up a good deal. Anyone here real familiar with this macines and have any good advice on what I should look for? Any good advice on how much I should spend in regards to things like the more advanced video cards, faster processors etc. Right now I guess you'd say this is primarily a toy, but I want something useful but inexpensive. Any ideas??

In my opinion, I don't think SGI and inexpensive are exactly synonymous. As for what to look for, in terms of components, what do you plan to use the workstation for? Are you planning on doing graphics (3D rendering)? Or just development? Simulations? If you give some more detail regarding what you plan to do with it, I can try to give you some advice on what you may want to look for.

AJ

I wish i had some advice, but i really dig SGI machines...

For anybody who does not know who SGI is...
Silicon Graphics, Inc:
http://www.sgi.com/homepage.html#

OK I'm looking to do a little development, and maybe playing with some 3D rendering and other graphic design. I also want something reasonably fast for general workstation use and networking. Basically the type of thing I need to know is, for instance, what is the performance difference between a 195, 225, and 250Mhz R10K procesor, or if getting SSI or SE graphics is worth paying more for in my circumstance. I know a good(recent) machine wont be inexpensive, but I don't exactly need top of the line stuff. I'm looking to spend maybe, I dunno, $500 and I'm wondering what I should prioritize, and if anyone has any advice for a SGI newbie.

well for starters, steer clear of Indy's, theyre much too slow for what you want, an O2 would be the choice if you're on a budget which is what it sounds like, there was a company called network resellers (i think thats what theyre called) selling Octanes on Ebay in australia a month or so ago for $600 US and they sounded quite good for that price (512MB RAM, 250 R12 CPU i think) and all the other sorta stuff you'd expect, seems like a good place to get hold of these is through liquidation sales online in places such as Ebay.

generally anything above an O2 is a good starting point as i've used them before with IRIX 6.5 and they run flat out, these were networked but i wasnt using RLogin or anything like that to use other machines simultaneously

Thanks mrleachy, I appreciate the advice! :)