graphics subsystem, the O2 passes a pointer to the texture in main memory which is then accessed by the graphics hardware. This makes using large textures easy, and even makes using streaming video as a texture possible. Since the CPU performs many of geometry calculations, using a faster CPU will increase the speed of a geometry-limited application. The O2's graphics is known to have slower rasterization speed than the Indigo2's Maximum IMPACT graphics boards, though the Maximum IMPACT graphics is limited to 4 MB of texture memory, which can result in thrashing, whereas the O2 is limited only by available memory. While CPU frequencies of 180 to 400 MHz seem low today, when the O2 was released in 1996, these speeds were on par with or above the current offerings for the x86 family of computers (cf. Intel's Pentium and AMD's K5). Uses O2s were often used in the following fields: Imaging (especially medical) On-air TV graphics; the most widespread example of an O2 running TV graphics is the Weather Star XL computer for The Weather Channel Desktop workstation 3D modelling Analogue video post-production Defense industries References External links SGIstuff: O2 Remotely installing SGI IRIX 6.5 from a GNU/Linux server SGI O2 Power Supply basics O2 64-bit computers