Comment by phire

> that the n64 probably has the most standard hardware of it's generation

The Reality Coprocessor (or RCP) doesn't look like any graphics cards that previously came out of SGI. Despite the marketing, it is not a shrunk down SGI workstation.

It approaches the problem in very different ways is actually more advanced in many ways. SGI workstations had strict fixed function pixel pipelines, but RCP's pixel pipeline is semi-programmable. People often call describe it as "highly configurable" instead of programmable, but it was the start of what lead to modern Pixel Shaders. RCP could do many things in a single-pass which would require multiple passes of blending on a SGI workstation.

And later SGI graphics cards don't seem to have taken advantage of these innovations either. SGI hired a bunch of new engineers (with experience in embedded systems) to create the N64, and then once the project was finished they made them redundant. The new technology created by that team never had a chance to influence the rest of SGI. I get the impression that SGI was afraid such low-cost GPUs would cannibalise their high-end workstation market.

BTW, The console looks most like a shrunk down 90s SGI workstation is actually Sony's Playstation 2. Fixed function pixel pipeline with a huge amount of blending performance to facilitate complex multi-pass blending effects. Though, SGI wouldn't have let programmers have access to the Vector Units and DMAs like Sony did. SGI would have abstracted it all away with OpenGL

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But in a way, you are kind of right. The N64 was the most forwards looking console of that era, and the one that ended up the closest to modern GPUs. Just not for the reason you suggest.

Instead, some of the ex-SGI employees that worked on the N64 created their own company called ArtX. They were originally planning to create a PC graphics card, but ended up with the contract to first create the GameCube for Nintendo (The GameCube design shows clear signs of engineers overcompensating for flaws in the N64 design). Before they could finish, ArtX were bought by ATI becoming ATI's west-coast design division, and the plans for a PC version of that GPU were scrapped.

After finishing the GameCube, that team went on to design the R3xx series of GPUs for ATI (Radeon 9700, etc).

The R3xx is more noteworthy for having a huge influence on Microsoft's DirectX 9.0 standard, which is basically the start of modern GPUs.

So in many ways, the N64 is a direct predecessor to DirectX 9.0.