Editing Silicon Graphics (section)

===RISC era===
With the introduction of the IRIS 4D series, SGI switched to [[MIPS architecture|MIPS]] microprocessors. These machines were more powerful and came with powerful on-board floating-point capability. As 3D graphics became more popular in television and film during this time, these systems were responsible for establishing much of SGI's reputation.

SGI produced a broad range of MIPS-based workstations and servers during the 1990s, running SGI's version of UNIX System V, now called [[IRIX]]. These included the massive Onyx visualization systems, the size of refrigerators and capable of supporting up to 64 processors while managing up to three streams of high resolution, fully realized 3D graphics.

In October 1991, MIPS announced the first commercially available [[64-bit]] microprocessor, the [[R4000]]. SGI used the R4000 in its [[SGI Crimson|Crimson]] workstation. IRIX 6.2 was the first fully 64-bit IRIX release, including 64-bit pointers.

To secure the supply of future generations of MIPS microprocessors (the 64-bit [[R4000]]), SGI acquired the company in 1992<ref>PC Magazine. "[https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=SGI&i=51221,00.asp SGI] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014163218/http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0%2C2542%2Ct%3DSGI%26i%3D51221%2C00.asp |date=October 14, 2012 }}." Retrieved September 19, 2011.</ref> for $333 million<ref name=CHM>Computer History Museum. "[http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/story/219 Silicon Graphics Professional IRIS 4D/50GT]." Retrieved September 19, 2011.</ref><ref>Cate Corcoran (March 16, 1992), MIPS, Silicon merger could kill ACE/ARC, ''InfoWorld'', pp. 1 and 107. Retrieved September 19, 2011.</ref> and renamed it as MIPS Technologies Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of SGI.<ref>Cate Corcoran (March 16, 1992), MIPS, Silicon merger could kill ACE/ARC, InfoWorld, p. 107. Retrieved September 19, 2011.</ref>

In 1993, Silicon Graphics (SGI) signed a deal with [[Nintendo]] to develop the [[Reality Coprocessor]] (RCP) [[GPU]] used in the [[Nintendo 64]] (N64) video game console. The deal was signed in early 1993, and it was later made public in August of that year.<ref>{{cite journal|title=75 Power Players: The Outsiders|journal=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=11|publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|date=November 1995|pages=61–62}}</ref> The console itself was later released in 1996. The RCP was developed by SGI's Nintendo Operations department, led by engineer [[Wei Yen|Dr. Wei Yen]]. In 1997, twenty SGI employees, led by Yen, left SGI and founded [[ArtX]] (later acquired by [[ATI Technologies]] in 2000).<ref name="It's Alive">{{cite web | title=It's Alive! | date=March 12, 1999 | publisher=IGN | url=http://www.ign.com/articles/1999/03/13/its-alive-3 | access-date=June 25, 2014}}</ref>

In 1998, SGI relinquished some ownership of MIPS Technologies, Inc in a [[Reverse IPO|Re-IPO]], and fully divested itself in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|title=SGI and MIPS Technologies Announce Spin-Off of MIPS Shares. - Free Online Library|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/SGI+and+MIPS+Technologies+Announce+Spin-Off+of+MIPS+Shares.-a062436955|website=www.thefreelibrary.com|access-date=January 7, 2018|archive-date=January 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108062709/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/SGI+and+MIPS+Technologies+Announce+Spin-Off+of+MIPS+Shares.-a062436955|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the late 1990s, when much of the industry expected the [[Itanium]] to replace both [[Complex instruction set computer|CISC]] and [[Reduced instruction set computer|RISC]] architectures in non-embedded computers, SGI announced their intent to phase out MIPS in their systems. Development of new MIPS microprocessors stopped, and the existing [[R12000]] design was extended multiple times until 2003 to provide existing customers more time to migrate to Itanium.

In August 2006, SGI announced the end of production for MIPS/IRIX systems,<ref>
[http://www.sgi.com/support/mips_irix.html End of General Availability for MIPS IRIX Products] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307153053/http://www.sgi.com/support/mips_irix.html |date=March 7, 2008 }} at sgi.com</ref> and by the end of the year MIPS/IRIX products were no longer generally available from SGI.