IMPACT (sometimes spelled Impact) is a
computer graphics
Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. ...
architecture for
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...
computer workstations. IMPACT Graphics was developed in 1995 and was available as a high-end graphics option on workstations released during the mid-1990s. IMPACT graphics gives the workstation real-time 2D and
3D graphics rendering capability similar to that of even high-end
PCs made well after IMPACT's introduction. IMPACT graphics systems consist of either one or two
Geometry Engines and one or two
Raster Engines in various configurations.
IMPACT graphics consists of five graphics subsystems: the Command Engine, Geometry Subsystem, Raster Engine,
framebuffer and Display Subsystem. IMPACT Graphics can produce resolutions up to 1600 x 1200 pixels with 32-bit color
and can also process unencoded
NTSC and
PAL analog
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
signals.
IMPACT graphics subsystems come in three configurations for
SGI Indigo2 IMPACT workstations: Solid IMPACT, High IMPACT, and Maximum IMPACT. The equivalent configurations also exist for the
SGI Octane workstation but are referred to as SI, SSI, and MXI (I-series). Later Octane workstations used a similar configuration but with updated
ASIC chips and are referred to as SE, SSE, and MXE (E-series). IMPACT uses
Rambus RDRAM for texture memory.
The IMPACT graphics architecture was superseded by SGI's
VPro graphics architecture in 1997.
References
{{Silicon Graphics
Computer graphics
Graphics chips
SGI graphics