The compression
(C-Pop) connectors that connect the system board module, XIO graphics
or option boards and PCI module to the system frontplane are very
delicate and can be easily damaged. The connector on the frontplane has
pads and the connector on the module or board side has bristles. A cap
which fits over the compression connector should always be installed
when a board or module is out of the OCTANE system to prevent it from
damage caused by dust, finger oil or scratches.
The graphics subsystem (OCTANE/SI, OCTANE/SSI or OCTANE/MXI) consists of an XIO board that takes up either 2 slots (full-size) or 1 slot (half-size) on the XIO quadrant module. A texture upgrade in the form of a daughter card can be added to either OCTANE/SI or /SSI without taking any additional slot space. A 24-bit graphics second head can be added to any of the graphics configurations.
The system board contains the processor module (single or dual CPUs), memory controller chip, and four banks of memory. It also provides all the external I/O connections including microphone, speakers, analog audio, coaxial digital audio, optical digital audio, ultra SCSI, ethernet, parallel and serial ports, mouse, and keyboard.