An Approach to the Optimum Design of Computer Graphics Systems Display system designers are faced with the difficult task of selecting major subsystems in an intelligent way. Each subsystem is chosen from large numbers of alternatives; the selection is based on considerations such as system response time, system cost, and the distribution of data storage and processing between the graphics processor and its supporting data processing system. The work reported here develops an objective, quantitative design procedure and helps give a better understanding of now to configure display systems. This is accomplished by means of a mathematical model of a computer driven graphics system. The parameters of the model are functions of the capabilities of the graphics hardware and of the computational requirements of the graphics application. The model can be analyzed using numerical queueing analysis or simulation to obtain an average response time prediction. By combining the model with an optimization, the best graphics system configuration, subject to a cost constraint, is found for several applications. The optimum configurations are in turn used to find general display system design guidelines. CACM June, 1971 Foley, J. D. design guidelines, graphic display systems, mathematical model, optimum system design, queueing model 3.8 6.22 6.35 CA710602 JB February 3, 1978 10:26 AM 1805 4 2188 1846 4 2188 1892 4 2188 2188 4 2188 2218 4 2188 2317 4 2188 1572 5 2188 2188 5 2188 2188 5 2188 2188 5 2188 2319 5 2188 1408 6 2188 1719 6 2188 1749 6 2188 1751 6 2188 2016 6 2188 2017 6 2188 2080 6 2188 2188 6 2188 2203 6 2188 2204 6 2188