Re: Help choosing hardware
On Fri, 2005-04-08 at 22:36 +0200, Oliver Korpilla wrote:
> > On Fri, Apr 08, 2005 at 03:02:57PM -0400, Dale Scheetz wrote:
> > Of course anything with more than one cpu isn't cheap (although compared
> > to a sun sparc system they probably are cheap). An athlon 64 system is
> > cheap, but an opteron system is quite a bit more, although nowhere near
> > what a xeon system costs.
>
> I wouldn't necessarily say that, as I was able to specify a reasonable
> dual-processor workstation for what my current computer cost including the
> monitor. HP offers dual-proc workstations starting 1900 $, and I was able to
> specify one self-built for about 1500 Euro.
>
> > Well certainly the amd64 debian-pure64 sarge runs great for me, and
> > certainly many other people. I imagine there are some programs that
> > don't work yet, but the 32bit chroot works perfectly too for running the
> > occational i386 binary so it is rather flexible that way.
>
> You have even several other OS choices. You could use Debian, Gentoo, Fedora
> or SuSE Linux, or you could use FreeBSD for x86-64 (worked like a charm for
> me), and next month there is said to be Windows support as well (though a
> pal of mine says his release candidate is unable to run a 32-Bit app without
> crashing it ;) ). So you basically run no risc here!!!
>
> > > I am looking for feedback from this group, letting me know if I'm on
> > > the right track, or if there are reasons that I should go with the
> > > Xeon instead.
> >
> > I certainly would not buy anything based on the Pentium4 design
> > personally given what the Opteron is capable off.
>
> Think power dissipation and heat. A P4-based processor has a much higher
> power consumption than an Opteron, requiring bigger fans, coolers, more
> system fans, overheats more easily and is more prone to failure. It is
> simply more reliable in the long run. (Does AMD pay me for this - they
> should!)
>
> >
> > > All suggestions appreciated. I am not subscribed to this list, so
> > > please CC me in your reply.
> >
> > If nothing else an opteron runs the i386 version of debian faster
> > thananything else, and if you need 64bit support, it can do that too (I
> > believe sarge does have amd64-libs and an amd64 kernel that can be used
> > on i386 sarge to run 64bit programs when there is a need for 64bit).
>
> My tip would be: CHOOSE YOUR BOARD WISELY!!! Go for a well-supported board
> and everything will be A-OK. (If in doubt, ask on the list)
>
> With kind regards,
> Oliver
>
> --
> Sparen beginnt mit GMX DSL: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/dsl
>
>
I'll counter the HP recommendation with Sun, their V20z (up to 2way) and
V40z (up to 4 way) line are very nice machines are very reasonable
prices, about 6K Canadian for 2 250 opteron's 2Gig of Ram and a pair of
36G SCSI drives. Plus the dual GigE and Sun's wonderful ALOM (Advanced
Lights out Monitoring) support. All this and a 1U form factor too (at
least in the V20z, the V40z is 3 or 4U I think).
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