On Tue, Aug 12, 2003 at 09:34:24AM -0700, Jimmy Wales wrote:
Nick Reinking wrote:
Well, I do agree that a single kickass machine would probably help the most, you really can't get something that kickass for $3000, especially in a rackmountable format. I think it will be much cheaper and more cost effective upgrading pliny, if possible. $3000 will just not buy you a dual Athlon 2800/4GB DDR/2x 72GB SCSI disk rackmountable machine.
No, but if you're willing to settle for a dual Athlon 2200/4GB DDR/2x 36GB SCSI disk rackmountable machine, the price is $3276 from PenguinComputing, and likely less elsewhere.
So, that's pretty good, huh?
It is reasonable, and you can't get much better for cheaper elsewhere, but you're really looking at (I'm assuming you're talking about the Atlus 140 server with:
Dual Athlon 2200+ CPUs + 4GB PC2100 DDR memory + 2x 36GB SCA hard drives - No warranty - No rackmount kit - No gigabit ethernet (this would be very nice...)
This runs $3280 for me. I believe there will also be sales tax added to this price (for being in CA). I'm not sure if it is worth that much money for what adds up to being 20% faster processors, 2GB of memory extra, and an extra 36GB hard drive.
Here is what I think the best way to go would be: Relion 130 server with: 2x Xeon 2.4GHz 512MB PC2100 (2x256MB) + 2x 40GB IDE hard drives + Free gigabit ethernet - No warranty - No rackmount kit
This server runs $1954, and I think would make a great replacement for larousse. Now, assuming that pliny can be upgraded, I'd get (prices from NewEgg):
2x Athlon MP 2800 Barton: $500 4x 1GB PC2100 ECC: $1200 36GB 15k RPM SCSI hard disk: $300 Gigabit ethernet card: $50
Now, assuming pliny currently has ECC memory in it, we move the 2GB currently in it to the new machine.
That way, we end up with:
pliny (database server only): 2x Athlon MP 2800 4GB PC2100 DDR 2x 36GB SCSI disks (1x 15000, 1x 10000) Gigabit ethernet
larousse (web server only): 2x Xeon 2.4GHz 2GB PC2100 DDR 2x 40GB IDE disks Gigabit ethernet
newserver (mail + backup + misc): 1x PIII 866MHz 2GB PC133 1x 36GB SCSI disk 10/100 ethernet
I'd then directly connect pliny and larousse over gigabit ethernet with a crossover cable. It's more expensive than $4000, but I think this configuration would at least make a significant performance difference.