I just snagged a dell Xeon quad core desktop off a special for $300 shipped. The CPU had ~6500 CPU benchmark. It's tough to beat that for normal uses
Jon Langeler Michwave Technologies, Inc. > On Nov 25, 2015, at 11:23 PM, Ken Hohhof <af...@kwisp.com> wrote: > > I know you may scoff at the idea of a server based on a lowly ATOM chip. And > the idea of paying around $545 for one, plus RAM and HDD. > > But I am putting a couple Supermicro 5018A-TN4 servers into service, and so > far I'm pretty impressed with them. I just pop in an 8 GB stick of DRAM and > a 256GB 850 Pro SSD and then load CentOS 7. I think these could even be used > for virtualization, if you don't need hot plug HDD or hardware RAID, like > maybe you have a SAN. > > These are in a short depth 1U chassis that easily mounts to a 2 post rack, no > need for a rail kit. The CPU has a passive heatsink, there is a chassis fan > but I suspect everything would be fine if the fan died, the power consumption > seems negligible under normal load. It's as if it generates zero heat. So > with an SSD, there is little to fail, it's probably down to the power supply. > Despite the compact size, nothing inside is crowded. The chassis seems to > be a dedicated design for this server, not one of their multipurpose chassis. > My only complaint is there's almost no room on the front for any labels, > unless you cover up the logo and serial number. > > Some highlights: > > 2.4 GHz 8 core ATOM C2750 SOC (8 physical cores) > up to 32 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 ECC SO-DIMM (yes, ECC memory) > 2 x 3.5" or 4 x 2.5" HDD bays > 4 x GbE interfaces plus IPMI > 1 PCI-E slot > > Doesn't make much sense as a desktop, definitely a server. > > I wondered about the 8 physical cores without hyperthreading support, I kept > thinking that was equivalent to a 4 core CPU with HT. But I did a little > reading, and realized you don't just count virtual cores to estimate > performance, especially if the tasks are computation intensive not memory > intensive. > > There is also a 5018A0TN7B model for network security appliance use, based on > the C2758 SOC which includes encryption support. 7xGbE with software > controlled bypass, and up to 64 GB of UDIMM. That's a lot of memory. >
