Oops. Hit Send on that too soon. Search ebay for "Dell precision 32GB" and sort by buy it now, price, then find the whole systems (or ones sans hard drive). The Precision series usually comes with a dual xeon motherboard. It'll be power hungry and make a lot of heat, but you can't get 32GB of ECC RAM and a good case, motherboard, power supply and even a *slow* core i3 for $200.
Many of them are equipped with Nvidia quadro-something workstation video cards that have 1GB of RAM. The last one I bought came with a card that has dual DVI-I output and handles two 1920x1200 displays just fine. Most of these come with some slow hard drive, so figure you'll be spending $120 to add a fast SATA interface SSD. But you'd be buying such a SSD for a self-built workstation anyhow, no? Also looking on ebay you can find 64GB RAM kits for the Precision 690 motherboard for $72. Where else can you get 64GB of ECC FBDIMM for $72? Enough RAM to carve out a lot of 2GB to 4GB sized test and development virtual machines. Some have DMS-59 connectors on the rear for video so you need to buy a $4 adapter to use dual DVI displays (or feed the DVI into a DVI-to-HDMI cable). On Fri, Nov 27, 2015 at 12:48 AM, Eric Kuhnke <eric.kuh...@gmail.com> wrote: > For workstation purposes (2D stuff, not a 3D gaming PC that demands the > latest $300 videocard), it's hard to beat off-lease/refurb deals out > there... > > I sound like sort of a hypocrite writing this, because I've always been a > huge advocate of building your own x86 PC and choosing your own case, high > quality power supply, motherboard, etc. > > But I cannot build a system that will match this for $159 + 45 > shipping... It's a 3-something year old Xeon and 32GB of RAM: > > http://www.ebay.com/itm/DELL-PRECISION-690-WORKSTATION-2x-XEON-5160-3GHZ-DUAL-CORE-CPUS-32GB-MEM-250GB-/380931107576?hash=item58b1436af8:g:KfoAAOSwQTVV80Fz > > On Thu, Nov 26, 2015 at 4:09 PM, isp lists <jon-ispli...@michwave.net> > wrote: > >> 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. >> > >> > >
