Brandon High wrote: > On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 5:59 PM, Erik Trimble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> One thought on this: for a small server, which is unlikely to ever be CPU >> bound, I would suggest looking for an older dual-Socket 940 Opteron >> motherboard. They almost all have many PCI-X slots, and single-core >> Opterons are dirt cheap. PC3200 DDR1 ECC ram is also cheap too. >> >> Tyan/Supermicro dual-Socket 940 motherboard: < $200 >> Opteron 252 (2.4Ghz) + heatsink < $75 >> Opteron 280 (dual-core 2.4Ghz) + heatsink < $180 >> 4x1GB ECC DDR1 PC3200 ram < $150 >> > > I've actually done the math, and while your statement may have been > true a few months ago, it doesn't appear to be the case anymore. Right > now Newegg shows the Opteron 285 for $389, or the 880 for $694. > > The cheapest ECC DDR RAM is $40 per GB. > > The least expensive Socket 940 board with a PCI-X slot is the TYAN > S2881UG2NR at $419. > > Call it $960 (with a single 285 cpu) vs. $399 for the AM2 pieces. > > I'd check prices on a single socket 939 Opteron with a suitable > motherboard, but neither appear to be available anymore. > > -B > Prices I quoted are for used, or excess stock from eBay. There's still a lot of "reman" stuff out there which is new, and very cheap. http://www.pricewatch.com/ is also a good place to look for not-quite-retail-packaged.
A quick eBay jaunt yields (buy-it-now prices including shipping): $70 Opteron 270 (2.0Ghz) - currently the sweet spot for dual-core opterons $20 Opteron 252 (2.6ghz) - the sweet spot for single-core opterons $30 Opteron heatsink (you can probably do better at a local computer store) $160 4-pack 1GB Viking-branded PC3200 ECC DDR1 Dimms $200 Tyan Thunder K8WE motherboard $120 Supermicro H8DAE-B motherboard As an aside, there's someone selling a Tyan Thunder K8S with two opteron 246 (1.8Ghz) and heat sinks, all for $150. Also, getting an Opteron motherboard tends to get you better extras, like more gigabit ethernet ports, built-in VGA, and either SCSI or lots of SATA ports. Not to mention usually at least twice as many PCI-X slots. But, your mileage may vary. It was just a suggestion. -- Erik Trimble Java System Support Mailstop: usca22-123 Phone: x17195 Santa Clara, CA Timezone: US/Pacific (GMT-0800) _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
