Re: Prices SUN vs IBM
From: Michael Deacon (mdeacon_at_elarasys.com)
Date: 01/22/04
- Next message: Gary R. Hook: "Re: Checking for unresolved symbols"
- Previous message: yls177: "Re: SYSTEM MONITORING"
- In reply to: Benjamin Gawert: "Re: Prices SUN vs IBM"
- Next in thread: Mike Cox: "Re: Prices SUN vs IBM"
- Reply: Mike Cox: "Re: Prices SUN vs IBM"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Date: 22 Jan 2004 09:28:19 -0800
"Benjamin Gawert" <bgawert@gmx.de> wrote in message news:<bub19k$fq341$1@ID-22005.news.uni-berlin.de>...
> mark taylor wrote:
>
> > I am totally biased, so don't listen to me :) .. the IBM machine is a
> > better box running a better O/S.. i must admit tho, the E4500 looks
> > way cheap for what it is .. is it stolen ?????
>
> No, the price level for the E4500s are that low. One of the reasons why they
> are that cheap is that today Sun sells much better systems for a relative
> low price new. So while the old Enterprise systems were really expensive
> when new their value has dropped even more with respect to the current
> offerings of Sun. Another thing is that the 400MHz CPUs are the second
> highest available CPUs for these machines, with the only available upgrade
> path being the UltraSPARC II 466MHz CPUs with 8MB cache which are, when
> looking at the prices, hardly worth thinking about them. The hardware design
> of these machines is from 1996, and the bandwith between the
> CPU-/Memory-Modules and I/O-Modules is very limited. They are originally
> based on the slow and outdated SBus, and even the PCI Modules which were
> available later had a very low performance.
>
> Besides that, the E4x00 shares the same Peripheral Power Supply like the
> bigger models, and this has proven itself to have a high failure rate. These
> old Enterprises often had some glitches which didn't made it the most
> reliable machines on earth...
>
> Maybe that explains a part of the low value of these machines...
>
> Benjamin
Another reason for the Sun hardware being so cheap is the cost to
re-license the Solaris OS for the system. The cost just to run
Solaris 9 on this system is $20,000. This makes it next to impossible
for a used reseller to market this item to a company unless that
company is willing to run the system illegally. So they must be
marketed to people who want an 8-way system for home use and don't
care about the software issues.
The cost for AIX software on the IBM 44P-270 is less then $1,500. Plus
IBM support isn't a pain about used systems. If all parts are IBM
original they will write you a hardware support agreement.
With Sun you basically need the pope to call them and say god wishes
this system to be maintained. Then they will still make you wait to 3
months and only if all boards are at the current REV levels for
support.
One other item - the 1st generation 400MHz CPU's for the E4500 had
problems with bit shift. This was corrected in later REV levels, ask
for the PN on the CPU's and check to see if they are 1st generation or
not. My bet is they are.
Mike Deacon - Used pSeries / RS/6000 Specialist
Elarasys, Inc.
(800) 787-6364
mdeacon@elarasys.com
- Next message: Gary R. Hook: "Re: Checking for unresolved symbols"
- Previous message: yls177: "Re: SYSTEM MONITORING"
- In reply to: Benjamin Gawert: "Re: Prices SUN vs IBM"
- Next in thread: Mike Cox: "Re: Prices SUN vs IBM"
- Reply: Mike Cox: "Re: Prices SUN vs IBM"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Relevant Pages
|
