[geeks] FYI - Low cost Dell Opteron Servers

[Lionel Peterson]

Hello all,

Just wanted to share a current promotion at Dell for their low-cost Opteron tower server (starting at $249):

 - single socket 1210 Opteron
 - 512 Meg RAM (upgrade to 4 Gig for $69, 2 Gig for $19, and 1 Gig for $9)
 - 80 Gig SATA drive (upgrade to 160 Gig for $20)
 - Gigabit Ethernet
 - Free SATA DVD-R/W upgrade

So, for $338, you could have a server with 4 Gigs RAM & 160 Gig SATA HD, with room for one or two more HDs. That is about a 60% discount of list for the base system, and the upgrades are priced low...

Anyway, I have a need for a 64 bit Windows Server 2008 test box, and I like that this server has TPM chip and internal USB socket to hold a security key (allowing me to easily play with encrypted file stores in Windows Server 2008).

It has two 8x PCI Express slots and a single 1x PCI Express slot & PCI slot.

Not the biggest system going, but can make a nice home server for low $$$.

Link: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_t105?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

I find the price pretty appealing, esp. compared with building a low-cost server from discrete components:

 - Opteron 1210 - $70
 - 4 Gig RAM - $70 (after two rebates, spread across two months)
 - 160 Gig SATA HD - $50 (est.)
 - DVD-R/W SATA - $35
 - MB, PS, Case - $100?
 - conservative DIY price is at least $75 more (after rebates), which at these prices is about 30% more than Dell PowerEdge T105 (above)

Lionel