[geeks] Are these servers that bad?

[Phil Stracchino]

On 06/19/14 09:14, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> That's a lot of cores (32) for 'only' 64 Megs of RAM - and I suspect
> increasing the RAM any further (if even possible) gets insanely expensive
> rather quickly.
> 
> Then there's the power issue and the noise issue - either of which will keep
> it out of most uses.
> 
> As a box to spin up for fun, it's a great deal, but for any extended use a
> more modern system could easily out-perform this box for less money once power
> costs are added in.
> 
> It uses as much as 1.9KW, according to the documentation:
> 
> http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19121-01/sf.x4600/819-4342-18/html/z40007eb1005069
> .html
> 
> Also, consider licensing costs - depending on software licenses an 8 socket
> system command a premium license. For example, were you to want to run Windows
> Server on such a box with all sockets running would require purchasing 4x
> windows licenses (standard or datacenter), and I can't imagine the costs for
> licensing something like Oracle Database...
> 
> (Licensing costs are, IMHO, the reason a box like this shows up on the market
> at what I'll call 'scrap plus' prices.)


Still ...  since I don't wouldn't be using any licensed software on it,
and my server racks are outside in my deskhouse not in the living space
...  if I could afford the power, I'd love one or two of these.


-- 
  Phil Stracchino
  Babylon Communications
  phils at caerllewys.net
  phil at co.ordinate.org
  Landline: 603.293.8485