[rescue] Digest Why not to use an Atom as a Server

[Lionel Peterson]

I'm casually familiar with the E-350 systems (my daughter has an Acer netbook
w/ that CPU in it (w/ 4 Gigs RAM, nice little machine), but let me tell you
why I am partial to Atom system:

- low-power CPU
- low-power chipset
- small size (mini-ITX)
- low heat output
- low-cost MB/CPU(typically $70-90)

The E-350 (I assume, please correct me if I'm wrong:

- low-power CPU
- std socket
- uses std MB (available in various sizes, mini-ITX -> mATX)
- offers more robust MB options (SATA, expansion slots, etc)
- cost a bit more than Atom (assume MB & CPU combo starts at $100)

Of course, I'm looking at roll-your-own solutions, not barebones appliances.

Also, and this is key for folks like me - the Atom is a known qty with known
strengths & weaknesses vs the 'new guy' E-350 and similar chips.

I confess a fair dose of ignorance of E-350 type CPUs, but that's why I
default to thinking it terms of Atom-based solutions - it 's what I know.

The real interesting chips to me are the Intel oddballs - the latest Celerons
& Pentiums - some are slightly less capable SandyBridge chips that pack a good
wallop especially at their price points - $40 and up... They use regular 1155
motherboards, so upgrades are trivial it i3 and i5 chips down the road.

Lionel

On Jan 18, 2012, at 11:01 PM, chase rayfield <cusbrar2 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I've seen a lot of people thinking about getting Atom severs  ... why not
get
> one of these new AMD systems similar wattage and much higher ram limit
8/16GB
> whereas 2Gb is pretty much the fair on Atom boards. A friend of mine has
been
> quite happy with his E-350 system I think he has 2-3 TB of storage and
could
> put lots of as he has more SATA ports than an Atom board and is running
> FreeBSD with ZFS with it being able to max out Gbit Ethernet for file
> transfers unlike an Atom board.
>
> I like running my SparcStations for fun
> but... if I had to go to the dark side I may as well get a board that has
> decent busing and reasonable ram limits for about the same money and power
> usage.
>
> Chase
> _______________________________________________
> rescue list - http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue