Re: Sort performance on large tables - Mailing list pgsql-performance

My original post did not take into account VAT, I apologize for that oversight.

However, unless you are naive, or made of gold, or have some sort of "special" relationship that requires you to, _NE
VER_buy RAM from your computer HW OEM.  For at least two decades it's been a provable fact that OEMs like DEC, Sun, HP,
Compaq,Dell, etc, etc charge far more per GB for the RAM they sell.  Same goes for HDs.  Buy your memory and HDs direct
fromreputable manufacturers, you'll get at least the same quality and pay considerably less. 

Your Dell example is evidence that supports my point.  As of this writing, decent RAM should cost $75-$150 pr GB (not
includingVAT ;-) ).   Don't let yourself be conned into paying more. 

I'm talking about decent RAM from reputable direct suppliers like Corsair and Kingston (_not_ their Value RAM, the
actualKingston branded stuff), OCZ, etc.  Such companies sell via multiple channels, including repuatble websites like
dealtime.com,pricewatch.com, newegg.com, etc, etc. 

You are quite correct that there's poor quality junk out there.  I was not talking about it, only reasonable quality
components.

Ron


-----Original Message-----
From: Kurt De Grave <Kurt.DeGrave@student.kuleuven.be>
Sent: Nov 10, 2005 5:40 AM
To: Ron Peacetree <rjpeace@earthlink.net>
Cc: Charlie Savage <cfis@interserv.com>, pgsql-performance@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: [PERFORM] Sort performance on large tables



On Wed, 9 Nov 2005, Ron Peacetree wrote:

> At this writing, 4 1GB DIMMs (4GB) should set you back ~$300 or less.
> 4 2GB DIMMs (8GB) should cost ~$600. As of now, very few mainboards
> support 4GB DIMMs and I doubt the D3000 has such a mainboard.  If you
> can use them, 4 4GB DIMMs (16GB) will currently set you back
> ~$1600-$2400.

Sorry, but every time again I see unrealistic memory prices quoted when
the buy-more-memory argument passes by.
What kind of memory are you buying for your servers?  Non-ECC no-name
memory that doesn't even pass a one-hour memtest86 for 20% of the items
you buy?

Just checked at Dell's web page: adding 4 1GB DIMMs to a PowerEdge 2850
sets you back _1280 EURO_ excluding VAT.  And that's after they already
charged you 140 euro for replacing the obsolete standard 4 512MB DIMMs
with the same capacity in 1GB DIMMs. So the 4GB upgrade actually costs
1420 euro plus VAT, which is quite a bit more than $300.

Okay, few people will happily buy at those prices.  You can get the
exact same goods much cheaper elsewhere, but it'll still cost you way
more than the number you gave, plus you'll have to drive to the server's
location, open up the box yourself, and risk incompatibilities and
support problems if there's ever something wrong with that memory.

Disclaimers:
I know that you're talking about a desktop in this particular case.
I wouldn't see a need for ECC in a development box either.
I know a Dell hasn't been the smartest choice for a database box lately
(but politics...).

kurt.