Thread: mid 2007 "best bang for the buck" hardware opinions
I saw an interesting topic in the archives on best bang for the buck for $20k.. about a year old now. So whats the thoughts on a current combined rack/disks/cpu combo around the $10k-$15k point, currently? I can configure up a Dell poweredge 2900 for $9k, but am wondering if I'm missing out on something better. ( 9k spent with mr dell that gets you 2x quad core xeon X535s, so thats 8 cores total, with 24gb of memory and 8x 146gb 15k serial attached scsi connected, raid10, attached to a perc 5/i with redundant power supplies, all in what looks like a 3u chassis). But the system is pretty maxxed out like that, no room for future expansion. better options? or a better balance for a pure db box that is mostly smaller reads and large indexes? This would be to go into a rack with existing but older equipment that can be warm standby so I don't have to split the cost here for getting redundancy. thanks for any 2007 advice!
On 8/8/07, justin <justin@dslr.net> wrote: > I saw an interesting topic in the archives on best bang for the buck for > $20k.. about a year old now. > > So whats the thoughts on a current combined rack/disks/cpu combo around > the $10k-$15k point, currently? > > I can configure up a Dell poweredge 2900 for $9k, but am wondering if > I'm missing out on something better. > ( 9k spent with mr dell that gets you 2x quad core xeon X535s, so thats > 8 cores total, with 24gb of memory > and 8x 146gb 15k serial attached scsi connected, raid10, attached to a > perc 5/i with redundant power supplies, > all in what looks like a 3u chassis). But the system is pretty maxxed > out like that, no room for future expansion. > > better options? or a better balance for a pure db box that is mostly > smaller reads and large indexes? That's not much kit for $20k. I went to www.aberdeeninc.com and speced out a box with 24 750G barracudas, battery backed cache RAID and dual Quad core 2.66GHz xeons, and 16 Gigs of ram for $15k. Another 16gigs of ram would probably put it around 18k or so, but they didn't have the config option enabled there. I consider Dells to be mediocre hardware with mediocre support. There are lots of medium sized integration shops out there that make better servers with lots more storage for a lot less.
No it wouldn't be much kit for $20k but that example is currently coming in at $9k ... (the $20k referred to is last years topic). I think I can spend up to $15k but it would have to be clearly faster/better/more expandable than this config. Or I can spend $9k with someone else if I can convince myself it is just a better option. The sense that there might be better options out there, I've no doubt in.. it is why I posted hoping for some solid leads on what & why. Scott Marlowe wrote: > On 8/8/07, justin <justin@dslr.net> wrote: > >> I saw an interesting topic in the archives on best bang for the buck for >> $20k.. about a year old now. >> >> So whats the thoughts on a current combined rack/disks/cpu combo around >> the $10k-$15k point, currently? >> >> I can configure up a Dell poweredge 2900 for $9k, but am wondering if >> I'm missing out on something better. >> ( 9k spent with mr dell that gets you 2x quad core xeon X535s, so thats >> 8 cores total, with 24gb of memory >> and 8x 146gb 15k serial attached scsi connected, raid10, attached to a >> perc 5/i with redundant power supplies, >> all in what looks like a 3u chassis). But the system is pretty maxxed >> out like that, no room for future expansion. >> >> better options? or a better balance for a pure db box that is mostly >> smaller reads and large indexes? >> > > That's not much kit for $20k. > > I went to www.aberdeeninc.com and speced out a box with 24 750G > barracudas, battery backed cache RAID and dual Quad core 2.66GHz > xeons, and 16 Gigs of ram for $15k. Another 16gigs of ram would > probably put it around 18k or so, but they didn't have the config > option enabled there. > > I consider Dells to be mediocre hardware with mediocre support. > > There are lots of medium sized integration shops out there that make > better servers with lots more storage for a lot less. > >
On Aug 8, 2007, at 11:34 PM, justin wrote: > So whats the thoughts on a current combined rack/disks/cpu combo > around the $10k-$15k point, currently? I just put into production testing this setup: SunFire X4100M2 (2x Opteron Dual core) with 20Gb RAM and an LSI PCI-e dual-channel 4Gb Fibre channel adapter, connected to Partners Data Systems' Triton 16FA4 RAID array. The Triton array consists of 16 SATA drives and connects out to 4Gb fibre channel. I run FreeBSD 6.2 on it. It is very fast. ;-) It cost a bit over $20k.