[AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp

Rocky Smolin rockysmolin at bchacc.com
Mon Jun 13 15:58:54 CDT 2011


So what's the processor of choice?

Rocky
 

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
Sent: Monday, June 13, 2011 10:22 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp

I concur with John too!  ;)

I know that for folks who have never built a machine it is scary but once
you get over that (unless something goes wrong... it is trivial to build)
the ability to upgrade and the future lack of fear makes it well worth
doing.

I routinely upgrade my existing systems.  Dual core to quad, to hex, 2 gigs
to 4 to 8, 320g hd to tbyte etc.  It costs waaaaaay less that buying a whole
new machine and you can continually have fast systems instead of systems
that are always old / slow (after the first year you have them).

I built a dual socket server with 16 dim slots.

I populated one side with the old opteron 8 core and 32 gigs of ram.  The
mb/proc/memory was around $1700.  I am (im)patiently waiting for the
bulldozer chip to arrive and drop in price, but when it does I can drop in
one or two of those chips and bump my server from 8 cores to as many as 32,
with faster processors to boot and update my memory up to 128 gigs as well.

I can't even tell you how much I saved by not going the dell/hp route, but
it would be at *least*
3-4 times as much and 4-5 times as much for future upgrades.

And... I used my old server hardware to build a Virtual Machine server.  I
got a 16GB quad core VM for *free* because I reused my old SQL Server
hardware for that after the upgrade.

BTW I am using SSDs both for boot drives as well as for storing database
files for SQL Server and they are awesome (if expensive).

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com

On 6/13/2011 12:22 PM, Drew Wutka wrote:
> I concur with John here.  From a business standpoint, if you are 
> supporting a large network, you can't afford to build each machine.  
> But in a single or only a few environment, you will get better prices 
> with building your own machine, then a single purchase from a 
> manufacturer like Dell.
>
> The machine I built in January, that I posted about on OT, cost me 
> about a grand, and similar hardware, actually.... lower level hardware 
> (my machine has more ram and bigger hard drives), cost about 1,600 
> from Dell.
>
> Originally, the machine I built only cost $650.  That was the case, 
> the motherboard, an i5 Quad Core, 8 gigs of RAM, video card, and two 
> 500 gig hard drives.  I already had a 500 watt power supply, only 
> component I didn't originally buy.  A few days later I bought three 
> terabyte drives,
> 8 gigs more of RAM (maxing out that motherboard).  That was almost $300.
> And more recently I popped another terabyte drive in (making my 'data'
> drive a RAID 10, vs a RAID 5), bought a new 850 Watt power supply, and 
> a nice UPS (put the total closer to 1300, the ups was almost 200).
>
> There has already been suggestions to use a SSD OS drive, I personally 
> have not done that.  The mirrored drives for the OS are pretty fast.
> While SSD drive are definitely faster than their mechanical 
> counterparts, they are still limited by the bus they operate on.  
> Plus, SSD drives do have longevity issues, and are not recommended for
RAID's.
> I always prefer RAIDS for safety reasons.... ;)
>
> Drew
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
> Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2011 12:12 PM
> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp
>
> I would advise building your own.  You may or may not save money but 
> you learn what is required to do so (it is easy) and you are no longer 
> afraid of digging in and upgrading.  I have not purchased a desktop 
> since 1988.  I build my own and upgrade them to keep them fast enough.
>
> I recommend AMD because the motherboards tend to be usable for many 
> years with just a processor upgrade.
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.6
> 67
> 457
>
>
> Intel processors are fine but there are just too many different 
> processor sockets etc.  Upgrading to a faster processor may or may not 
> even be possible.
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.6
> 61
> 393
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Store/MasterComboStore.aspx?StoreID=7&name=DIY-P
> C-
> Combos
>
> John W. Colby
> www.ColbyConsulting.com
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