Ideal Server Hardware Choice

[Tony Dietrich]

On Saturday 04 March 2006 12:12, Tim wrote:
> Tony Dietrich:
> >>> 2. One fan failure (at 14months).
>
> Tim:
> >> Ones that run constantly or only now and then?  Some PC fans have
> >> surprising short lives, and that's not due to faults, but how long the
> >> manufacturer expects them to work for.
>
> Tony Dietrich:
> > Constantly .. that machine just happened to be my own office system!  And
> > since I tend to use that to test stuff, AND it wasn't switched off over
> > the entire 14 months (AFAIR) I wasn't too surprised .. leaving a system
> > doing batch compiling and test runs for entire weekends does kinda send
> > the fan wild.
>
> According to some specs that I've seen, some fans are only rated to run
> continuously for about 18 months.  That may be fine for many home PCs
> which spend more time off than on, but no good for servers.  Even more
> so if they're fans that can't be easily replaced (e.g. ones that are
> bonded in as part of a CPU block or the graphics cards, or deeply
> embedded in the PSU brick).  I think server fans ought to be standard
> models, though long-life, easily replaced, and using ducts to the parts
> that need directly cooling.
>
> > Seriously .. I suspect that one reason I (and James Wilkinson, see rest
> > of thread) get good systems from 'local' builders is that in the UK ( I
> > have no idea what its like in the rest of the world) we can walk into a
> > local builder and spec exactly what we want built.  I can tell my builder
> > "I want ASUS mb, nVidia video, XXX memory, etc, etc" .. and if I don't
> > get it, I don't pay, and I don't use that builder again.
>
> I can do that here, but only from quite limited choices.  If I wanted
> specific parts that they didn't have, I'd have to buy them directly from
> some supplier, if I could find one, not from a shop.  They won't deal
> with anything else, and will give you all sorts of excuses about why.  I
> really don't beleive that they couldn't buy anything that I could, nor
> that they can only buy parts in quantity.  And that's if I just want
> parts to build a box.
>
> On the other hand, if I was to get them to build me a box, it's quite
> common for you to choose a 128 meg video card, a 140 meg hard drive, but
> they'll pick the particular parts, and they may well be different from
> what they told you while you were negotiating the package.  Sometimes
> that's because they found what you wanted to use didn't work with each
> other, sometimes it's because they'll just do whatever they want to.
>
> --
> Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored.
> I read messages from the public lists.

Emigrate <g>
-- 
Tony