Ideal Server Hardware Choice
Jeff Vian
jvian10 at charter.net
Sun Mar 5 13:18:23 UTC 2006
On Sat, 2006-03-04 at 22:42 +1030, 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.
Vote with your $. Only buy from those who will build it as you
specified, and have a written build spec so they cannot just make a
change without your written approval.
I have never had the problem you describe, but then I have always been
firm in my specifications.
Their excuses are just that - excuses! Unless the customer (you) holds
them to the specs agreed upon they can easily modify things.
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