Servers rock!!!

[chez]

I've used servers at work for some years now, but never for anything other than work (oddly enough!).

I recently splashed out on one of the Dell Poweredge 1800 servers in their special offer (dual 2.8GHz 1Mb L2 cache Xeons, 512Mb (2x256mb dual channel) DDR2, onboard SATA, IDE and SCSI, gigabit lan etc..).

It arrived today and I am very, very impressed with it. The case is an excellent design, with great layout inside both for working on (removable ducting for the fans, removable HDD cage, thumbscrews to open it up) and for cooling. The dual Xeons both have huge passive coolers with heatpipes and the cooling is done by a 120mm Delta at the rear and a 92mm Delta up front.

When I first powered it up, I was expecting it to be very, very loud but it is actually quieter than my existing desktop as both fans are temperature controlled (i assume this is the case as there is an initial hoover-type noise when powered on and then the fans throttle down to a quiet hum).

Anyway, I have just tested out Football Manager 2005.

Previously, on my 3GHz P4 with 1Gb XMS3500 and a Raptor, FM2005 took quite a little while between clicks while it was processing (although nowhere near as long as CM4!!). On the server, I haven't had to wait any more than 5 seconds between mouse clicks!

Well impressed!

EDIT - I have just completed a side-by-side comparison on DVD Shrink, encoding an identical DVD on both PCs.

The full time for analysis and encoding on my desktop was 38 minutes, the full time on the server was 21 minutes! Sweeeeet...

[Rave]

Is DVD Shrink multithreaded? If so- sweet. I'm about to build a dually (fingers crossed it works), and apart from FAD, DVD Shrink is the only program I use that really needs more power than I have....

Rich :¬)

[chez]

the latest version is indeed multithreaded!!

[Rave]

Damn, wish I'd got a move on RMAing my hard disk now, that's the only piece missing....

Rich :¬)

[chez]

Dell have actually surprised me!

Their service is and has been completely dire throughout, but the quality is outstanding! (which is very different to my previous experiences with their desktops).

As part of the deal I did, they included their 'new, top-of-the-range' keyboard.

I thought it was just sales speak and wasn't expecting much, but it's actually quite nice!

It's a bit like a slightly larger apple pro keyboard, but black. it's very comfortable to type on and has a very nice 'display' for the numlock,capslock and scroll-lock lights.


here's a pic -

[nichomach]

Dell desktops, you have to make a very hard distinction; the Dimensions are cack, basically generic white (or these days black) boxes. Pile high, sell cheap and don't try actually USING the support. The Optiplexes on the other hand in my experience have had build quality at least as good as any I've seen from, say, HP/Compaq or IBM. The same goes for the support; their corporate support people have a clue.

I have several Dell servers in service with us (couple of pedestals and 3 rackmounts) and the build quality of all of these has been superb; mind you, I've never actually had a duff Poweredge off them at any company I've been at. Their support on these is usually excellent as well.

[Sk!mD4Rk]

What model number is that keyboard mate? can you buy them separately?

[javalord]

The best thing about a server is having it do CPU aggressive tasks , or just simply downloading whilst in another room, so you can sleep peacefully.

Even thou my main workstation is pretty quiet - nothing matches silence when sleeping.

[chez]

What model number is that keyboard mate? can you buy them separately?

RT7D50 not sure if you can buy them separately, but I would imagine so...

[Steve]

The Optiplexes on the other hand in my experience have had build quality at least as good as any I've seen from, say, HP/Compaq or IBM. The same goes for the support; their corporate support people have a clue.

The SFF Optiplexes at my college are a pain. Several have had hard drive problems. Dell tech support have (so the techies tell me) requested that they run the test software they are provided with... several times each time the exact same problem occurs on yet another machine. One day they sent a tech round with a hard drive, expecting the techies to finish the job off.

Perhaps you've had a good deal, or my college had bad luck.

[nichomach]

Ouch; normally they're better than that, although I haven't had to use them in a while. Actually, I think the last time I had to get one of my Optis fixed, they couriered me a hard drive the next day, since I'd said I didn't mind installing it myself.

[muddyfox470]

that is a nice system, shame, if i had the money i wud do the same...

but that keyboard the shape is lovely!

and its clean > no dust lol!