I can get this system for cheap...is it worth it?

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whattaguy

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My R&D department here at work is getting rid of these. Is this a good deal.

Kit #1 $290 per kit
Qnty Item
1x SuperMicro motherboard (model P4DC6 or P4DC6+)
2x Intel Xeon Pentium 4 Processors (1.7GHz min)
4x RAMBUS 256MB [1GB total on the motherboard]
1x ATX Power Supply (400W min)
1x AGP graphics card (model ASUS V8420D or ASUS V7100)
1x Panasonic DVD-RAM SCSI drive (model LF-D201)

My current system:

ASUS P4T533-C Mobo
P4 2.4 (533fsb) processor @2.66
1 gig PC800 RDRAM
...these are my basics

Running 2 Aardvark DP 2496's in Sonar 2.2XL

Would it be an upgrade, or just a side-step?
Or should I buy it because it's just too darn cheap?

Thanks.
 
for 290, i think that is quite reasonable. I have no idea how the xeons compare to pentiums ( i have read that server cpu's aren't really geared towards DAWs). For that cheap you could even just network your two computers and split up the tasks. Use the new one for sampling or something.
 
Really REALLY frigging good deal. I would get that in a heartbeat.

BUT...that's not the audio side of me speaking. I doubt any of the major sound card companies test their drivers on a server chipset like the i860. I imagine its similar enough that you shouldn't see any major problems...

I understand that the latest Cubase and Sonar take at least some advantage of SMP.

That onboard Ultra160 SCSI is always cool, even though it's less of a factor these days. With the onboard network, I bet it could be a rocking fileserver for things like sample libraries.

Also, I don't think anyone uses DVD-RAM these days except some graphics houses for internal distro.

Buy it because it's too darn cheap.
 
I don't know if it makes any difference, but all this has been used in a testing environment.
 
I asked the QC department, and they do not know how extensively they used these in testing, they didn't know how old the components are, and selling the parts as-is not knowing for sure that they are in 100% working order. They have approx. 200 of these systems laying around. Seems like if I take a chance and they work, it'll be a good deal. But I don't have $300 burning a hole in my pocket either.
 
One of my friends is wondering if these guys ships these things out. Honestly, I'm not sure he's totally serious about this, but...well...it's a pretty darn interesting system to have around...
 
What else does it come with? Just those barebones parts? If so I'd skip it. That's not a good deal. You can buy a barebones that will smoke it for less money. Gotta figure you're gonna spend a bunch more to make it complete. If you're using it instead of a P4 at 2.66 it will probably be slower... Unles you happen to run an OS AND app that specifically uses the dual CPU.
 
Dude. CHEAP RENDER FARM. :) Maya and MPEG encoding are just begging for another home for me... (the joy of working in independent game development...) And a motherboard with onboard Ultra160 SCSI ain't that cheap these days...
 
whattaguy said:
My R&D department here at work is getting rid of these. Is this a good deal.

Kit #1 $290 per kit
Qnty Item
1x SuperMicro motherboard (model P4DC6 or P4DC6+)
2x Intel Xeon Pentium 4 Processors (1.7GHz min)
4x RAMBUS 256MB [1GB total on the motherboard]
1x ATX Power Supply (400W min)
1x AGP graphics card (model ASUS V8420D or ASUS V7100)
1x Panasonic DVD-RAM SCSI drive (model LF-D201)

My current system:

ASUS P4T533-C Mobo
P4 2.4 (533fsb) processor @2.66
1 gig PC800 RDRAM
...these are my basics

Running 2 Aardvark DP 2496's in Sonar 2.2XL

Would it be an upgrade, or just a side-step?
Or should I buy it because it's just too darn cheap?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yes. Supermicro boards are solid, nothing wrong with the Xeon processors (albeit there are now faster processors from both AMD and Intel). You have enough memory so you can ignore the fact that Rambus memory is in disfavor and very pricey. Toss on a couple of SCSI HDD and cook.

I'd buy one if I could.
 
Well, I bought a couple. They look really new. The video card is in its retail package, and some were unopened. The mobo is full retail with all cabling and and drivers. Haven't powered one up yet...we'll see.
 
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