[BC] Automation and AoIP

[Alex Hartman]

The only problem with your methodology is a very key word: Support.

I will gladly pay an extra $1k for a 5 year warranty and someone to
call and make it their problem when something goes wrong. Now, i did
upgrade the RAM myself because Dell overcharges for that (quite badly
i might add), but when it breaks within a warranty term, call Dell,
new one is on the truck the next day, few questions asked. I've never
been a big fan of Dell's "consumer" line of anything, but their
business class stuff and enterprise class stuff is hands down some top
shelf gear.

For funsies, lets build an apples to apples machine.

"First apple"

Dell Precision R5500
2U Rackmount chassis
Quad core Xeon E5603 (dual capable mainboard)
Win7 Pro
256Mb dual monitor video card
5 Year support plan limited onsite service
12Gb RAM
2x 500Gb 2.5 SAS HDD
Keyboard/mouse Combo
Dual redundant 700w PSU
Teradici PCoIP Host card
Teradici PCoIP client
...partridge in a pear tree.

$2800 delivered to my door with 5 years of warranty.

Now, for the other apple: (newegg for instance)

Supermicro Chassis with dual redundant 700w PSU $575
Xeon E5603 CPU $205
Crucial DDR3 12Gb memory kit $139
Intel S5500HCVR Motherboard $380
PNY VCQ295NVS-X1-PB Quadro NVS 295 256MB Video Card $130
Win7Pro $140
500Gb SAS6Gb Hard drives x2 (HW Raid mirror) $529 each / $1058
DVD drive $40
Teradici PCoIP Host card EVGA $299
Teradici PCoIP Zero Client EVGA $299

$3240 before shipping, building, testing, and no support other than
manufacturers standard 2-4 year warranty. How much do you charge for
PC support again? ;)

Keep in mind also, neither machine has an ASI sound card, if that's
needed, add another $1500-2000.

Also, I'd like to know where you're getting 2U rackmount chassis with
redundant power supplies and a 6-bay SAS backplane with trays for
under $200 that is of *any* build quality.

My server motherboard is dual CPU capable, has milspec caps, 8- way
phase regluators per CPU (read: super stable power to the CPU and RAM
for utmost data integrity), ECC RAM, and bunch of other "hardened"
items on it, compared to your regular plain-jane $60-80 PC motherboard
that does not have more than 4-way regulators (actually pretty
important this day in age considering how sensitive the CPU is to even
a hundredth of a volt difference), Non-ECC RAM, standard good ole
electrolytics and basic consumer grade parts-house stuff.

I've been building servers and dealing with enterprise data centers
for 15 years. These machines of this caliber host many hundreds if not
thousands of websites, serve e-mail to thousands of users, render
movies, etc. Using them as an on-air workstation, they're horrible
overkill, but to the same point, the caliber of the hardware is far
outclassed by anything normal consumer grade stuff can do. I can
import 20 hours of wav files into my automation system in under 30
minutes with this hardware, a standard 800 dollar PC would take easily
a few hours. These machines are designed to be running 24/7 under
moderate/heavy load for 3-5 years easily, a standard desktop PC is
designed to be running 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, under
light/moderate load before hitting MTBF.

(Average consumer power supply in a desktop PC is rated for 60,000
hours @25c, which most power supplies live right above the CPU, which
is at average 38-50c, and the PSU sometimes even has a fan sucking air
through it from the CPU! So, lets for arguments sake say that at 15c
higher than rated (40c) degrades that life by 1/3, giving you 40,000
hours of use (of course this is all speculation, other things can
cause other issues and degrade it further), you would hit your MTBF in
4 years of 24/7 service... oops.)

Of course, in 5 years, there will be 30-way CPUs and google will fit
on a stick of ram, but you simply cannot help that. But if someone
like Dell sells a 5-year warranty on a server-class machine, they
*will* honor it, consumer grade stuff is pennies compared to their
business and enterprise data stuff. I'm not worried about it being
obsolete in a few years, that will happen, but i do know that i'm
*guaranteed* a working machine "no matter what" for the next 5 years
and that's not my problem. Worth every penny.

The other side of the coin is using the consumer grade parts and going
with that. From past experience, i've had roll-your-own machines
(enthusiast class, not cheap, but not server grade either) last me 7
going on 8 years. It's a bit slow by today's standards (P4-1.6Ghz),
but it's still kicking. Only had to replace fans. You can get lucky
with them. I've also had Dell Vostro desktops that lasted less than 2
years before parts started failing.

So, after "looking closely", i still disagree with using an 800 dollar
PC in a mission critical position.

--
Alex Hartman

On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 7:54 PM, Tom Spencer <Radiofreetom at gmail.com> wrote:
> Chuckle.
>
> Look closely at the $2800 "server" motherboard.
>
> Now look at that $800 PC's MB.
>
> For under $200, you can get a rack-mount case.  Usually with a pretty
> hefty power supply and/or dual-redundant power supplies, and 8 - 12
> drive bays.  What else do you get for the extra $2 grand?  Buy the PC.
> Buy a rack-mount case and heftier power supply.  Migrate the guts.  Save
> the extra grand.
>
> Case in point (pun intended):  I just bought a 4-rack-unit case with a
> 650-watt power supply for $110; free shipping.  I'll be migrating my
> "Office" system to that case, and using the old case for the stream
> server, which is still in its desktop/tower case.  (The "Office" machine
> needs the heftier PS because it's the one with both CD and DVD burners,
> plus 2x 300 GB PATA and 2x 200 GB PATA drives, plus the 120 GB main PATA
> drive, a 100 GB secondary PATA drive, and both sizes of floppies... I
> calculated the total load one time, and it came out at about 470 watts.
> And no, because the MB doesn't support SATA drives.)
>
> I have Station Playlist running in another one of those 4 RU cases, so
> this is the third 4-RU case I've bought, with no issues other than a
> missing carrier for the washable front filter, which they sent Priority
> Mail.
>
> eBay "Arrowmax" is the seller.  They also have a plethora of 2-way
> replacement parts; mostly mics, antennas and batteries...
>
> Tom Taggart wrote:
>>   Since I'm the labor,
>> I'll keep buying desktop computers. $800 vs. $2800 sounds
>> attractive when I get to keep the cash. Even with a super
>> fancy rackmount I would still be afraid that powers-that-be
>> in Silicon Valley will find some way to obsolete the bigger
>> machine.
>
> --
> Tom Spencer
>