[comp.sys.sun] upgrade a 3/260

phil@wubios.wustl.edu (J. Philip Miller) (03/09/90)

We have a Sun 3/260 which is used for e-mail, news, and SAS & S processing
by users who either telnet from PC's or connecttions via modems or our
university digital async switching system via an ALM-2.  During prime time
there are frequently 8-12 users signed on at a time.

Originally I had planned to upgrade the CPU from the 68k to SPARC about
now, but I am having second thoughts.  Since the cost of the upgrade is
approximately the same as purchasing a SparcStation, I wonder whether that
might make more sense.  I realize that some of my software costs may be
greater, but having multiple machines might really make up for it in
performance.

I would be interested in anyone else's  experience  and/or  opinions
about upgrading the 3/260.

     J. Philip Miller, Professor, Division of Biostatistics, Box 8067
	 Washington University Medical School, St. Louis MO 63110
phil@wubios.WUstl.edu - Internet  (314) 362-3617   phil@wubios.wustl - bitnet
uunet!wuarchive!wubios!phil-UUCP (314) 362-2693(FAX)  C90562JM@WUVMD - bitnet

roberts@studguppy.lanl.gov (Doug Roberts) (03/11/90)

In article <5638@brazos.Rice.edu> phil@wubios.wustl.edu (J. Philip Miller) writes:

   I would be interested in anyone else's  experience  and/or  opinions
   about upgrading the 3/260.

I am upgrading my 3/260 to a Solbourne 5/501. The cost to upgrade the 260
to a 32 MB 4/330 (16 MIPS) would have been ~$16,000. I chose instead to
get a 22 MIP, 4.8 MFLOP SPARC, and keep the 3/260. The cost for the
Solbourne (16 MB, diskless, w/o monitor) was $18,500. If we later feel the
need, we can buy another CPU for it and make it a 40 MIPS server. The
Solbourne seems to be 100% Sun SPARC binary compatible. 

Douglas Roberts                |
Los Alamos National Laboratory |I can resist anything
Box 1663, MS F-609             |  except temptation.
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545   |  ...
(505)667-4569                  |Oscar Wilde
dzzr@lanl.gov                  |