scs@iti.org (Steve Simmons) (04/07/90)
Thanks much for the postings, George. Being the moderately proud owner of a 5810, I was most interested in the SMP and upgrade data. Some of the number struck me as most odd, tho. Pulling things apart and putting them together, we get: >DECsystem 5810 Computer > >R3000 processor and R3010 floating point coprocessor w/32 Mbytes >ECC memory 64 Kbytes instruction cache, 64 Kbytes data cache, 256 >Kbytes second-level data and instruction cache, 560 Mybtes >internal disk storage, TK70 296-Mbyte streaming tape drive, embedded >802.3 Ethernet adapter . . . 5820, 5830, 5840 minimal configs are same, just more cpus. > o System Prices: > - DECsystem 5810 $75,000 > - DECsystem 5820 $115,000 > - DECsystem 5830 $140,000 > - DECsystem 5840 $160,000 > > o Upgrade Prices: > In-cabinet upgrades . . . > - DECsystem 5810 to DECsystem 5820 upgrade -- $50,000 > - DECsystem 5820 to DECsystem 5830 upgrade -- $50,000 > - DECsystem 5830 to DECsystem 5840 upgrade -- $50,000 What's wrong with this picture? It's probably cheaper to buy a second 5810 and cannibalize it than to buy a second CPU for a 5810. With the cannibalizing you get o an additional 32MB of ram, o a second disk and tape controller, o a second BI bus, o a second TK70 tape drive, o an additional .5GB of disk. What to bet those cost more than $25,000? And you've got an XMI bus, backplane, and Ultrix licence to sell. Yeeesh. Or you could run 2 5810s, NFS them together, and have better overall reliability. Gads. If we ever go to negotionate an upgrade with DEC the negotiations are gonna be *fun*.
grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins) (04/08/90)
In article <5260@itivax.iti.org> scs@iti.org (Steve Simmons) writes: > Thanks much for the postings, George. Being the moderately > proud owner of a 5810, I was most interested in the SMP and > upgrade data. Some of the number struck me as most odd, tho. > Pulling things apart and putting them together, we get: > > > - DECsystem 5810 $75,000 > > - DECsystem 5820 $115,000 > > o Upgrade Prices: > > - DECsystem 5810 to DECsystem 5820 upgrade -- $50,000 > > - DECsystem 5820 to DECsystem 5830 upgrade -- $50,000 > What's wrong with this picture? > > It's probably cheaper to buy a second 5810 and cannibalize it than > to buy a second CPU for a 5810. With the cannibalizing you get > > o an additional 32MB of ram, Note that the upgrades traditionally do include a processor and 32MB of RAM. Other than that, it's obvious that the upgrades are priced a bit on the high side - $50K for what is in incremental $20K in a system configuration reeks. Buying a 5180, stripping it and letting the carcass go to someone with a handful of 6210 CPU boards would be kinda fun although a second system would be nice too. > If we ever go to negotionate an upgrade with DEC the negotiations > are gonna be *fun*. Exactly my sentiments... -- George Robbins - now working for, uucp: {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr but no way officially representing: domain: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com Commodore, Engineering Department phone: 215-431-9349 (only by moonlite)