[geeks] IBM Intellistation 285?

[Patrick Finnegan]

On Tuesday, January 10, 2012, Mark Benson wrote:
> Anything I should know as a Hobbyist about these machines?
> 
> Are they noisy (quoted is 5.0 bels or 35 dB 1m away)?
> 
> Do they consume masses of power (compared to CPU performance)?
> 
> Is it an overkill - or just a lot of computer new for 285 quid?

Oops, I realize that I misread your question a bit.  POWER5 runs a bit 
hot compared to a PC, but I doubt your machine will draw over ~300W or 
so.

Loud? I've never had one of their workstations, so I don't know.

As a hobbyist... AIX doesn't have a hobbyist licence, but IBM's 
unofficial stance is that they don't care about hobbyists using AIX.  
And, there's always Linux to run on it (but not sure if that'd support 
the video card at all).

Overkill? If you're willing to spend ~300GBP on your hobby, why not.  
I've spent WAY more than that on machines, though they usually weigh a 
bit more (like my z890 and associated peripherals).

-- 
Patrick Finnegan