[rescue] Re: Ultra SPARC purchase

[Gavin Hubbard]

>> Thanks for the digest. I think I'll take Dave's advice and pass on the
IDE ultras, and look at a U2. I have some sbus cards that'd be nice to be
able to use still. I assume that the 200 MHz ones are not really worth it,
and that they'll all support 24-bit color...
>
>I'm not sure i'd discount the 200mhz UltraSparc I's.  The price is
>definitely right.  i missed the end of an auction that had a 200mhz
>module for an ultra go go for less than $5. 
>
>Can anyone tell me why it is that those modules are so much cheaper than
>the UltraSparc II's?  I thought that i've seen benchmarks where they
>aren't a whole lot slower than the 300mhz modules, yet the 300mhz USII
>goes for much more on ebay than the 200mhz USI.

Heh. If you want to see cheap, track what has happened to the Exx00 server
processors. I'm filling up my E6000 with 250MHz/4MB USII procs at around
$3.5USD each. If I wanted to upgrade, 336MHz/4MB USII modules are ~$12
each, and 400MHz/8MB modules are around $120 each. I really think that
someone muct be pulling apart (or upgrading) some E10k systems somewhere
and liberating the processor modules.

You can currently custom build a complete E4500 with 8 x 400MHz/8MB modules
and 4GB of RAM for around 3kUSD and the prices are falling :-)

Regards,

Gavin