[rescue] replacing an Ultra2

[Mark]

On 16 Apr 2007, at 21:58, Charles Shannon Hendrix wrote:

> Steve Sandau wrote:
>
>> Basically I'd like a faster main workstation that is not PeeCee  
>> crap. I
>> have to deal with Dells and such all too often.\
>
> The Sun U20 is a fairly bog standard Opteron PC, so if you don't  
> like the
> Dells, you might not like the U20 either.

I object. I have had a snoop around a Java Workstation 20 (the U20's  
predecessor) and the build quality alone is a light year ahead of  
Dell's. It's nothing short of what you would expect from Sun. I think  
Steve's point was not that he is avoiding x86/x64 hardware, just that  
he wants to avoid poor quality, shoddily built and overpriced crap  
(see Dell Precision 490/690).

> Try to go see one if you can.

I can't disagree there, I always try before I buy on anything.

> It's a decent machine as PCs go.  One caveat is despite the size of  
> the case,
> it skimps on internal drive bays, and its design makes some PC  
> expansion
> options difficult.  The latter is an issue in a lot of new PC cases  
> that
> use that kind of airflow system, not unique to Sun.

I think the lack of drive bays compared to generic workstations from  
Dell et al. is a fallacy. What the sam hill do you need 3x 5.25" bays  
and 2x 3.5" bays for these days? For most Workstations a DVD-RW and 2  
hard drives is all you need. I feel spoilt having 4 hard drive bays  
and 2x Optical bays in my Mac Pro...

> If it were me, I would buy it bare as possible, and then upgrade  
> outside of Sun.
>
> I don't know what would happen to your warranty if you upgrade  
> CPUs, but a lot
> of people have done it.

I'm pretty sure you'd void it. You automatically void Apple  
warranties if you use a non-Apple supplied CPU, I'd imagine Sun are  
similar. It's mostly about the manufacturer's ability to warrant that  
all major components are of their own high standards and installed  
according to their own guidelines. Installing RAM ins one thing,  
swapping CPUs has the potential to end in disaster even if, I would  
imagine, every soul on this particular list is capable of doing it to  
close to the same standard as a certified engineer. You have to  
account for over-eager 'users' in the equation ;o)

-- 
Mark Benson

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