[rescue] AlphaServer ES40 in Chicago- Anyone interested?

[Joshua Boyd]

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 06:10:19PM -0500, Scott Newell wrote:
> At 04:03 PM 3/26/2008, Joshua Boyd wrote:
> 
> >I still have one of those too, although I upgraded mine with TRAM, RAM,
> >a 300mhz chip, bigger and faster disk, and a PCI cage.
> 
> Yeah, I did the disk, ram, and bargain R12K CPU update too.  Still 
> kicking myself for not grabbing a MENET when they were dirt cheap ($15?).
> 
> 
> >Now the Octane sits with the servers (and is used by others for CPAN
> >testing), and I have a Fuel under my desk, which is a lot faster (but
> >not as cool a machine).
> 
> Didn't know you ended up getting a Fuel.  Is it any quieter than the Octane?

A little.  Due to it's resemblence to a PC, it is probably more feasible
to modify the fans for quiet on this machine than the Octane.

I've only have the Fuel for six weeks or so.  A few years I picked up a
Crimson, and I traded the Crimson for a Fuel and a U80 earlier this
year.  Between the memory speed boost and the R14k chip, it runs rings
around the Octane.  

What would be optimal would be to find an affordable console extender
and run appropriate cables from the basement to the office.  Then I
could consider upgrading to an Onyx2 (well, cost of aquisition and
electricity aside), or KVMing between the Octane and Indigo.

Actually, I take that back about still having the same Octane.  I do
still have the same graphics, but the PSU, Chassis, and midplane are
new.  First the compression connector for the PCI cage became suspect
(the first PCI cage I aquired had its connector became damaged, so after
that I wouldn't trust the other side of the connector either), and then
the motherboard developed a problem with the heart chip, so I got an
identical Octane from Linc and swapped the parts I'd upgraded into the
new Octane.  I gave the octane with the heart problem to a former SGI
engineer for old times sake.