I recently read that the average selling price for a Supermicro system was around $1700. These barebones systems are all in the ballpark of that figure, and hitting a typical price range was a major consideration when framing this round-up. We've already covered the hardware and software side of each submission, so let's take a look at how pricing factors in.
| Pricing Comparison | |
|---|---|
| Supermicro 6027R-N3RF4+ | $1515 |
| Tyan GN70-K7053 (S7053 + KGN70M1) | $1700 |
| Intel "Grizzly Pass" R2208GZ4GC | $1900 |
Of course, you can add additional components to affect that price (such as Intel's management board). Intel, Supermicro, and Tyan all have options to customize their platforms, so your take-home cost is going to vary. These systems to represent a good basis for comparison, though. Price-wise, Supermicro and Tyan both managed to duck in under our expected $1800 price point, with Supermicro coming in significantly below that price target. Intel's system turned out to sell for a bit more, which makes sense given its highly-customized platform.
Service, warranty coverage, and support are also important points to consider, particularly when it comes to buying servers. When you purchase a machine from HP, Dell, IBM, Oracle/ Sun, or Fujitsu, you can specify anything from mail-in service to 24x7 support with a guaranteed on-site response time (for instance, 24x7 four-hour service). In the world of barebones servers, though, you'll typically have a reseller to assume the role of support provider. So, if you buy from a VAR that handles integration of the parts you pick, that company also arranges service. Your interactions are through the integrator, rather than the company manufacturing the system's motherboard or chassis.
Here's a quick reference of warranty coverage:
| Warranty Comparison Value-Added Reseller Warranties May Differ | |
|---|---|
| Supermicro 6027R-N3RF4+ | One-year warranty from Supermicro, 8x5 standard support hours (upgraded coverage available), advance RMA available, pre-paid service available, extended warranty available from Supermicro |
| Tyan GN70-K7053 (S7053 + KGN70M1) | Three-year warranty from Tyan/ MiTAC, 8x5 standard support hours (upgraded coverage available) |
| Intel R2208GZ4GC | Three-year limited warranty, extended warranty available from Intel |
Update, 12/8/2012: It was recently brought to our attention that Supermicro now sells it standard complete systems with three-year parts and labor warranty coverage, along with one year of cross-shipment and 24-hour tech support.
Typically, start-up VARs and systems integrators are the interface point to the OEM when something goes awry. Once these partners become large enough, they typically receive a larger discount, allowing them to purchase spare parts instead of having to get an RMA from the manufacturer when a component goes out. So, you'd generally get your warranty work from a VAR, and not the manufacturer.
If you're the one buying the components and building servers, either as an SMB or end-user, this becomes a major consideration, since there is no reseller on which to fall back. Advanced RMA becomes especially useful, since it typically cuts the time it takes to get a replacement by days. This service is becoming more popular on desktop motherboards, and Western Digital has offered it for years.
Both the Supermicro and Tyan platforms can be beefed up with additional functionality to hit Intel's price point. However, both companies submitted their products for the round-up in accordance with what was requested.
- Three 2P Xeon E5-2600 Platforms Compared: Intel, Supermicro, And Tyan
- The Rules, Contenders, And Test Setup
- Supermicro 6027R-N3RF4+: Layout And Overview
- Supermicro 6027R-N3RF4+: Layout And Overview, Continued
- Supermicro 6027R-N3RF4+: Management Features And Serviceability
- Tyan GN70-K7053: Layout And Overview
- Tyan GN70-K7053: Layout And Overview, Continued
- Tyan GN70-K7053: Management Features And Serviceability
- Intel R2208GZ4GC: Layout And Overview
- Intel R2208GZ4GC: Layout And Overview, Continued
- Intel R2208GZ4GC: Management Features And Serviceability
- Pricing, Warranty, And Support Comparison
- Benchmark Results: Adobe CS 5, 3ds Max, And Cinebench
- Benchmark Results: Compiling, Folding, And Euler
- Power Consumption And Noise Comparison
- Whose 2U Server System For Xeon E5 Is Best?
I agree. Just reduce it a little bit but don't make it too hard to see
Usually? The E5s absolutely crush AMD's best offerings. AMD's top of the line server chips are about equal in performance to Intel's last generation of chips, which are now more than two years old. It's even more lopsided than Sandy Bridge vs. Bulldozer.
As an AMD fan, I wish we could. But while Magny-Cours was competitive with the last gen Xeons, AMD doesn't really have anything that stacks up against the E5. In pretty much every workload, E5 dominates the 62xx or the 61xx series by 30-50%. The E5 is even price competitive at this point.
We'll just have to see how Piledriver does.
Having said that I would suggest you include expected PPD for the given TPF since that is what folders look at when deciding on hardware. Or you could just devote 48 hours from each machine to generate actual results for F@H and donate those points to your F@H team (yes Tom's has a team [40051] and visibility is our biggest problem).
The issue is that other tech sites promote their teams. We do not have a promotive site. Even while mentioning F@H, some people do not agree with it or will never want to participate. It is a mentality. However, it is a choice!
F@H on such a monster? Do the math and you'll see that just after one year of 24/7 operation you would rack up over 3 billion points, putting you in the top 10 for teams and no.1 spot for single user.
That's assuming, of course, that you've forked out $20k for your monthly power bill to run that fully-stocked 42U rack and paid $240k to your utility company for the entire year. Then there's the cost of the hardware itself - around $26k for each 2U server, or around a cool $600,000.
SPEND MONEY FAST
all powerful server are expensive now.
I believe market for cheap but powerful server are big, and no one is working on this area.
I know the profit is not big, but by big quantity it mean big money too
The point is that memory is directly connected to 1 CPU only. Adding a 2nd CPU doubles aggregate bandwidth, but could actually hurt performance, if the software isn't written to carefully to localize data and manage affinity between threads & CPUs.
great work.
That is something that we are looking at. This was more of a look at what is out there for barebones kits. I totally agree that these types of comparisons would be great.
That is already done (but as more of a work around) build a standard PC.
Many high end gaming motherboards work well in a server environment, and can easily handle a high traffic website.
Most web hosting does not need a super powerful server (which is why virtualization is so popular). If you are running a relatively small business and are not doing anything that is hugely CPU bound (eg, rendering) then you can save a bit of money with a decent desktop PC.