On 18 Sep 1996, Michael Graff wrote:
> Tracy Di Marco White <gendalia@iastate.edu> writes:
> > Or, RAM drops to an amazingly cheap price, while SCSI cards don't.
> Or, you have old machines which would be fine for large name servers and
> other memory intensive processes, but don't need fast disk.  They just
> need bounce buffers.

Well, let's not go overboard on this `old machines' bit. At least
in my part of the world, RAM prices have plunged for 72-pin SIMMs,
but not for 30-pin SIMMs. A 16MB 72-pin SIMM is $130 (Canadian
dollars) or so; four 4MB 3-pin SIMMs run about $240. So let's do
an upgrade comparison, starting with a low-end 486 motherboard,
8MB of RAM, and an Adaptec 1542, and make a nameserver for an ISP
or other medium-size site out of it:

    Option 1:
	Motherboard				Free
	CPU					Free
	8 MB RAM				Free
	24 MB RAM (6x 4MB 30-pin SIMMs)		$360
	    (24 MB of 4MB 30-pin SIMMs)
	SCSI controller				Free

					TOTAL	$360

    Option 2:
	New PCI motherboard w/ SCSI controller	$175
	CPU					Free
	32 MB RAM (2x 70-pin SIMMs)		$240
	Resale of old components:
	    Motherboard				($40)
	    8 MB RAM				($60)
	    SCSI controller			($80)

					TOTAL	$235

You should be able to sell the parts above at the prices I've given
above in no time. You've now not only gotten around the bounce
buffer problem, but saved yourself $125 in the process.

cjs

Curt Sampson    curt@portal.ca		Info at http://www.portal.ca/
Internet Portal Services, Inc.	
Vancouver, BC   (604) 257-9400		De gustibus, aut bene aut nihil.