Re: PIII 550 or Athlon 950?

[Toni Mueller <openbsd-misc@oeko.net>]

Hi,

On Tue, Jan 02, 2001 at 07:42:06PM +0800, cypherstar wrote:
> : On Tue, 2 Jan 2001, Derek Sivers wrote:
> : > What would YOU choose?
> : > #1 - A PIII 550 server setup by a pro, for $1400

i'd probably buy these... reason: it comes with a guarantee,
_and_ last time I tried an Athlon it was impossible to use
due to a flaky motherboard (under Linux). Don't know if that
was only me, but I'm not too willing to experiment nowadays.

> : > #2 - An Athlon 950 server, built yourself, with expert installation

This certainly looks impressive.

If you are prepared to dump $900 + time, you should probably
buy one of each, and decide afterwards ;)

> Also remember that cpu speed is rarely the limiting factor is a 
> server setup.  Communication channels, cache and memory are often the 
> more important issues, as well as chipset quality.

->  More cpu imho comes in handy when you try to do massive SSL...
    (or what's your "server" requirements?).

The other statements are only too true... don't leave out memory
quality which can easily double the price, too.

> PIII may well have the better chipset and mobo.

Probably the vendors don't realize that the Athlon would make
a good server cpu, too, and only look at combatting intel in
the supermarket range.


Best Regards,
--Toni++