Rolling Your Own Business Desktops? 643
mike asks: "I'm mulling the logic of my company building its own desktop computers. As the IT Manager (plus sysadmin, janitor...) of a struggling-yet-thankfully-still-alive dotcom, money is really tight. We have around sixty ~400MHz desktops which are increasingly showing their age. Acceptable P4 systems from the big guys run at least $1000. By recycling the OS (Win2k), case, cdrom, floppy, and K/V/M, I figure I can assemble a good AMD system for about $600. That's a 40% savings. Is it worth it? The cost difference could very well determine whether this project proceeds or gets put on the back-burner again."
"Some negatives about rolling my own:
- Management: I won't get the special business features offered by some manufacturers. Dell's OpenImage, for example, looks awfully nice. But how much does that really buy me in a company of 60 machines? I don't use such stuff now; am I missing out on nirvana?
- Time to build: Even though we'd leverage Ghost wherever possible, handmade systems nevertheless take time to build, load, & configure.
- Supporting different platforms: Because money is so tight, I can at best afford a capital replacement rate of 25%-33% (15-20 units) per year. That means I'm committing to the support of 3 or 4 different platforms. Having just one platform is great, but how many companies, even ones that actively strive for it, truly enjoy that luxury? I inherited two platforms (Micron & Gateway); support isn't that bad. With proper planning, I don't see why we can't support four.
- Hardware quality: How much can I trust a popular Athlon chipset in a business environment? I feel silly bringing this up because I have a few Athlon systems at home, each with a different chipset, and they've been nothing but rock solid. But I know the lack of a really good chipset has been a large contributor to why AMD's aren't more prevalent in the business world. (well, that and long term bullying by Intel).
- I don't get a proven, prepackaged system that works right out of the box.
- Cost savings. Plain & simple.
- Increased horsepower per dollar spent.
- By choosing my own equipment (mobo especially), I suffer fewer OEM shortcuts.
- I have to admit that I'd enjoy the pure geek satisfaction of rolling out 'my' creation to the company.
For those that are curious, Ask Slashdot did an article on the AMD issue, here.
Go for it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Go for it (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Microsoft allow it? (Score:5, Funny)
So just make sure you snap each of those old MBs in half before installing the 'replacement parts.'
License transfer questions answered! (Score:2, Funny)
Your company name, address, phone number, and you and your manager's contact info. We will be glad to assist you in any licensing issues you may have, especially in the area of OEM licenses. Glad to be of assistance.
Sincerely,
The Business Software Alliance [bsa.org]
Re:Why upgrade? (Score:3, Funny)
What does any of that have to do with web development? ;-)
Re:Microsoft allow it? (Score:5, Funny)
They let me recycle my XP license on a new computer. They asked if I removed it from the old computer and then gave me a new code. The lady on the other end of the phone was very polite too. They didn't ask about any first born children and I could barely here the voodoo drums in the background.
Re:Microsoft allow it? (Score:4, Funny)
ROFLMAO, yes, precisely.
The ideal plan is that you throw the beer in the fridge at 5pm and start upgrading. You order the pizza later on at night when you're partway through. (Or when you've "got the easy ones working, but have to remove the dead fan because there's half a pound of dust in the case.") Ideally, you finish the last PC when the 'za arrives, and the brewskis are nicely-chilled.
Worst case, you take a break, eat some of the 'za (the key here is to order more than the three of you could possibly eat in a single sitting), finish the remaining upgrades, then drink the now-very beer and reheat the now-cold pizza.
(Do not, under any circumstances, chill the pizza and reheat the beer. That would be bad. Once you're sufficiently drunk, you can always reheat the pizza, bite-by-bite, on the old CPUs by using the pepperoni slices as heatsinks, and the pepperoni grease as transfer paste. Just make sure you clean the CPU off verrrrrrrrrry thoroughly first.
(Fun beer + upgrade story -- I've seen someone build up a "wall" of hot-glue around the edges of an Athlon chip whose die got chipped during a botched heatsink installation. You really can fry an egg on one... *burp*)
Re:Roll Your Own PCs in Bulk (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Roll Your Own PCs in Bulk (Score:2, Funny)
New boxes, new licence, new OS? (Score:3, Funny)
Mandrake Linux's licence allows you to recycle an installation. Come to think of it, you're also allowed to copy an existing installation, install as amny times as you like from the Download CD set, benchmark it against other things, use an unlimited number of seats, and comes with OpenOffice.org 641D. Oh, and even if you spot Mandrake $50 a machine, that works out at around 1/10 of the cost of MS-Windows+MS-Office, and no free viruses.
Re:Microsoft allow it? (Score:2, Funny)
Also, when drunk, dont' EVER under ANY circumstances use a sharp knife for a screwdriver, THEY DON'T WORK THAT WELL, and you can put it through your hand easily (as I found out the hard way).
Also, the computer doesn't want any beer, no matter how much you think it does. NEVER, EVER feed your computer beer, it doesn't need it and is probly too young for it anyways.
Re:anti-static isn't over-hyped. (Score:4, Funny)
That's it. I've only fried a single component ever, an old hard drive, and it was because I drove around with the components rubbing against the cloth seats in my car in the sun in mid-winter, sliding around. I reached out and picked it up and felt the shock. uh-oh. Sure enough, it was toast. But it's still pretty rare.