New Computer.

Diffusion

Senior member
Oct 19, 2000
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Well, I just recieved my new computer. Its a SPARCcenter 2000, with 4 40mhz SPARC processors, what seems to be 1.2gb of RAM, 5 10bT cards, and 5 100bT cards. I have to say, this machine makes my entire collection of microcomputer/x86 stuff look wimpy. Im trying to decide what to do with it, I am either going to upgrade it to 20 processors, at either 60 or 90mhz, with 2mb of cache each, or I am going to scrap it for its components (the network cards are worth 30$ for the 10bT ones, and 100$ for the 100bT ones). This is such a sweet machine, it occupies a full sized rack and weighs 750lbs. Anyone else own minis/mainframes?
 

Diffusion

Senior member
Oct 19, 2000
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100$ plus 370$ shipping and 30$ handling. New, as in, I just aquired it, it looks as though this machine was originally owned by Amoco, probably set them back a few hundred thousand to a few million 8 years ago (its dated 1993).
 

tweakmm

Lifer
May 28, 2001
18,436
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lol... the shipping was 4 times the price. That is so sweet man. I wish I had something like that. where did you get it from?
 

calpha

Golden Member
Mar 7, 2001
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I remember last year when that supercomputer went for sale on EBAY.

I said, man wouldn't that be cool. Hardware like that (and yours) is pretty sweet.

But the bigger question is, what in the hell would you do with that?

<still envious though>
 

Diffusion

Senior member
Oct 19, 2000
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It will be horrid at RC5, all the non-x86/ppc chips are, I dunno whether it is due to lack of optimization or what, but that seems to be the case for everything. It looks like this machine was originally set up for data-intensive stuff, databases and things (judgin by the number of SCSI and network hook ups). To top that all off, it uses a 220v 24a line, so to use that much power just to run RC5 would be a bit silly.
I got the machine off of ebay, if you are interested in old minis, check out the rescue@sunhelp.org mailing list (go to http://www.sunhelp.org/mailman/listinfo/rescue to sign up), you can find a lot of good deals, and stuff for free, by watching that list.
 

Diffusion

Senior member
Oct 19, 2000
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<< I remember last year when that supercomputer went for sale on EBAY.

I said, man wouldn't that be cool. Hardware like that (and yours) is pretty sweet.

But the bigger question is, what in the hell would you do with that?

<still envious though>
>>


Super computers are actually pretty common on ebay, they usually go up at the rate of one every two weeks to a month. I know someone with 2 Cray J90s (one of them was scrapped to fill up the other), a Cray EL96, and 2 Cray EL92s, he has a very sweet setup.
 

Diffusion

Senior member
Oct 19, 2000
467
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<<

<<

<< is this the animal ?? >>


Thats the exact machine. Heres a better exterior image (link), but that one makes it look quite a bit smaller then it actually is.
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HOLY SH!T!! Thats badass dude!
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It supports up to 5gb of memory (in 32mb sticks), 20 processors, at speeds up to 180mhz, 2mb of cache per processor, though only the 60mhz and 90mhz versions have 2mb, a ton of hard drives, and 40 sbus cards. The only Sparc (not ultrasparc, those are still way to expensive) machines that were bigger are the SPARCcenter 2000E (an upgraded version of this machine), and a machine which Cray built that supported up to 64 Sparc processors. Its very cool.
 

Diffusion

Senior member
Oct 19, 2000
467
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<<

<< It supports up to 5gb of memory (in 32mb sticks) >>


lol 160 sticks....
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Yeah, at 10$ a stick, it seems as though maxing it out would be cheap, and then you think about how much memory you would actually need...
 

tweakmm

Lifer
May 28, 2001
18,436
4
0


<<

<<

<< It supports up to 5gb of memory (in 32mb sticks) >>


lol 160 sticks....
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Yeah, at 10$ a stick, it seems as though maxing it out would be cheap, and then you think about how much memory you would actually need...
>>


dude, you should pimp it out. Get the 20 processors and max out the ram. How much are the processors?
 

Diffusion

Senior member
Oct 19, 2000
467
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0


<<

<<

<<

<< It supports up to 5gb of memory (in 32mb sticks) >>


lol 160 sticks....
>>


Yeah, at 10$ a stick, it seems as though maxing it out would be cheap, and then you think about how much memory you would actually need...
>>


dude, you should pimp it out. Get the 20 processors and max out the ram. How much are the processors?
>>


Anywhere from 15$ (40mhz) to 200$ (180mhz) each. It would be really pricey, and far beyond my financial means. What really would kick ass would be to get the Enterprise 3000 conversion kit which puts 30 UltraSPARC II processors in it, those go up to 480mhz and 8mb of cache each, that would cost a few hundred thousand dollars though.
 

dman

Diamond Member
Nov 2, 1999
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You've got $500 into it, to get what, $650 out of it? I don't think profit was the motive. ;) So, Really, did you just buy this for the collectability aspect or did you have another purpose? The power requirements have got to drive the electric bill sky high, and, you probably need some decent cooling as well.

I guess you could crunch SETI@HOME... but... I'd think $500 might go further with a Dual 1.2GHz MP T-Bird Setup. I have no idea what the WU times are for either setup though.

You've peaked my curiousity.


 

poopaskoopa

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2000
4,836
1
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I'm curious myself as to how it'd do in MATLAB sims. I noticed that 1Ghz x86s can smoke Ultra 10s and even Ultra 60s in some MATLAB sims. But hey, if you got 20 of those lil bad boys...
 

Diffusion

Senior member
Oct 19, 2000
467
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After much examination, it turns out that it has 4 50mhz processors with 2mb of cache each (SM51-2s), they are all SuperSPARC chips, which makes it a pretty decent machine. I intend to set it up purely out of general interest. I cannot afford big Sun machines that are new, so I guess the only thing I can learn on is older stuff. It has some really cool stuff, for instance, the entire machine is built as a rack, so you can drop in all sorts of things into it. On top of that, the power supply holds what looks like 16 SCSI harddrives, on top of the normal drives that mount below the processor module (where the 10 processor boards plug in). Unlike my Solbourne though, this machine is still usable (the Solbourne is another SPARC based minicomputer I have, it currently has 2 MicroSPARC processors and 208mb of memory, its a Sun clone, and the first line of SPARC-SMP systems made, but it runs a weird offshoot of SunOS 4 known as MP/OS), so I don't know what I will use it for. I could set it up with a network connection and use it to fool around with Solaris, but I don't think I have the money to run it 24/7. In regards to MATLAB, non-x86 systems often perform poorly on benches for a number of reasons, such as the lack of optimization for certain systems. In all honesty, wouldn't it be more fair to compare a 1ghz x86 system with a Blade 1000 class system? It seems to me that you are comparing Suns older stuff (that is now being phased out) with Intel/AMDs newer equipment.