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I was pretty shocked that they're asking $18k for a workstation and hoping to get $3.7 million total. I was rather excited for it but this project is stillborn

by jff 10y ago

I was pretty shocked that they're asking $18k for a workstation and hoping to get $3.7 million total. I was rather excited for it but this project is stillborn in my opinion. I may end up having work order one of IBM's basic dual-Power8 systems, which are only $6k: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/s821lc/index.html http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/power/hardware/s821lc/index.ht...

ploxiln 10y ago
I think it's odd that they offer no cheaper workstation configuration - that $18k price includes maxed-out ram, a higher-end workstation class graphics card (32GB ram on the card! much cheaper workstation cards exist), and an LSI SAS controller card instead of using built-in sata3. A more minimal configuration could probably shave $10k off the price (but maybe they thought it wouldn't make sense to pay $8k for a minimal config).
- cmdrfred 10y ago
  The first Tesla's were very high end weren't they? Maybe the next model will be cheaper.
- dublinben 10y ago
  I agree, but they do offer the option to buy just the motherboard and the CPU.[0] [0] https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/power8-cpus https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/power8-...
- tpearson-raptor 10y ago
  Hi, Timothy here from Raptor Engineering. As mentioned on a different comment, we are investigating adding a lower-spec machine to the lineup due to popular demand. We had not anticipated the level of demand for a pre-built workstation with a less powerful configuration. Most likely, this new configuration would scale the RAM down and replace the high-end workstation GPU with a mid-range consumer card. More information will be posted to the campaign page when we have this option available.
ChuckMcM 10y ago
Kind of what workstations used to cost, took me back to the 80's and my time at Sun. The key here is all open. From mass storage to memory to boot you can "own" the entire system. There is no way to build that at any where close to this price with existing x86 machines. Just negotiating the NDA alone to have access to the TCM area of the chip would probably be $50K in lawyers fees. That said, I had the same thought at you, $18K ? Really? Who are they kidding? And then I thought about my PC purchases over the last 12 years. I've spent about that much (granted I did so by upgrading and replacing systems every 2 - 3 years) But my last system is now 4 years old and frankly not really in that much need of replacing. Personally I think IBM should fund this and order 200 work stations for one of its engineering teams. Get their feedback on it. Would be an interesting experiment for them.

by jff 10y ago

ploxiln 10y ago

I think it's odd that they offer no cheaper workstation configuration - that $18k price includes maxed-out ram, a higher-end workstation class graphics card (32GB ram on the card! much cheaper workstation cards exist), and an LSI SAS controller card instead of using built-in sata3. A more minimal configuration could probably shave $10k off the price (but maybe they thought it wouldn't make sense to pay $8k for a minimal config).

cmdrfred 10y ago
The first Tesla's were very high end weren't they? Maybe the next model will be cheaper.
dublinben 10y ago
I agree, but they do offer the option to buy just the motherboard and the CPU.[0] [0] https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/power8-cpus https://www.crowdsupply.com/raptor-computing-systems/power8-...
tpearson-raptor 10y ago
Hi, Timothy here from Raptor Engineering. As mentioned on a different comment, we are investigating adding a lower-spec machine to the lineup due to popular demand. We had not anticipated the level of demand for a pre-built workstation with a less powerful configuration. Most likely, this new configuration would scale the RAM down and replace the high-end workstation GPU with a mid-range consumer card. More information will be posted to the campaign page when we have this option available.

ChuckMcM 10y ago

Kind of what workstations used to cost, took me back to the 80's and my time at Sun. The key here is all open. From mass storage to memory to boot you can "own" the entire system. There is no way to build that at any where close to this price with existing x86 machines. Just negotiating the NDA alone to have access to the TCM area of the chip would probably be $50K in lawyers fees. That said, I had the same thought at you, $18K ? Really? Who are they kidding? And then I thought about my PC purchases over the last 12 years. I've spent about that much (granted I did so by upgrading and replacing systems every 2 - 3 years) But my last system is now 4 years old and frankly not really in that much need of replacing. Personally I think IBM should fund this and order 200 work stations for one of its engineering teams. Get their feedback on it. Would be an interesting experiment for them.