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At current RAM prices, one can build a cheap 2U SuperServer with 144GB of ECC DDR3 1333MHz RAM, a single quad-core 40W 2.13GHz Westmere processor, a 10gig-E car
by rbranson 15y ago
At current RAM prices, one can build a cheap 2U SuperServer with 144GB of ECC DDR3 1333MHz RAM, a single quad-core 40W 2.13GHz Westmere processor, a 10gig-E card, and a 4GB CompactFlash drive for ~$4,000. Assuming the server has a 3-year lifespan and costs ~$4,000 to power, cool, house, network, and administer, that's around $0.0021/GB-hr considering 143GB of it is usable. Double that to ~$0.0043 for redundancy, and they could charge $0.02/GB-hr and make a healthy profit.
Edit: Note that a lot of that profit gets eaten up in underutilized capacity, this is just a simplistic analysis.