Some previous-gen versions of these have fallen into the price range that an individual could plausibly buy. For example, here's a used 152-core, 608GB RAM vers

Some previous-gen versions of these have fallen into the price range that an individual could plausibly buy. For example, here's a used 152-core, 608GB RAM version for AU$10k: http://www.ebay.com/itm/SGI-ALTIX-4700-76-DC-itanium2-1-6-608GB-ram-w-cables-and-rack-/221382347884 http://www.ebay.com/itm/SGI-ALTIX-4700-76-DC-itanium2-1-6-60... Unfortunately, the power usage is ridiculous, something like 20 kW. That's what typically makes old big-iron impractical. At the mid-range, used hardware is even cheaper: you can pick up old 12-core, 48-GB-RAM Itanium boxes for the cost of a Chromebook (~$200-300). But they take so much power that you don't end up saving anything over buying a dual-Xeon new, at least if you keep it on. Also, everything is very heavy and a hassle to move.