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SME (Sun MicroElectronics) did exactly this in the 1990s. You could buy a standard ATX motherboard with an UltraSPARC II and PC DIMM slots on it. It was calle
by hapless 12y ago
SME (Sun MicroElectronics) did exactly this in the 1990s. You could buy a standard ATX motherboard with an UltraSPARC II and PC DIMM slots on it. It was called the Ultra AXmp.
Unfortunately, the internal cost structure was such that the Ultra AXmp cost only a few percent less than a "proprietary" workstation/server from the parent company.
The moral of the story: sticking a high-margin, low-volume chip in a commodity board doesn't put it on a commodity cost basis.
- mindcrime 12y agoYeah, I was gonna say earlier, but got distracted... it would also help if one could call up IBM (or a reseller) and actually buy a POWER chip - for a reasonable price - to plug into said motherboard. In the end, it's the entire ecosystem... it's either affordable and accessible or it isn't. It's sad that IBM keeps coming out with pretty cool hardware (Cell, POWER, etc.) that nobody can afford to get convenient access to. :-(
- TheCondor 12y agoAlpha and sparc both had moderately affordable hardware (atx boards and such). Outside the geeks, what's the compelling story? I owned a couple of those devices, fact of the matter was you paid more to be on an isolated moderately performing island. To be interesting, you need an Atx board or something with a better chip at the same price or the whole thing has to be cheaper. Basically, when cell came out they should have put ps3 spec workstations on the market for $300 or maybe even less. One thing arm really does right is low cost.