[plug] decent INTEL SMP boxes in Perth?

[John Summerfield]

> Thanks for the feedback so far guys.
> 
> My research to date ...
> 
> The SGI 1400L is rumoured to be around $14k (informal verbal "guestimate"
> from SGI engineer - please do not quote) for a single 500MHz cpu quad
> capable system, no monitor. On the other hand, single 550 MHz cpu dual
> capable system from Dell for example comes in at around $6.6k with a 21 in
> monitor (or cheaper even depending on options - don't want NT for example).

You cannot compare these machines with clock speed; the clock speed means 
next to nothing in this context. The machines have different 
architectures; they have different instruction sets, they do different 
amounts of work in each clock cycle.

If you have some representative programs, compile them and run them on 
each machine on the short list. If it should happen you need two Dells to 
match one SGI, the comparison's not so simple.
-- 
Cheers
John Summerfield
http://os2.ami.com.au/os2/ for OS/2 support.
Configuration, networking, combined IBM ftpsites index.