Sun Microsystems has polished off its cheapest and likely most attractive Opteron-based workstation to date. The hardware maker today introduced the world to the Ultra 20 a one-way (one socket) box that starts at $895. That price has to please a lot of Sun customers who complained when the much higher-end W2100z amd W1100z workstations arrived, costing thousands of dollars. With the Ultra 20, Sun is really delivering some of the price/performance benefits associated with x86 chips to the developer crowd.
Sun is really back in the game. They have finally started realizing the benefits of open source and proprietary software development methods and are using both to their advantage. They also have realized how much x86 chips have advanced. With their 1-2-3 combo punch of their new, high-performance, affordable hardware, their new advanced Solaris OS utilizing the best open source software, and their already stellar support/consulting services, they really do seem to be running on all cylinders. A word of advice, learn Solaris. It’s a free download, it runs on your system, and there are excellent documentation for it.
Looks like a nice system. I am fairly knowledgable with hardware, but does someone else want to do a side by side comparison with this system from penguin computing?
http://www.penguincomputing.com/products/workstations/tempest2100.p…
First of all, on the Sun machine, Solaris would be removed promptly and replaced with Debian or possibly CentOS (please, no flame wars, just a personal preference). So the fact that the Penguin Computing computer doesn’t ship with Solaris doesn’t matter.
I also don’t care about brand name.
Just a comparison of the systems (the Penguin Computing system is more expensive but also seems to have more…like support for more hard drives).
Also, Penguin Computing will still support the system if you install an unsupported OS (such as something like Slackware) as long as it doesn’t damage the hardware (I emailed them and asked). Is Sun this easygoing about stuff like this?
I bought one of the W2100z workstations they were selling on ebay last fall. I’ve got it dual-booted with Windows XP and Solaris 10. It’s a solid system with SCSI, dual Opteron 246’s and 2GB of RAM that I got brand new from sun for less than $2000.
Chicks dig it.
Sun really doesn’t care what operating system you put on it. They don’t “officially” support Windows, but they’ll still support the hardware. For the W1100z/W2100z systems they have a web page where you can download the Windows drivers if you want to swing that way.
http://www.sun.com/desktop/workstation/w1100z/downloads.html
I’m sure they’ll do the same thing for the Ultra 20.
… I want one
The subscription pricing is too good to pass up. You get all the OpenSolaris development tools, Sun service and support for $29.95 a month per box.
Comes with Raid 0,1 with SATA. Might make a nice low end web server as well as a development machine. We shall see — ordered one today to test.
I am moving my customers over to OpenSolaris little by little, it’s much cheaper for them than RH.
I am moving my customers over to OpenSolaris little by little, it’s much cheaper for them than RH.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just move them to CentOS or Debian? It wouldn’t require changing the underlying OS (well, sort of with Debian, but not to the extent as it would with Solaris).
500 $ more for a Quadro NVS 280 and another 512 MB of RAM, that’s a little pricy right?
“I am moving my customers over to OpenSolaris little by little, it’s much cheaper for them than RH.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just move them to CentOS or Debian? It wouldn’t require changing the underlying OS (well, sort of with Debian, but not to the extent as it would with Solaris).”
I would guess by the fact that his customers use RedHat, it means they want a “supported” Unix/-like system. As to why he is migrating them to “OpenSolaris”, it doesn’t make sense since at the moment, OpenSolaris is just a kernel like Linux. I’m guessing what he really meant was that he is migrating them to Solaris 10 (since he did mention that it’s cheaper than RedHat and not free.) I think just all the excitement about OpenSolaris got in his head so he meant Solaris 10 but instead typed OpenSolaris.
500 $ more for a Quadro NVS 280 and another 512 MB of RAM, that’s a little pricy right?
Also comes with a AMD Mod 148 (2.2GHz) instead of AMD Mod 144 (1.8GHz), not too bad, but pretty much full retail I guess.
Is this a glimpse into Galaxy and Bechtolsheim’s work? Anyone know? This workstation has PCI Express and ECC RAM…for under $1000!
Looks like a sturdy and handsome unit. I wish them luck.
Oops…it’s the $1300 model that has ECC RAM.
It says 90 days no risk trial for the machine!!! I may just order myself one to “test out” (quotations indicate I’ll probably love the machine and just end up keeping it and paying it off :-P).
Does the $30 USD mean for the whole computer…or is that just the services stuff? It probably says right there, I’m just braindead today.
This machine is interesting to me, as I am looking for a new machine to replace my Macintosh. However, I know NOTHING about AMD processors.
Can anyone give me an opinion on the value of Sun’s machine compared to non-Sun AMD options?
Thanks!
Think it offers great value, I would surely buy one if I were to change workstation. Just be sure not to buy the basic model if you ever need to do any 3D Stuff .
Good job Sun.
Way to go Sun!! <3 *love* !:”#¤%%&¤
I don’t see this coming from Apple
/me applauds.
500 $ more for a Quadro NVS 280 and another 512 MB of RAM, that’s a little pricy right?
So buy the basic unit and customize with whatever video card and memory you want. SUN hardware has always been top notch i hope they contiune the tradition with their PC workstation line. I want one as soon as i can afford it.
I think it’s a glimpse into a generic white box. Any modern AMD64 system supports ECC and PCI Express.
hey that machine looks pretty damn good. not exotic but simple yet slick.
Just a comparison of the systems (the Penguin Computing system is more expensive but also seems to have more…like support for more hard drives).
I don’t know about any one else’s experience with tempest boxes but our company had a HORRIBLE experience. We had around 50 1U servers from them, they all failed within two months of each other. They would fry the motherboards and in the process kill the IDE controllers so we could not get anything from the drives. It was a very bad experience. They ran fine for about three years then this suddenly happened. All of them were mission critical servers also.
I would not recommend a Tempest machine to anyone. YMMV
I don’t know about any one else’s experience with tempest boxes but our company had a HORRIBLE experience. We had around 50 1U servers from them, they all failed within two months of each other. They would fry the motherboards and in the process kill the IDE controllers so we could not get anything from the drives. It was a very bad experience. They ran fine for about three years then this suddenly happened. All of them were mission critical servers also.
I would not recommend a Tempest machine to anyone. YMMV
Thanks for the tip! Good to know
I was considering a Tempest, but the basic Sun Ultra 20 + The extra Nvidia card I have lying around – Solaris + Linux (again, please, no flame wars, personal preference, blah blah blah) is essentially the Tempest minus all the extra crap I don’t need. For instance, I very highly doubt I need a computer capable of holding 4 hard drives and 16 GB of RAM. Like that is going a little bit overboard for a desktop. Plus, even though I don’t normally care about brand name, after what you said I think I’d have more piece of mind going with a Sun workstation.
Anyways, thanks everyone for the great tips!
BTW, I have a couple of questions but I’m too lazy to call/email Sun right now, where are those Sun employees that normally lurk around OSAlert???
Very sleek, bold design. Hm… I was saving up for the holidays… oohh.. the temptation. And I could really use a new workstation!
Does this mean my Ultra 30 workstation is now faster than an Opteron-based Ultra 20?
Maybe Sun is listening to users? The U20 looks like a pretty resonable configuration/price.
I tried to compare to other offerings, but couldn’t find anything from “major” computer makers that use the AMD 100 Series Opteron…anybody know of an “apples to apples” comparison for this computer configuration?
IMO, it’s a very positive move by Sun, good job!
now if they could release a chaeaper SPARC box i would be thrilled
If it is built anything like the w2100z, I’d buy it. I have one of the dualies and I love it. Way to go sun.
> now if they could release a chaeaper SPARC box i would be thrilled
Indeed their Sparc boxes have long been overpriced. I’d like to switch away from x86 and I am hoping they would release a reasonably priced (<$3000) Niagara based workstation soon.
Is there any other desktop platforms available beside
AMD and Intel? From what I’ve been reading, majority of the 64bit processors from HP and others are being discontinued. It’s a shame that some of the best processors are being wiped out.
With the virtualization capabilities in next generation x86, there will be little need for SPARC except for in Sun’s version of the mainframe. Price/performance of x86 beats every single other chip architecture out there.
If Sun switched Niagara to x86, they’d have a multi-billion dollar business unit right there.
But Sun is never a company to see the obvious.
I don’t think Niagara would be good in a workstation. 32 threads is nice, but each one isn’t going to be as fast as a single-threaded CPU for desktop tasks.
Where Niagara will really kick ass is web servers and application servers.
As far as cheap SPARCs go, Sun does sell new ones for about $1000, but they aren’t very fast (650MHz). You’d be better off getting a Blade 1000 used for about the same price. That’d get you a higher clock rate (750MHz/900MHz), FC disks, and 8MB CPU cache.
I don’t think Niagara would be good in a workstation. 32 threads is nice, but each one isn’t going to be as fast as a single-threaded CPU for desktop tasks.
I am sure each processing unit won’t be as fast. But 32 of them would surely be faster. A 32 way Pentium III should outperform a P4, don’t you think? I am really curious as how much of Sun’s claims as to Niagara performance is hype.
Modern processor design and manufacturing requires billions in expense. Therefore I tend to believe only Intel and IBM could invest the amount that is required to stay in the game. I wonder what Sun has up in their sleeve and how they’re planning to compete with Intel and IBM.
That said, I think IA64 is hell of a design feat. Now that most of the Alpha team is working on it, the newer generations could disperse the doubts. I wish it takes off and succeeded in its original goal unifying the server processor market. Maybe the newer generations will prove Intel’s claim that at the same price point an Itanium will be twice as fast. And enthusiasts would have other viable options than just x86.
Really nice, and the case looks a bit like the PowerMac G5.
Really nice,
I think I may just have to buy myself a present soon. I particularly like the fact they have dropped legacy agp and ps2. Overall this system looks like excellent value and is a lot less hassle for running Solaris than my current p4. So it’s available in the US, how long until it hits the Australian market?
good work guys.
To bad it isn’t available to those who live outside the US
“now if they could release a chaeaper SPARC box i would be thrilled”
Indeed their Sparc boxes have long been overpriced. I’d like to switch away from x86 and I am hoping they would release a reasonably priced (<$3000) Niagara based workstation soon.
Niagra would be crappy for generic computing, its all about throughput; workstations need FPU grunt and throughput, something Niagara would suck big time at.
With that being said, a SPARC64 + completely PCI-E isn’t too far off considering that on one of the blogs there is mention of someone working on a JBUS -> PCI-E driver, so obviously they’re going to use that as the future.
While you can buy the Ultra 20 flat out just like any another bit of hardware, Sun also has a much weirder pricing option. Customers can pay $30 per month over three years ($1,080) and get the system, Solaris 10, Java Studio Enterprise 7, Java Studio Creator and support. This package full of Java tools is meant for the developer crowd.
After paying US$30 per month, over three years, does that mean we own the machine after three years? is that strictly for developers or can hobbiests sign up for it?
I think most definitely yes. It’s not a lease contract, it’s a purchase of hardware and software, with support.
The $30 are for the support, right? And the workstation itself is ment to be free, right? So, does this include the Opteron 152 box?