[Adium-devl] Hardware plans

[Evan Schoenberg]

Quoting Chris Forsythe <chris at adiumx.com>:

>
> On Aug 23, 2007, at 6:57 PM, David Smith wrote:
>
>>
>> On Aug 23, 2007, at 4:53 PM, Evan Schoenberg wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Aug 23, 2007, at 7:23 PM, David Smith wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Aug 23, 2007, at 4:17 PM, Peter Hosey wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On Aug 23, 2007, at 16:03:49, Evan Schoenberg wrote:
>>>>>> 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM
>>>>>
>>>>> Would this be expansible to 4 if we find that 2 GiB isn't enough?
>>>>>
>>>>> If so, then that'd be good to start. If not, let's order it with 4,
>>>>> on the principle that too much is better than not enough.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Apple claims 2GB max; I suspect that's just due to the very high
>>>> prices of 2GB dimms, but I wouldn't be surprised if the real max was
>>>> 3GB. I'd say go for 2G. I run IntelliJ + 3 browsers + 3 chat
>>>> programs
>>>> + Mail + etc... on 2GB, and it's generally fine. I like this plan.
>>>
>>> The real max is indeed 3 GB.
>>>
>>> According to the performance benchmarks from Other World Computing
>>> [1], XBench performance is best at paired 2 GB, Halo is best at
>>> paired 2 GB, and all Photoshop tests are best at paired 4 GB with
>>> unpaired (1 GB + 2 GB) 3 GB a very, very close second.  (Paired is
>>> better performance than unpaired for this chipset, all else being
>>> equal).
>>>
>>> We could go with 3 GB for $179, or with 2 GB from Apple for $135
>>> (which turns out to be a pretty competitive price for 2 x 1 GB).
>>> I'm inclined to think that XBench is a better measure of
>>> compilation speed -- the most intensive task the system will be
>>> performing -- than Photoshop filters. Seem reasonable?
>>>
>>> [1] http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/
>>> iMac_and_Mac_mini_memory_performance_testing
>>>
>>> -Evan
>>
>> I'm inclined think that XBench is BS, actually :/
>>
>> 3GB for $179 is pretty hard to turn down though... I had no idea
>> prices had fallen that far.
>
> Who's going to put 3 gb into the system and is that apple memory?

It would be whomever ordered the system - presumably me.  It would not  
be Apple memory since the max Apple offers is 2 gb.

> We're getting apple care, so if we get third party that would make
> shipping a box to NR and having them ship that to apple a lot tougher
> since the NR technicians would need to pop the box open to remove the
> non-apple memory and throw in whatever default we get from apple in
> there.
That's a really good point.  The minimal performance gain is not worth  
the extra hassle. Specifically, any hassle that a developer has to go  
through takes away from the utility of the box.

> I'm inclined to go with whatever apple provides as the max in the
> store configurator, and leave it at that, for every device we
> purchase. The max for a mini on the store is 2 gb. Since we fully
> intend to get more machines, we can move services around as required.
> NR is going to have to mount a tray into a rack in their rackspace,
> so we'll have room to grow since a tray will accommodate more than
> just one mac mini. As David said, his mini can do a lot. If we're
> going to use it to host the random SEE document and be used as a
> buildbot and we find that it's using more than it should be, we can
> move things around.

Okay, end of this round of the discussion - thanks for pointing out  
the Applecare angle, Chris.  I'll be ordering the Mini as described  
earlier in the thread tonight.  I'll use my education discount unless  
someone has an ADC discount they want to donate for use -- and if that  
person only has one to donate, please hold onto it for the eventual  
XServe addition :)

-Evan

----------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.