Is there anybody out there, or am I a wee bit early?

Ok, given the choice, would you rather go for one of the AMD XP's, or the Compaq DL320 (400 GB bw)?

The AMD will be faster, but the extra 512Mb RAM offered with the Compaq's might be required on a busy web server. Ensim will be removed - so that does not come into play at all ...

Whichever way, I can't wait to get my hands dirty!!

personally I would choose Compaq over AMD everytime (if that was the only two choices), just my opinion................

I think all their servers have 400 GB transfer now.

I would never ever spend one buck extra for the name of Compaq over any no-name box.

Take one apart (like I do regularly in my job) and you'll see that the quality in a Compaq is no better than any other box. The only time you might find a slight edge is if you have to run a M$ "operating system" in which case the Compaq's are supposedly a little more compatible. You can then argue who is compatible with who, if M$ software is 'tuned' to Compaq or vice versa.

Anyway as these are Linux servers it's really irellevant.

I know a lot of people here can't wait paying extra for brand name products so prepare for some red-hot counter arguments.

I would say if you were to get a compaq box, you have the advantage of advertising your hosting services on 'Compaq Servers' which, in a way, plays on brand awareness. People may feel more inclined to pay for hosting on such servers, rather than brand x or unbranded.

But otherwise, like afriq says, there is little difference in how they perform and their reliability - assuming that the WBL's have been built from fairly reliable parts. Buying a branded PC is supposed to give you that guarantee.

By the way, I am going to get a compaq server and resell my current Raq4i. But, when it's my money I am using to buy a server, I would build it myself EVERY time.

Just my two cents
The company i am working for right now only sales compaq servers and its accessories. Basically specialize in dl320,dl360 580 and 380. The *KEY* issue with Amd is Heating. SPecially with 1.5 and above . I ve lot of friends who actually assemble pcs and all they are saying is u better have proper control over heating. Good point about compaq is that you have to realize NAME BRAND. Compatibility issues. and key thing Reliability Ever heard of any known bugs in compaq as compare to AMD systems...... I would personally pick compaq with 7.1. Remember guys we are not talking about PCS..... If you are running a webhosting company you Definatly have to go with compaq Its the Name and quality. By the way answer i ve a question for Mr Madsere. IN your job do you open compaq PC or compaq server. FYI there is a lot more differnce in parts then what u r saying. First major differecen is that compaq has ACTUAL 64BIT bus. Plus there overall processing power is better then an ordinary pc.
If not call comaq and find out your self. We basically sell more than 50 compaq server a week. DL360 more likely and i do know the difference.

Quicksols, I dont want to get into a mud slinging competition with you about whether or not Compaq's are the bees knees. I have worked with PC's since IBM released the original PC in the late seventies -- and "mini" computers before that. I am not a dumbo.

I have taken computer systems apart for long enough to know what I am talking about. If your marketing department and other advertisement has convinced you that brand name is important then thats just too bad, because technically there is generally no reason to pay more for a brand name.

The only argument I accept is the one presented by "projectandrew" that a brand name may be a selling point for marketing purposes.

I think the biggest difference in a Compaq and a WBL is the remote management tools that Compaq makes available..... like: http://www.compaq.com/manage/remote-lightsout-pd.html

I wonder if these models have the second processor/power supply to make use of these features? The software is downloadable. RS could eliminate any box related support costs if they did. The admin could do just about everything remotely (including hard reboots and OS restores) without RS being needed. RS then just has to provide/maintain bandwidth and electricity. How's that for plug and play?

After the management tools, comes reliability. Compaq didn't get to be number one on name alone. The extended the technology gained from the DEC acquisition to their server product and that has made them number one in reliability.

Well, brand names are important to a person like me....

I know that compaq desktops built for the home use the cheapest and not so well branded parts out there and tend to break or perform poorly.

That is my exp with compaq home machines. When it comes to workstations (deskpro etc.) they are decent but not too awesome for the price.

But when it comes to servers, compaq is simply awesome. High quality parts with awesome stability and as mentioned DEC's former staff .

I'm still not going to buy the compaq as Rackshack probably doesn't use unreliable and ultra cheap components (like compaq presarios eek).