I am buying a Dell with the following config:

Dual 1Ghz PIII
2GB RAM
2 - 36GB SCSI with RAID 1 config

My question is which one should I buy. The 1550 is 1U and will sell at about $5300. The 2550 is a 2U and sells at about $5500. The difference also is the 2550 also comes with Dual redunent power supply, 128MB RAID instead of the 64MB in the 1550, and I hear 2Us can stay cooler than 1Us. So in your opinion which one do you think I should get?

It would seem like the 2u model is a better buy, with dual processors and all those drives, more pwoer is a good thing. Of course many co-location centers charge 50-100% as much for a 2u in which case you may want to stick with the 1u. However, unless you are going to save a good deal on hosting every month, the extra few hundred dollars for more power (redundant power infact) and the bigger controller card is a great buy.

On a slightly sepeate note, if you don't mind... why dell? Have you checked some of the other server companies (dell is great, just wondering if there's a extra reason why you choose them).

They are both great servers!

The 2550 gets you 2 extra drive bays (and you can put in a tape drive in the 2550) and you can run redundant power supplies (as you noted).

You can upgrade the PERC RAID card in the 1550 to 128 MB if needed.

Word of advice, buy the Seagate drive and the Micron memory elsewhere. You will save a lot of money :)

I'm with Mike, especially on the memory. Get the lowest you can and go to www.crucial.com and get the rest there. You'll save a bit of money.

On topic of Crucial ram...
Anyone know why the DDR 2100 went from $28 for 256MB to $53? This all happened in about 1-2 weeks.

So everybody thinks I should go with the 2550?

Sure! :)

Let me second (or third?) what others have been saying about the memory. I foolishly bought a 1550 and got a gig of RAM which cost me an additional $800. Later I smartly bought a second 1550 with the same configuration but 128MB RAM, and bought a gig of RAM from Crucial for $133. So I saved about $670.

Ya but if you install the RAM youself or you don't use Dell ram doesn't that void the support and warranty?

Originally posted by netsolutions
Ya but if you install the RAM youself or you don't use Dell ram doesn't that void the support and warranty?

no, that would be like if you switched the mouse on a computer and it voided the warenty...

Let me do the math

1550 < 2550

:stickout

we use 2550s. We've been extremely happy with them.

Can you tell the difference between a Dell server and a regular server? I never had a Dell server before so I don't know. :cool:

We have racks of 1550s and 2550s and they are great! They are very stable and we get a lot of compliments on their speed. They are built very well with great components.

The 2550 would be the better server if you have multiple drives, and want to upgrade in the future. The case is twice the size (2u, lol) which does allow air to flow through / circulate better and keep everything cool (it can get pretty hot with multiple SCSI HD's in a 1u / 2u server).

Regards
Matt