When you guys buy dedicated servers to rent out, which do you prefer? I'm trying to figure out what servers are worth investing in.

The problem is servers get outdated everyday. Someone told me that even the RaQ4's are going to be outdated soon. For smaller companys that can't afford to have big stocks of multiple types of servers (p4s, celerons, raqs, etc. a la RS) which do you think will attract the most customers?

A server isnt outdated until its outdated for your use. there is no problem using a raq 3 today if thats all you need, likewise a 486 will handle most unix apps and run a few websites very well.

Steve

RAQs have their own niche in the dedicated server market. But you could also offer P4s or athlons for those who need higher processing power.

all depends waht your going to do with it. i'd go with the dual p3 if i had my choise though or single celeron....

Originally posted by arjun
... Someone told me that even the RaQ4's are going to be outdated soon.

I thought that they were already outdated. Are they still making those?

Buy the best hardware that you can get for your budget. There's no easier way to decide.

If you're asking about what is the best for your budget, then you have to compare the prices and learn a little about the hardware.

I would never recommend a RAQ.

why not?

Originally posted by arjun
When you guys buy dedicated servers to rent out, which do you prefer? I'm trying to figure out what servers are worth investing in.
Depends what you need them for. I'm extremely happy with our current servers, but if I could go back and change them, I'd probably go for Dual P4 chips, 3*36GB SCSI drives with RAID5 config. Maybe more ram too. 3GB top quality RAM would be sweet. But you're pushing the price up a fair bit with that config. This means more accounts per server or dearer accounts per server. This being if you populate servers as per the revenue each server generates etc...So many factors and variables to consider here. :)