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Dell Server vs Compaq Server

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by gus

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I'm looking for imput on which Rack mounted servers are considered to be best. Should we purchase Dell or Compaq. Our school is looking to purchase rack mounted servers (10) in the next few weeks.
Many thanks
Gus

11 replies

by bfilmfan

My answer depends on your environment's requirements.

Do you require a 5 9's environment?

Do you require excellent phone and on-line technical support?

Do you require easily located driver files?

If your answer is yes to each of these questions, then you should be purchasing HP-Compaq file servers.

Dell's are fine for small shops where max uptime is NOT a requirement. It has been my observation that Dell servers do not meet the engineered level of quality apparent in the HP-Comapq servers. Dell often changes motherboards and other components within the same model line without modifying the model number, which can lead to large headaches in locating the correct drivers.

by jdmercha

I can't argue with the uptime issue. Although I have found Dell to be reliable, I would admit that Compaq builds an as good or better machine.

But I take exception to the tech support issue. I have found Compaq's tech support to be pretty useless. Dell's support is not what it used to be, but it is still far superior to Compaq's. Especially if you have a premier account that connects you directly to Texas, rather than having to go through India first.

by jsh9448

I have worked with both Dell and Compaq (HP) rack mounted servers. Both are very well supported and parts come very quickly for each, but I would have to favor Dell servers as I saw fewer problems with them then I did with the Compaq units.
I also work in a school environment at Fairfax County.

by gus

I really appreciate the info. I presently have 45 Dell servers and have had excellent support and the machine are still running fine. I looking for information so I can endorse my decision not to change mid stream to another company.
thanks

Gus

by tim.doyle3

I'm rather new to the IT world at 24, but my experiences thus far have shown me that Dell is probably better than HP/Compaq. In my home I have a six year old Dell laptop that is running strong on WinXPPro, a four year old Dell desktop, and my wife has a two year old Dell laptop. For my money, I'd prefer to buy Dell. I recently purchased a Dell server for my work place and found the pricing to be the best for what our needs are. I can't wait til we start replacing workstations at work - good bye Gateway! :)

by psx

We've been using HP/Compaq for servers and Gateway for desktop and laptops for years. Not much complaint but not many praises either. We started looking to Dell since they started making headways into the small/medium business area. First came some desktops, then small servers, then laptops. Now, 2/3 of our servers and laptops are Dells, and we are slowly moving our desktops over to Dell.

Why? Reliability and price.
Being a small business, we are always looking to save money, especially when you aren't giving up quality and reliability (in general, I find Dell hardware to have better build quality than Gateway). However, because we are a small company, we don't meet Dell's $500,000/yr. mark thus we are relegated to the standard customer support available to all users with a small business account. Sometimes it's really frustrating, but only if you have problems with your orders or messed up your orders. I've found Dell's tech support to be pretty good.

Getting back to the topic at hand: We currently have 2 HP/Compaq Proliants and 4 Dell PowerEdges (1x2800, 1x1800SC and 2xSC1420). Despite costing only 1/5 of the Proliant's price, the 1420SCs are doing more work and are more powerful. Yes, they are not rack-mounted and are not as robust in terms of redundancy features, but for around $1300, our SC1420s have the greatest ROI in our network. The 2800s are looking to be very good mid-range machines also.

by ragingbull

I currently run 90 Dell PowerEdge servers - no major hassles really just infrequent, minor things that would in no way stop me buying them. Very stable good management with DRAC cards, easy to rack and support is very good on the server-side as long as you convince them you know what you are doing and have already done the noddy checklist they put you through! The website is one of the WORST around however, but to the main question - Dell or HP/Compaq. If I could justify the extra cost maybe I would look to HP/Compaq, but unless you are looking for 5 9s it's just not worth it. Stick with Dell - you won't go wrong!

by pmcgrath1

I knew dell servers had reached a major milestone when microsoft used them in there windows 2000 release show, banks and banks of them. I was very frustraded with compaq and how they configured their servers. I couldn't just order one with 2 sticks of 256 MB ram for instance. I had to have one slot filled with a 64MB stick, because thats how the base system came, then add the other 2 sticks filling up 3 slots instead of 2. Why? For along time, I could spend $400 and to turn on the built in RAID controller on a Dell or spend $1500 to get an addin card for the compaq. I undersand that has changed now, but for me it was too late. You won't make a mistake with either, but I think you will save some money with Dell. Watch out for the 1U servers, I have a 1750 and it makes a heck of a racket with the fans.

by sanjeevreddyallala

HP Compaq Proliant servers and DELL power edge servers both are shipping with Xenon processor(max 2 support), Backup power supply, SCSI interface(supports hot swappable SCSI Hard drives), sophisticated cooling system and 8 GB RAM support but when it comes to price DELL costs you almost double for the same specifiation of HP Proliant server.

Have a look at HP Proliant DL 360 G4 and DELL power Edge 1850 or other series servers. you can see the difference.

Note: upon starting HP Proliant server it makes considerable noise for 3 minautes, nothing to worry it will calm down later.

Cheers
San

by afzal_rao

we have used both brand servers but found the compaq more relialbe than dell. though it depends on model no too but as a general in the feed back from local professionals i can comment condfidently that compaq is better than dell

by hal 9000

And look at the real costs involved.

What is it going to cost if the thing falls over?

How long will it take to have fixed?

Is there a Service Contract with either systems?

When in doubt go with IBM as they just offer a better product and service for when things do go wrong!

Col

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