Rolling Your Own Business Desktops?

mike asks: "I'm mulling the logic of my company building its own desktop computers. As the IT Manager (plus sysadmin, janitor...) of a struggling-yet-thankfully-still-alive dotcom, money is really tight. We have around sixty ~400MHz desktops which are increasingly showing their age. Acceptable P4 systems from the big guys run at least $1000. By recycling the OS (Win2k), case, cdrom, floppy, and K/V/M, I figure I can assemble a good AMD system for about $600. That's a 40% savings. Is it worth it? The cost difference could very well determine whether this project proceeds or gets put on the back-burner again."

"Some negatives about rolling my own:

• Management: I won't get the special business features offered by some manufacturers. Dell's OpenImage, for example, looks awfully nice. But how much does that really buy me in a company of 60 machines? I don't use such stuff now; am I missing out on nirvana?
• Time to build: Even though we'd leverage Ghost wherever possible, handmade systems nevertheless take time to build, load, & configure.
• Supporting different platforms: Because money is so tight, I can at best afford a capital replacement rate of 25%-33% (15-20 units) per year. That means I'm committing to the support of 3 or 4 different platforms. Having just one platform is great, but how many companies, even ones that actively strive for it, truly enjoy that luxury? I inherited two platforms (Micron & Gateway); support isn't that bad. With proper planning, I don't see why we can't support four.
• Hardware quality: How much can I trust a popular Athlon chipset in a business environment? I feel silly bringing this up because I have a few Athlon systems at home, each with a different chipset, and they've been nothing but rock solid. But I know the lack of a really good chipset has been a large contributor to why AMD's aren't more prevalent in the business world. (well, that and long term bullying by Intel).
• I don't get a proven, prepackaged system that works right out of the box.

Positives of rolling my own:

• Cost savings. Plain & simple.
• Increased horsepower per dollar spent.
• By choosing my own equipment (mobo especially), I suffer fewer OEM shortcuts.
• I have to admit that I'd enjoy the pure geek satisfaction of rolling out 'my' creation to the company.

So is it worth it, or am I setting myself up for disaster?"

For those that are curious, Ask Slashdot did an article on the AMD issue, here.

Comments

AMD vs. Intel

[atrowe]

Most business desktops are built around Intel processors. AMD does not have much of a market outside of the enthusiast croud. Many businesses are hesitant to use AMD processors, and you may want to consider some of the reasons behind that decision. AMD processors generally run hotter and require more power than their Intel counterparts. This isn't a big deal for most home users, but in a business with a large number of computers in a relatively small amount of space, the additional heat output and power requirements could become a significant issue. Also, AMD CPUs are not considered to be nearly as reliable for mission critical applications. They may work out fine in the average desktop, but in a server environment where uptime is more crucial, AMD chips simply have not proven their reliability, whereas Intel chips have built their reputation upon years and years of usage in a real-world environment. There is also the issue of application compatibility. You never know what kind of weird bugs might crop up when you're using a CPU that is not 100% x86 compatible such as the Athlon. Intel DEVELOPED the x68 standard, and their processors are guaranteed to be fully standards-compliant. I'm not saying that AMD's are useless. They are certainly cheaper than Intel processors, but like the old adage goes, you get what you pay for!