Juan, On 4/6/06 7:01 AM, "Matthew Nuzum" <mattnuzum@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> Apart from that since I will only get this one chance to >> buy a new server for data processing I need to make sure that I buy >> something that can grow over time as our needs change. I don't want to >> buy a server only to find out later that it cannot meet our needs with >> future database projects. I have to balance a limited budget, room for >> future performance growth, and current system requirements. Trust me it >> isn't easy. > > Isn't it about time we had our annual "what kind of server can I get > for $8k" thread? Based on Juan's description, here's a config that will *definitely* be the fastest possible in an $8K budget: Buy a dual opteron server with 8 x 400GB SATA II disks on a 3Ware 9550SX RAID controller with 16GB of RAM pre-installed with Centos 4.3 for $6,000 here: http://www.asacomputers.com/ Download the *free* open source Bizgres here: http://bgn.greenplum.com/ Use bitmap indexes for columns with less than 10,000 unique values, and your system will fly through 100GB. This is the fastest OSS business intelligence kit for the money, guaranteed. - Luke
