It's back! Dell SC420 server w/Celeron 325J and 40GB SATA $229 + free shipping

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AWWW fux0r! Dell won't take a Check or Money order, only a credit card. Might have to give a friend who has one the cash and have them buy it for me.


ozziegn: The PSUs will handle the load, but make sure the power at your home and/or office is REALLY clean, they're the cheap kind whose tolerances are within the covereage gap of most UPS's and surge protectors. I don't know how many PSU's I've replaced in Dell systems, but it's too damn many.
 
Mr_Evil said:
ozziegn: The PSUs will handle the load, but make sure the power at your home and/or office is REALLY clean,
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no worries in the power dept for me.

my little tower underneath my desk has always given me pretty good protection. ;)

desk.jpg
 
Mr_Evil said:
AWWW fux0r! Dell won't take a Check or Money order, only a credit card. Might have to give a friend who has one the cash and have them buy it for me.


ozziegn: The PSUs will handle the load, but make sure the power at your home and/or office is REALLY clean, they're the cheap kind whose tolerances are within the covereage gap of most UPS's and surge protectors. I don't know how many PSU's I've replaced in Dell systems, but it's too damn many.
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Is the PSU really that unreliable? Anyone else who bought this in December having problems with it?
 
Thanks for the link to mb picture Laforge thought it was the same as the sc1420 but i see its different.

This is a pathetic server at best, no pci-x slots, not even one and its called a server :confused:

im trying to decide how they will parts out on eBay, not much room to make anything :(
 
Sometwo said:
Is the PSU really that unreliable?
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No. But if you live an an area with thunderstorms and don't have a surge protector and/or UPS, you can pretty much fry any PSU.

Luckily it rarely rains here and power surges/brown outs are virtually non-existant.
 
`XSX` PC-Parts said:
im trying to decide how they will parts out on eBay, not much room to make anything :(
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surely I wouldnt think that someone's going to try to make money on ebay out of this deal cuz I dont think its gonna happen.

I myself ordered it because it does in fact have the PCI-E slot which is something that I've been itching to play with for quite some time. I'll eventually put something like an X800 XL in it but not anytime soon.

I plan on selling my current system and I'll still be coming out ahead by a couple hundred bucks. :cool:

yes, I know I'll be downgrading in equipment but thats okay. I've come to realize that having my 3.3GHz system with a soft modded X800 XT PE is slightly overkill for what I use my computer for which is mainly checking my email and doing my web surfing. :D
 
ozziegn said:
surely I wouldnt think that someone's going to try to make a money money on ebay out of this deal cuz I dont think its gonna happen.

I myself ordered it because it does in fact have the PCI-E slot which is something that I've been itching to play with for quite some time. I'll eventually put something like an X800 XL in it but not anytime soon.

I plan on selling my current system and I'll still be coming out ahead by a couple hundred bucks. :cool:

yes, I know I'll be downgrading in equipment but thats okay. I've come to realize that having my 3.3GHz system with a soft modded X800 XT PE is slightly overkill for what I use my computer for which is mainly checking my email and doing my web surfing. :D
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Ozzie.. this is laforge, you may remember me..

-- You have to seriously mod that motherboard or the video card to run a pci-e x16 card in it..

It's not a "graphics" slot.. (i.e. pci-e x16) it's pci-e x8

Even if you get the card in, it's only going to have 8 lanes to run the data over, instead of the 16 that the cards are meant to run on.

I really don't advise this mod, but, I mean, I'm not going to tell you *NOT* to do it.. I just wouldn't want to put an x800xt-pe into a motherboard that I dremeled into the card slot
 
yeah, I know about the 8 lane thingy but I'm not too worried about that because someone on another forum posted a link to a site that did testing between the 8 and 16 lanes and they said that the difference between the two was very minimal. almost to the point to where you could litterally not notice the difference.

as for modding the slot itself, another guy did it and he said it was a piece of cake.

either way, I "aint" skeered... I'll try anything once. :D
 
pxc said:
No. But if you live an an area with thunderstorms and don't have a surge protector and/or UPS, you can pretty much fry any PSU.

Luckily it rarely rains here and power surges/brown outs are virtually non-existant.
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Hmmm I don't have any problems turning it off during a thunderstorm, but whenever I turn on the vacuum in areas around my PC the lights dim for a second. I have a surge protecter but that doesn't protect against brownouts... I haven't had any problems with my other computers, but they have a reputable PSU. Do you think that could cause any problems with this one?
 
None of the pci-e cards out today even take advantage of pci-e 16x speeds, so you dont have to worry about running anything at 8x, especially if it is a 6600gt or something.
 
I bought one of these last time they were $229, in fact I started that last monster thread.

To answer some questions:

I got the 80 GB Harddrive option and I got a Maxtor drive.

The mod on the PCIe slot was cake. Don't use a dremel whatever you do. Get your hands on a propane torch and an x-acto knife. The slot plastic will melt REALLY easy as long as you got the knife hot enough. I am using an ATI x600 in my SC420, using both outputs for dual 19in monitors. I can game on it pretty good and it works fine for DVD playback with PowerDVD.

I am running Win XP SP2, with (2) 120 GB Samsung SATA drives in Raid 0.

I haven't had any issues with the Power Supply, but I have it connected to a 700VA APC Smart UPS (Thank you dumpster diving!)..

All in all I am extremely pleased with my $229 "desktop".
 
Ok, guys, on this link here http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/enterprise?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd it states that with this same MODEL u can get a FREE processor upgrade, so when u go here http://www1.us.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/outrageous_servers?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd and choose customize it, there is no OPTION anywhere to do the free processor upgrade. However, when u go here http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/promo.aspx/q1wk1_pedge_proc?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd it shows this.....Get a FREE processor upgrade with all PowerEdge Value SC420, SC1420, 800, 750 servers and PowerVaultTM 745N Storage!1 More processor power can boost network speed and improve overall productivity!

Does the free processor upgrade pertain to this OUTRAGEOUS deal, or is Dell just a crock of crap with there deals?
 
You could always email dell SB and see if they will hook you up...stranger things have happened.
 
I am so tempted to use this to replace my old compaq p2 desktop server running windows 2003 server / ftp / vpn. 350gigs.

Maybe later on tuesday i'll order it, have to see if anyone discovers any cool combos first.
 
just tried to call, of course, to late, its 11:20 pm here
 
Well that's crap! Didn't that commercial with the guy in bed calling dell say they are there all the time? Liars!!!
 
Tin_10 said:
tech support is open, however, sales isnt
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FSCK that! it's 11:35:52 AM in New Delhi
zzzZZZzzz
try getting some help from those guys though. LOLz ;)
 
bought one... will pick up another if they do the free proc upgrade or double ram thing again : )
 
well, after doing some more investigating and forum reading on other forums, I decided to cancel my order.

I read that some people had problems trying to get their x-16 cards to even run correctly at x-8 speeds w/o having hardware issues or conflicts so I just decided to say screw it.
 
Jeebus, the mods here should blow up the search link. It should totally be google sized at the top of every page. Another 4 pages of the same freakin questions...15 pages here we come.
 
joecool234 said:
Jeebus, the mods here should blow up the search link. It should totally be google sized at the top of every page. Another 4 pages of the same freakin questions...15 pages here we come.
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No offense, but you know you're spamming the thread by complaining about the questions, just as much as the people who are asking them. No one and I mean no one here has spammed the threads more than you. Stop it.
 
ozziegn said:
well, after doing some more investigating and forum reading on other forums, I decided to cancel my order.

I read that some people had problems trying to get their x-16 cards to even run correctly at x-8 speeds w/o having hardware issues or conflicts so I just decided to say screw it.
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I thought the same thing, but decided to order it anyways the second time the deal popped up.

Newer systems don't seem to have the problems that some of the early systems did. Plus some of the problems are related to sloppy slot cutting, A00 BIOS revision and just general Shleprock-type users. ;)
 
Unless you are in need of a gaming rig, there is no reason why lack of 3d graphics should sway anyone from buying this machine. If you are unsucessful in adding an x16 video card, simply return it and buy a PCI card instead (if 3D graphics are imperative). The parts alone in this machine are worth more than $240 (well they were with the double memory free deal). This rig makes a killer fileserver and general purpose workstation. I can get my porn twice as fast on this rig with the celeron than on my dually P3 1GHZ rig!!!

I have already purchased a Promise SX4 SATA Raid5 controller. I am waiting for prices to drop a bit on the 250GB hitachi drives, but when they do I will have .75TB of available, redundant storage. Its just incredibly unfortunate that this server doesn't have 66MHZ PCI slots or a PCIx slot. I have yet to find a reasonably priced PCIe raid5 card. I found one, but it was close to a grand I think. Regardless...I will soon be able to archive my Tivo recordings, permanently.

Oh, and for the record...I only "spam" as a means of discouraging people from posting repeat questions and the like.
 
is it still worth buying if i want to change out the mobo and stick it in a different case that i have sitting around.

since i don't think the mobo in this thing would mount correctly without moding my new case.
 
EnderW said:
according to FW, this deal is only warm
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?start=0&catid=18&threadid=432017
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fatwallet is full of resellers and what's considered "hot" (price mistakes sold way under cost) is usually pretty unreasonable.

Since the server has been cheaper in the past, it is only a "warm deal". That's despite no sign that it will ever be cheaper again. Late last year's prices had to do with easing Intel's inventory.

Whether it's considered warm or hot at FW, it doesn't matter. For $229 you get:

heavy tool-free case and 300W PSU (at least $45 on pricewatch)
E7221 server motherboard ($234 on pricewatch)
Celeron 325J, heatsink and 3 year warranty ($85 on pricewatch)
256MB ECC DDR2-3200 DIMM ($71 on pricewatch)
black cd-rom ($10 on pricewatch)
40GB SATA HD ($62 on pricewatch)
keyboard and logitech mouse ($10-$15 for both on pricewatch)
1 year of on-site service

even building something similar with a non-server board/non-ecc memory costs more than $229. Make up your own mind if it's a good deal or not.
 
Flavorite said:
is it still worth buying if i want to change out the mobo and stick it in a different case that i have sitting around.

since i don't think the mobo in this thing would mount correctly without moding my new case.
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Getting this case to work with another mobo will take some ingenuity. If you look at the corner of the board, you will notice a single cable that attaches to the chassis. This cable houses wires for the front usb ports, power switch, and hdd light. If order to get the power switch to work with another mobo, you will have to find which connectors on the chassis pcb connect to the switch. The same goes for the hdd light. More than likely, you will not be able to get the front usb ports to work (without even more ingenuity).

On the other hand, you could possibly try a different Dell mobo. I believe the mobo for the Dimension 8400 has an identical chassis connector (and of course it has a true x16 slot).

P.S. Rock on pxc!!!! Couldn't have said it better myself.
 
pxc said:
fatwallet is full of resellers and what's considered "hot" (price mistakes sold way under cost) is usually pretty unreasonable.

Since the server has been cheaper in the past, it is only a "warm deal". That's despite no sign that it will ever be cheaper again. Late last year's prices had to do with easing Intel's inventory.

Whether it's considered warm or hot at FW, it doesn't matter. For $229 you get:

heavy tool-free case and 300W PSU (at least $45 on pricewatch)
E7221 server motherboard ($234 on pricewatch)
Celeron 325J, heatsink and 3 year warranty ($85 on pricewatch)
256MB ECC DDR2-3200 DIMM ($71 on pricewatch)
black cd-rom ($10 on pricewatch)
40GB SATA HD ($62 on pricewatch)
keyboard and logitech mouse ($10-$15 for both on pricewatch)
1 year of on-site service

even building something similar with a non-server board/non-ecc memory costs more than $229. Make up your own mind if it's a good deal or not.
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Yeah, I agree it's a good deal. And FW is kinda weird sometimes - they jump all over things I consider warm and ignore things I consider flaming hot.

Anyway, nice find and good luck ;)
 
I'm just about to place the order but a guy here says he can't even play a divx movie fullscreen with the onboard video card without getting 10fps. http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?start=20&catid=18&threadid=432017
That sucks, I don't play any games, but I do watch movies. I guess you can pick up a PCI card for $30 or so... but just how bad is the onboard video? Is text crisp? What is the supported resolution/refresh rates? I thought I read it somewhere but I just searched all the related threads for "resolution" and couldn't find it. I already have severe eyestrain, and don't want to get another video card unless I have to.

What did you guys put for these fields when you check out? This deal appears to be for bussiness only and they are required.
Company Name
Carrier name
Account# with carrier
Method of delivery
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I'd hate to place an order and find out it was rejected after the sale is over. And if anyone knows of a way to get out of paying tax lets here it :)


Also don't forget to select the free Tape Media,IDE,Travan40,20/40GB,1 Pack which is disabled by default. How much would that go for on ebay?
 
I can't tell you what refresh rates are available, but i can tell you what I am using...1280x1024@75Hz. 2D texts looks absolutely phenomenal on my Dell E193FP.

Look, ANY program that requires hardware acceleration will run incredibly poorly if at all. If you need hardware acceleration that bad, simply drop in a PCI card. NV5200 comes in PCI cards, just cruise through ebay. If you aren't satisfied with the performance, put it back on ebay and mod your x8 slot. Drop in an x16 card, and if it works...great. If not, put that back on ebay as well as the rest of the parts from your system. If all goes well, you should turn a profit.

Dell should really clarify what is meant by "Can't be used as a desktop." Wanting to watch a DIVX file doesn't necessarily warrant desktop use. They should explicitly state "Has no 3D acceleration, therefore not ideal for desktop use." I'm sure they would sell just as much, if not more systems by simply saying that.

P.S. When it came to having my system shipped, I simply had it shipped to my work address with the company name. As far as courrier, leave it blank (that's what that little red asterisk is for). And has anyone actually checked the "item is intended for resale" box? If they don't require additional proof, that should be a means of eliminating the tax. Resellers don't have to pay sales tax for things they buy, only on the things they sell.
 
I bought one, Dropped 4 more Hard drives in it, Moved it to a corner and use it as a remote NAS device.

Works well
 
Devilotx said:
I bought one, Dropped 4 more Hard drives in it, Moved it to a corner and use it as a remote NAS device.

Works well
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So do you have a total of 5 drives in the system? This is what I plan on doing, but was concerned the PSU couldn't source enough current. Also, please enlighten us on where you placed the hard drives. I want to put:

(2) in the hard drive cage
(2) in the 3.5" cage
(1) in the 5.25" bay

Is that how you did it? Also, what do you have the hard drives plugged into? Are they SATA or PATA?
 
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^^hot if you're going to upgrade the memory and hard drive anyways
 
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