Dell vs. HP - lifetime

[hortonhearsawho]

Hi,

I am looking for some opinions on a dell vs. hp model comparison. More specifically the dell gx270 vs. the hp dc7100. These pcs would need to be on 24x7 in a callcenter environment and I am wondering which is a better pc for this use and which has a longer life expectancy on the hardware.

thanks.

 

[paparazi]

I had to check the date of the post then.....just to make sure it wasn't a clitch in the system and I wasn't replying to a 4 year old thread.
Not being funny but this is OLD technology, who knows how long it will last, or how many more months the capacitors have got before they pop.
Both aging Intel P4 based 500 series (bunsen burners) with tiny cases and inadequate cooling. these HOT CPU's mounted on Intel 865/915 chipset motherboards based on defunct PC3200 memory.
I'm guessing someone else out there can fulfill your requirements with far superior AMD X2 Dual cores paired with a decent reliable and fast 690/780V chipset, chuck in a gig of DDR2 for only a little more than you are going to spend now but end up with something twice as fast, cooler running and more reliable.
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep

 

[cdogg]

I am not familiar with the gx270, but I am VERY familiar with the dc7100 from HP. It is a slim model design that is easy to disassemble and repair when needed. It's been out for over 3 years, so it is becoming a bit obsolete for some applications. Maybe that doesn't apply to you. I agree that the PC3200 memory is kind of an odd pairing considering that its dc5100 cousin uses DDR2.

On the bright side, this one doesn't run that hot. The dc7100s have a Pentium 4 90nm Prescott that runs fairly cool for the most part. Because of the compact design, however, you do need to clean the case once a year to keep the temp and noise down.

With all that said, don't waste too much money on it. If you can, start with a new hard drive and at least 1GB of PC3200 running dual-channel. You'll get the most performance and life out of it if you do. A fair price range for it is $75 to $125.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[hortonhearsawho]

thanks for the feedback - I know these are old pcs I need to decide between the 2 however and I am leaning towards the hp. The only concern here is which one will last longer if they are kept 24x7. The specs on them are ok for what I will be using them for. Only concern is which will last longer in terms of the motherboard. Thanks again.

 

[cdogg]

We have about 300 of these models in place where I work. Many of them run 24x7. Out of the 10-15 that had to have major repairs the past 3 years, most were due to failing hard drives or power supplies. There might have been one or two that needed to have the motherboard replaced. That's pretty standard numbers and nothing out of the ordinary.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[edfair]

I usually am negative WRT HP because of power supply issues in the past on the little stuff and bullish on Dell but the GX270 SFF would scare me for the same reason.

The dell SFFs are running $50 to $75 on ebay in no-bid mode. Retail $149 today as I was looking for one for parts.

Either one would probably be OK if you can get them with legal OS, which probably will be off-lease.



Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[goombawaho]

I think that unless the motherboards fail, your only issues are power supplies or hard drives failing and that has nothing to do with Dell vs. HP. They will all die EVENTUALLY.

I'd look at whether the power supplies are A) easy to replace in a hurry and B) standard ATX power supplies. Then, if you have some hard drives and some power supplies on hand - no worries, maybe 3 hours of down time to reload Windows. But if you had an image of the hard drive - 30 minutes down time.

Those are the real life-limiting components of PCs - power supplies and hard drives. If you need better reliability, you're going to look at a server type of platform that has RAID for the storage and redundant power supplies.

You don't get 24/7 reliability from a PC. Well, maybe for a few years....... then, boom. Something will die.