Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!dptg!rutgers!psuvax1!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!ginosko!uunet!algor2.algorists.com!jeffrey From: jeffrey@algor2.algorists.com (Jeffrey Kegler) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Workstation pricing, Sun vs. ISA Message-ID: <1989Aug30.204441.3294@algor2.algorists.com> Date: 30 Aug 89 20:44:41 GMT Reply-To: jeffrey@algor2.UUCP (Jeffrey Kegler) Organization: Algorists, Inc. Lines: 97 As you were warned, here is a comparison of Sun and ISA pricing. There are, necessarily, all sorts of qualifications on these number which make a direct dollar to dollar comparison difficult, and some of these are given after the numbers. Basic Setup, Sun Sun386i/150 RR150M-8-P11 $15,490 8Mbytes, 327 Mbtye disk, 1.44 Mbyte 3.5" diskette, documentation, UNIX, 20MHz 80386, 20MHz 80387, 19" monochrome monitor (1152x900) Basic Setup, ISA AST 386/C (20 MHz), 1MByte memory, 5.25" floppy 2,700 4MByte memory 1,600 4MByte memory 780 CDC Wren V hard disk, 383.3 Mbytes unformatted 2,300 DPT caching controller w/ .5 Mbyte memory 850 2Mbytes additional memory for DPT controller 850 Bell Tech (now Intel) System V, Release 3.2, w/ documentation 395 TCP/IP 245 X Windows 0 20 MHz 80387 475 Monochrome monitor (see notes) 95 Card for above 65 Bell Tech Instant Workstation board (IWS), Ethernet port, BLIT controller 1,495 BLIT Monitor 19" (1660x1200) 1,295 Logitech mouse 100 Total 13,245 Add-ons, Sun vs ISA Additional serial ports ISA (ACE 8 port serial board) 495 Sun, not available? 60M cartridge tape drive ISA 795 Sun (expansion chassis with tape drive) 1800 2nd 5.25" floppy drive ISA 150 Sun, not available? Notes: 1) The 60M cartridge tape drive for a single workstation installation is not really an option. To quote Sun's price list: "At least one tape driver per network is recommended (for disk backup)". 2) The ISA basic setup pricing includes a cheap monochrome monitor with card, because the machine will not boot without it. (Score one for Sun). 3) Using the 386i may not be the fairest thing to Sun (though they seem to be asking for it). As I understand it, the 386i will not boot DOS, and so one wonders why bother with an 80386? A major advantage of the ISA architecture is a ready resale market to power hungry DOS users, so that the 386i seems to offer all the many disadvantages of using a 386 with none of the advantages. If you are getting a Sun, you might as well get a nice 68000 or SPARC based box. 4) The BLIT monitor has about 2 megapixels, as opposed to one for the Sun. 5) The ISA setup has its price substantially increased by inclusion of a DPT caching controller. comp.unix.i386 is currently singing the praises of this beast, which gives an average seek time of about .5ms (yes that was half a millisecond), offloads much of the caching overhead from the CPU and has other nice features. I suspect for typical UNIX disk bound applications, this makes the ISA setup much faster than the Sun. 6) ISA prices are street prices, that is, prices actually paid for the stuff by me. Sun prices are from the April 1 catalog. Large discounts from the Sun prices are reportedly available, even for single purchases, while I doubt the ISA prices quoted can be much improved upon. 6) The observant will note two very different prices for the 4 Mbyte upgrades to the ISA machine. They were bought a few months apart and that accounts for the difference. It is interesting to note that the April 1 Sun price for 4Mbytes is $2000. Has this gone down since April 1? 7) I believe I could get a second disk drive (380Mbyte) for $2300. The Sun price for an additional 327Mbyte disk is $5500. Both prices exclude whatever expansion units are needed. -- Jeffrey Kegler, Independent UNIX Consultant, Algorists, Inc. jeffrey@algor2.ALGORISTS.COM or uunet!algor2!jeffrey 1762 Wainwright DR, Reston VA 22090