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From: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com (George Robbins)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix
Subject: Re: 5800 Upgrade -- Some Oddities in Pricing
Message-ID: <10701@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 7 Apr 90 20:18:16 GMT
References: <5260@itivax.iti.org>
Reply-To: grr@cbmvax (George Robbins)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA
Lines: 36

In article <5260@itivax.iti.org> scs@iti.org (Steve Simmons) writes:
> Thanks much for the postings, George.  Being the moderately
> proud owner of a 5810, I was most interested in the SMP and
> upgrade data.  Some of the number struck me as most odd, tho.
> Pulling things apart and putting them together, we get:
> 
> >      - DECsystem 5810 $75,000
> >      - DECsystem 5820 $115,000
> >    o Upgrade Prices:
> >      - DECsystem 5810 to DECsystem 5820 upgrade -- $50,000
> >      - DECsystem 5820 to DECsystem 5830 upgrade -- $50,000

> What's wrong with this picture?
> 
> It's probably cheaper to buy a second 5810 and cannibalize it than
> to buy a second CPU for a 5810.  With the cannibalizing you get
> 
>   o  an additional 32MB of ram, 

Note that the upgrades traditionally do include a processor and 32MB of RAM.
Other than that, it's obvious that the upgrades are priced a bit on the high
side - $50K for what is in incremental $20K in a system configuration reeks.

Buying a 5180, stripping it and letting the carcass go to someone with a
handful of 6210 CPU boards would be kinda fun although a second system would
be nice too.

> If we ever go to negotionate an upgrade with DEC the negotiations
> are gonna be *fun*.

Exactly my sentiments...

-- 
George Robbins - now working for,     uucp:   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!grr
but no way officially representing:   domain: grr@cbmvax.commodore.com
Commodore, Engineering Department     phone:  215-431-9349 (only by moonlite)