After discussing with many people I have decided to spend more money and go Ampere Altra.
There is a plan to organize group purchase on basic Altra systems:
We estimate price to be around 1300 EUR. Looking at used cpu/ram and new motherboards (there is no market for used yet).
Who wants to join? EU only.
(I am aware that most people here already has hardware or access to it)
Great choice. I’ve been running ALTRAD8UD-1L2T with Q64-22 for months without any trouble.
I would not call it ‘great choice’. It is ‘pragmatic choice’ as I need some Arm system which does 4/64KB page size and is not SBC floating around the desk.
Would love to have something more modern instead but there is nothing to choose from at this price range (which is already above my planned 1k€ limit).
I don’t want to muddy the waters, but are you wedded to boards? Arm Mt Collins 2U systems an option? I know home users (myself included!) typically don’t have the facilities to rack a server.
I live in a flat, do not have noise isolated room for servers.
So AsRockRack is the only choice - fits most of computer cases, can work with 120-140mm low speed fans etc.
I thought that might be the case - but I wanted to check (and if anyone else does have an interest in a 2U Altra or Altra Max, reach out, I can offer a very good deal).
As I was asked: ASA Computers has a deal, while stocks last, for 2P Q80-30 systems, in a 2U Mt. Collins system, with a 960GB SSD and 2x16GB of RAM, for $2500 (ex VAT, delivery, other applicable taxes) while stocks last.
As @hrw said, the goal is to get board+CPU in the range of €1k, so that we can get RAM/disk/heatsink for an extra ~300. I tried to make some inquiries to get lower prices for a group order for ALTRAD8UD-1L2T + Q64-22 but so far the discounts were ridiculous (like 10€/system). Getting used server DDR4 3200Mhz 8x16GB DIMMs (for total of 128GB) is quite easy and possible to get for ~€200. Add a 512GB nvme disk for €20-€30 is also doable and the heatsink can be found for about €50 (not the Noctua, the other one). The target price should be ~1300 or at least not that much more.
Even though I really like my Ampere systems (I have 2, would definitely buy at least one more), by today’s standards a Q64-22 is quite low performing and the retail price of €900+ (1) is hard to justify. So, we would really ask you to consider (as Ampere) to do a generous promotion/discount of these CPUs. Even better do a bundle of the Asrock Rack board + Q64-22 for 1k -not more than that.
(1): https://smicro.eu/ampere-altra-q64-22-64c-2-20ghz-32mb-95w-ac-106409502-5
Did you folks try Server Factory yet?
https://serverfactory.com/asrock-altrad8ud-1l2t.html
Getting stuff from UK to EU was easy. Then brexit happened.
+23% VAT on a border? Other fun with customs?
Anyway from quick check looks like they do not ship outside of UK.
Yep, figures. We’ll maybe be back in one day.