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Equipment price 'new vs. used' comparison examples for ZDNet article 'Shopping at the second hand server store'           

 

The examples and links provided here are for example purposes only, and do not constitute any endorsement or recommendation.  I have no relationship with any of the vendors or brands shown.

Due to the great variety of configurations and generations of equipment available, it is nearly impossible to find 'exact matches in new equipment' for some things, but I've tried here to find some 'good matches' to present as examples.

 

Items available on Ebay, or recently purchased by me, used ( I do not sell equipment, and these are not for sale by me ) Comparison to similar new unit in November 2009 Savings

Dell SC1425 - $ 285 ( originally ~ $ 2,500, new product from Dell in 2005.   )

                        64 bit, 1u rack format

                        2 ) Processors - Dual socket 2.8 Ghz Xeons, 800 MHz front side bus

                        8 GB ECC DDR2 RAM

                        500 GB SATA HD

                        2 ) GB NIC's

I recently bought this server for a client via my local Craig's list. 

The seller, a local IT company, had 10 - 12 available.

   

Dell SC1850 - $ 350 (originally ~ $ 3,500. )

                        64 bit, 1u rack format

                        2 ) Dual socket 3.2 Ghz Xeons

                        2 ) Dual hot swap power supplies

                        2 ) 73 GB hot swap SCSI disks, onboard RAID

                        4 GB ECC DDR2 RAM

                        2 ) GB NIC'S

I recently bought this server for a client via my local Craig's list. 

The seller, a local IT company, had 10 - 12 available.

   
Example – $ 3,000   A 2 year old Dell box with dual-socket quad-core 3.2 Ghz Xeon's and 32 GB RAM ( nice box for VM's ! ), SCSI RAID, redundant PS, etc.  New equivalent - ???  10  times that much ?  Or 8 times that much ?     
Dell 42u rack  $ 500, including free shipping        LINK HERE ( Ebay )

As found on Ebay, search key "Dell 42u rack', front and back panels included

New from Dell $ 999 plus shipping  LINK HERE

Shipping on a rack like this is often ~ $ 150 - 200, for a total cost of $ 1,350 or more new from Dell

For apples-to-apples comparison, I customized the Dell configuration to not include side panels, thus the price I show here is $ 999, not $ 1,199 ( with side panels from Dell )

 

 

$ 500, plus free shipping

63 % savings from new

 

DELL PowerConnect 2724 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch  $ 125  LINK HERE ( Ebay )

Delivers full wire-speed switching across all ports and web-managed features
Dell-designed switch ships as an unmanaged switch, but can be easily set up as a web-managed switch with the push of a button
The 2724 has 24 gigabit Ethernet ports. In addition, the 2724 has two SFP slots in a combo port arrangement with the 23rd and 24th gigabit Ethernet port
24-port Gigabit Ethernet PowerConnect switch includes features not usually found on unmanaged LAN switches, such as integrated front panel LEDs and cable diagnostics
PowerConnect 2724 supports maximum switching capacity of 48 Gbps

Dell PowerConnect 5424  $ 679   LINK HERE

Similar 24 / GB switch

$ 554 savings

81 % savings from new

Dell PowerConnect 3448 ROW 48 port Ethernet Switch $ 229  ( + $ 13 shipping )

NEW TJ930 Dell   LINK HERE ( Ebay )

48 10/100BASE-T auto-sensing Fast Ethernet switching ports
Additional 2 Copper GbE ports PLUS 2 optional Fiber GbE via SFP transceivers
Integrated Copper GbE ports provide resilient stacking

 

 

Dell PowerConnect 3548  $ 469 + shipping  LINK HERE $ 240

51 % savings from new