HP (HPE) or DELL (servers) ???

[343]

So, I will preface by the fact that I am not "new" to (physical) servers myself (I have had both HP and Dell servers before) BUT I am currently curious as to what people's "brand loyalty" may be to actual server machines!

So, which is "YOUR BRAND"!? HP (HPE) or DELL

You can say "why", or not; doesn't necessarily matter. I am currently looking at two different models that are pretty much spec'd the exact same and my decision will probably pretty much come down to whether I want the HP/HPE variant, or the DELL variant...

(annd goo)!!!

Thank you all!

~~~ UPDATE/ADD ~~~

Well, after reading a whole bunch of other sites/reviews/comments/etc on this matter I must say: I am leaning toward Dell already! They are SO darn similar and both (like Chevy/Ford or 9mm/45ACP) have their downright "fanboys" too..! But it does appear there are a good (high) number of people saying that the Dell's just "seem" more reliable... .. .

One of the big "factors" though that I am seeing is that HP(HPE) has their BIOS/firmware updates "hidden" behind a PAYWALL!!! That is, you have to be under a service contract or some poop in order to get updates... Granted I have also read that they have apparently changed that as of the Gen10's or newer (I'm also looking at models well before that time frame)!

So, I am certainly leaning Dell so far... .. .

On the other hand, people say the out of band management is better on the HP's... .. . Dell's iDRAC vs. HP's iLO

I also recall seeing something about a similarly spec'd Dell & HP, the HP would consume less power/electricity (not by a whole lot I'm sure but enough that someone felt the urge to point that out)! Overall things like that, it may not make a big difference month to month say, but if it's about $140 /year difference!! So while ~$12 /month isn't really a deal breaker, just goes to show that one (at least of the specific generation compared) actually operates more or less optimally... .. . Enough so that it would cost you roughly $140 more or less per year... .. .

I am still interested in your vote! When it comes to stuff like this I NEVER impulse buy, I research things to DEATH before committing to something like this! (it may actually be 6 months or more before I make this next purchase)!

Hover like and Hit GHOST for HP/HPE
Hover like and Hit FIRE for DELL

 

[Anndralgon]

To me that sounds like you should try getting more details on whether the increase of electricity usage is heavier than the contract..

 

[343]

Electricity will work a little differently for me though too. Not that it will not matter, but it will not matter in the same way.

See, for me, I live 100% off-grid. I am my own "power company", that is, I am 100% on solar. So, it's not like I have a "bill" monthly (like most people). However, it could still "matter" to me because with being off-grid on solar, the more I use with one thing, is the less electricity that's available for something else !!!

So, it matters, but it doesn't; yet it does, just, in a different way !!! !!!! !!!

Annd, I would NEVER pay/subscribe to get "updates"; that's just wrong! I don't care if it was ONE penny per year, on principle alone I would NOT do it... .. .

 

[Espionage724]

Dell, heavily!

• They provide generic BIOS files flashable without Windows
• They offer the option to buy computers with Intel ME disabled
• They provide instructions on how to do BIOS recovery
• They provided me Premium support on a XPS I bought off eBay no-questions asked, fixed a screen issue I had for free, and even upgraded it from 1080p to 4K
• The free hardware I've gotten from a friend who works at a nearby major IT company has all been Dell Optiplex and laptops; nothing else

I have no notable positive experience with HP, but they did manage to screw a printer of mine briefly by locking out non-geniune cartridges with a firmware "update".

 

[343]

Yeah I am leaning Dell right now for sure. When I first built a "home lab" it was mainly some (now) really old Sun Systems V20Z's. I ended up getting so many of them I picked up a decent 42U server rack/cabinet for them all ROFL. That was back when I was in an apartment in the mid-west! We literally never had to run the heat/furnace in the winter, because all of them generated enough heat ROFL.

But anyway; I ended up grabbing a couple HP and Dell units too, and didn't really get an adequate time frame with them before the woman I was with and I broke up... They've been in storage ever since and I know now they're REALLY not worth anything... Plus now that I am in the FAR south-west of the country, I am 100% off grid now too so, I am thinking ONE decently powerful machine will be a LOT better than a whole bunch of crappy machines LOL!

So far I am eyeballing the Dell R630 with 2x Xeon e5-2667v4 CPU's and 512GB of DDR4... IF hp was to be a consideration I would probably go for the DL360 G9 of the same CPU and RAM setup...! Still fighting myself on getting a 1U or 2U or 4U. I was also leaning 1U so I could maybe even just run it on top of my refrigerator (LOL). 2U or 4U would of course afford me more "room" in them (more drives etc) but, I also don't plan on having a full rack like I did back in the day either... Because I know me, if I did, I would have to "fill" it LOL So a 1U may just be the best bet for me moving forward... .. .

 

[343]

~~~ UPDATE/ADD ~~~

Well, I have officially pulled the trigger on my (a) new server! The thread can continue if anyone wishes to provide any input/votes but; I am/will be (once it arrives) the proud owner of a nice new (to me) DELL R630 w/ 2x E5-2690v4 CPUs and 512GB of DDR4

Thanks all who gave some input !!!

 

[Eiskalt]

~~~ UPDATE/ADD ~~~

Well, I have officially pulled the trigger on my (a) new server! The thread can continue if anyone wishes to provide any input/votes but; I am/will be (once it arrives) the proud owner of a nice new (to me) DELL R630 w/ 2x E5-2690v4 CPUs and 512GB of DDR4

Thanks all who gave some input !!!

Hell yeah, dude, congrats on the new machine! Sucks to be late to the party, but I don't have much loyalty, per se, but I'm most familiar with running HPE, and previously IBM systems, but I've been working with a Supermicro system lately, though it's a work in progress as it's an 8 node machine crammed into a 4U chassis, and everything with servers is expensive as all hell, even with me using even older hardware standards.

If I had the money to do so, I'd spring for a couple 64 core EPYC processors that Chinese server farms have been offloading onto Ebay and slap them into a custom build and probably not need another server for a really long time, but even at their heavily discounted prices, I can't afford to pull the trigger on that idea.

Anyways, best of luck to you with the new server! Be sure to keep us posted with how it works out for you!

~Eiskalt

 

[343]

Well, I am on a roll now! Not only did I buy the one I mentioned above; I also found THIS deal on eBay, so, I HAD to grab a few of those for myself too. Sure they're older - but still going to be pretty darn decent machines (depending on what you wanna use em for).

Good server deal (IMHO) ~ 2x e5-2667v2 & 512GB of RAM (ONLY US $356.99)

Anyone looking for a "good" server; here is a "DEAL" I found on eBay. Only FOUR left!Different configs are actually available. I have the bookmark set to bring you to the 2x e5-2667v2 w/ 512GB of RAM (iDrac express [no more enterprise available]) and NO rails. Feel free to configure more for...

forum.ragezone.com

So now I have the R630 coming and a small handful of those R620 models too

 

[Eiskalt]

Ayyy, sick! I'm still rocking an older HP ProLiant DL360p Gen8 as my production machine, but I've upgraded it over time to where it's good enough for the applications I need to run on. Currently configured, it's got 2x Xeon E5-2697v2 and 768GB (24x32GB) DDR3 ECC LRDIMMs installed, so it can handle most of the game development shenanigans I throw at it.

Eventually, I'm hoping to configure the Supermicro system I've got, and slap some QSFP28, or maybe QSFP56 compatible networking into each node of the system and create quite the spicy resource pool with up to 16x Xeon E5-2697v2 and maybe I'd even spring for 64GB DDR3 LRDIMMs for it to maximally provide 4TB of RAM (256GB per processor) to the system, though that may begin to get me into the price-range territory of just buying those 64 core EPYC chips from China and building a single-node monster instead of jumping through all the hurdles to network and cluster my Supermicro machine. We'll see, I suppose.

Right now, I'm fine with running everything I need to on my HPE system, so my crazy ideas for the Supermicro machine may simply remain as ideas, rather than actual plans haha. I guess I need to see some gamefile leak that both piques my interest, as well as exceeding the current abilities of my current machine. Time will tell...

Anyways though, I'm glad you were able to snag some good deals and do keep us posted on how the new hardware works out for you!

~Eis

 

[jack.hummer]

So, I will preface by the fact that I am not "new" to (physical) servers myself (I have had both HP and Dell servers before) BUT I am currently curious as to what people's "brand loyalty" may be to actual server machines!

So, which is "YOUR BRAND"!? HP (HPE) or DELL

You can say "why", or not; doesn't necessarily matter. I am currently looking at two different models that are pretty much spec'd the exact same and my decision will probably pretty much come down to whether I want the HP/HPE variant, or the DELL variant...

(annd goo)!!!

Thank you all!

~~~ UPDATE/ADD ~~~

Well, after reading a whole bunch of other sites/reviews/comments/etc on this matter I must say: I am leaning toward Dell already! They are SO darn similar and both (like Chevy/Ford or 9mm/45ACP) have their downright "fanboys" too..! But it does appear there are a good (high) number of people saying that the Dell's just "seem" more reliable... .. .

One of the big "factors" though that I am seeing is that HP(HPE) has their BIOS/firmware updates "hidden" behind a PAYWALL!!! That is, you have to be under a service contract or some poop in order to get updates... Granted I have also read that they have apparently changed that as of the Gen10's or newer (I'm also looking at models well before that time frame)!

So, I am certainly leaning Dell so far... .. .

On the other hand, people say the out of band management is better on the HP's... .. . Dell's iDRAC vs. HP's iLO

I also recall seeing something about a similarly spec'd Dell & HP, the HP would consume less power/electricity (not by a whole lot I'm sure but enough that someone felt the urge to point that out)! Overall things like that, it may not make a big difference month to month say, but if it's about $140 /year difference!! So while ~$12 /month isn't really a deal breaker, just goes to show that one (at least of the specific generation compared) actually operates more or less optimally... .. . Enough so that it would cost you roughly $140 more or less per year... .. .

I am still interested in your vote! When it comes to stuff like this I NEVER impulse buy, I research things to DEATH before committing to something like this! (it may actually be 6 months or more before I make this next purchase)!

Hover like and Hit GHOST for HP/HPE
Hover like and Hit FIRE for DELL

I've been keeping up with this discussion, with interest. I have had my share of experiences working with both HP and Dell servers in environments. Here's what I think;

Dell Servers;

Reliability; Based on my experience Dell servers have proven to be reliable. I have encountered hardware issues compared to HP.
BIOS/Firmware Updates; One thing I appreciate about Dell is their user policy on BIOS updates. It's convenient to access updates without needing a service contract.
Customer Support; When it comes to dealing with server issues I have found Dells support to be more responsive and helpful.

HP Servers;

Power Efficiency; HP servers are known for their power efficiency, which can be crucial for long term deployments.
iLO Advantages; An area where HP stands out is their Integrated Lights Out (iLO) management system. It offers robust remote management features that server administrators find useful.
Build Quality; Overall the build quality of HP servers is impressive. They perform well in demanding environments.

These are my observations based on real world encounters with both brands. Each has its strengths that can cater to needs, in scenarios.