Why are hosts so fond of P4's? Are they recycling hardware?
 

Many hosts are currently offering Pentium 4 based hardware that's the same on a server I ordered 3 or 4 years ago. Why is this processor still so common? Are they reusing older servers?

I ordered a P4 based server only a few months ago and notice it uses an Intel ICH6 controller... this chipset was released in June 2004, and a motherboard I purchased recently has an ICH9 chipset. Unless the manufacture of this hardware is conservative (sticking to one design for a longer period than with consumer products) I'm guessing I've been delivered second hand hardware.

Comments?

probably because so many webmasters choose their host based on pricing

I guess I would say from the outset that the use of such hardware would be most likely re-use of older assets. At face value despite the fact that there are many newer, better processors like the core2's, quad cores, etc... the P4 Hyperthreaded and Pentium D processors are still very competent for a lot of web applications. For those doing small amounts of transfer and not doing tons of scripts and databases this architecture will be suitable for years to come. The only other thing I would say is that it's prudent for hosts to do things like pro-actively change out hard drives for servers that have been in service for a long period of time. At the end of the day, price clearly drives most usage of these types of servers (and the older Xeons too).

Brad

I installed some SMART tools to read the power on hours of the HD... it comes to 4.7 months which is pretty much as long as I've had the server. I didn't expect the HD would be second hand as it's a 160GB SATA, if it was as old as I suspect the motherboard is then it would have cost a fortune when it was new. :Graucho

ya i was wondering too... they will use them until they die lol, which will take a long time....

bump for more comments

I think most hosts want to avoid just having the hardware just sit in there warehouse collect dust so they offer bargain price with decent bandwidth Package. Most web apps can run on these p4's provided you put some t.l.c. I've seen most webmaster reuse it for thumbnail servers.

The p4 was out for a looooong ass fucking time. Theres just so many of them out there and they were so widely used. If you are going for a cheap plan, expect a p4. If you are a pornmogul, expect a newer chip

anything less than core2duo is bleh :)

I had a Pentium 133 with 2GB HD and 5GB transfer from about 2002 to about 2005. It was a real webhost, but they offered bargain basement obsolete hardware as an option. :) Cost me $35/mo, I used it as a secondary DNS.

Our P4 3.0, 2MB cache are actually brand new. You see P4's because there is a low budget market that can only be served with cost efficient servers.

That's good to know. :winkwink:

I had assumed that P4's were obsolete but I see they still appear to be a current model on the Intel website.

http://www.intel.com/products/proces...ium4/index.htm

You learn something new every day...

Hi Brad,

What about other mechanical parts such as CPU/PSU/exhaust fans? If one of those fails then you slowly (or not so slowly) cook everything. :Oh crap