Upgradeable Vendor PCs

dave-lew99

dave-lew99

dave-lew99

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Joined
14 Apr 2008
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1,230
Location
Manchester
Hi all,

I'm in the process of speccing some boxes for a client at work and this time we really want to use off the shelf PCs as the base box both to save our time and to help avoid support issues.

The problem is that we need systems we can put some sort of hot-swap caddy into the front (we've used the IcyDock bays before and they've been alright) as well as a x16 graphics slot and a x4 slot for the Adaptec card.

Does anyone know off-hand a HP/Compaq/Dell box which has all of that or am i destined to trawl the web forever? :p
 
I may do actually, see what they say, but i think we're going to end up going down the self build route or what i'm trying to do is get them built for us by someone who will provide a warranty and support etc.

Trouble is we want boxes which have PCIe x16, x4 and normal PCI slots as well as very good cooling and room for 4 HDs or so, they may go in harsh environments too.

I've made my recommendations and i'll see how it goes, the normal workstations we supply will be off the shelf but plus a proper graphics card and a PSU upgrade but the other boxes are a bit more special.
 
what sort of hot-swap bay are you looking at? as in how many bays are you expecting it to take up? if its the sort of thing that just allows you to quickly change one drive out then even the basic dell precision workstations will accomodate your requirements (as they have x16, x4, regular pci, and can take up to 4 hard drives). if your looking at the icydock things that fit like 3 hard drives into 2x 5.25" slots, or 5 into 3, then i can see the problems you are having since there arent many workstation cases (other than the ones available on here!) that are capable of taking such things. i'm cautious at suggesting this, because it is for a business by the sounds of it - and i always advocate getting stuff with proper 3 year on-site warranty in these situations - but why not get ocuk to quote you for some custom workstations. the product range is great, and looking at other forums where they are posting pictures of the builds - they look to be of a very high standard. good luck! :)
 
We'd be looking at 3 drives in 2x 5 1/4 bays.

I didn't realise OCUK did custom jobs - i'll certainly look into that, we're trying to keep costs down but if the client wants it they'll have to pay for it! :p

Some of our competitors do all their own hardware building - including custom case designs and so on, in the future we may do something similar and just employ a full time system builder with one or two support engineers (we have to look after other none-IT hardware at client sites too)
 
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