🚀 go-pugleaf

Am I the only one who has noticed that nearly every time Dell submits their
crappy servers for benchmarking to tpc.org or Microsoft for Exchange testing
that they have to use a third party RAID controller?

That's right. They use Mylex every time. Can you buy Mylex in your Dell
server? No.

So the one critical component for all these database system tests is
basically the RAID controller (everyone uses the same drives), and Dell
tries to sneak by with third party gear.

This is no surprise to me. I have a Dell server with a $1000 Perc RAID
controller and 128MB of read/write cache. This is the slowest server I have.
It is substantially slower than my 7 year old Proliant 2500 servers with
Smart2P controllers (and old drives on top of that).

The fact is, Dell KNOWS their RAID controllers are garbage. They are SO BAD
that they risk their reputation by using third party products in benchmarks.
Let's face it... if their controller was only 10 percent slower, they
wouldn't risk the humiliation. And they use RAID 0+1 on these tests... that
doesn't even require brains. If you really want to laugh yourself to death,
configure a Dell server with RAID 5.

Dell is a cheap clone PC company. They don't know jack shit about servers,
and the pathetic performance of their machines proves it. The only thing
more pathetic is their server service. "Dude, I think you'll have to call
Adaptec. We don't make the controller."

For all you IT pros thinking your real smart by saving money on Dell, next
time spend an extra 25% and you'll realize you now need to buy half as many
servers. Real IT pros, know Dell server equipment blows.