IBM mainframe goes for 99 cents

[David H. Barr]

On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 00:08:10 -0800 (PST), Vintage Computer Festival
<vcf at siconic.com> wrote:

> > >Or you can just wait about 2-3 years until the next generation
> > >microprocessors surpass it in power for only $1,200.

> > Not for a while, Can you get a machine with  100Gb of ram  and  40
> > terabyte of storage for $1200, even in  ten years ( maybe)?

> Actually, 10 years from now we'll probably have machines with 100Tb of RAM
> and 40Pb (petabytes) of storage!

A PC part is worth roughly 1/100th of it's value over about a 10-12
year time frame, provided it doesn't assume Collector Status (TM).
This is Dave's Rough Estimate (TM), but it seems to hold true, at
least anecdotally.

100GB of RAM in today's pricing can be had for less than $100,000
(non-ECC) shipped.  The 40TB of disk is even closer, with storage
currently below $0.50 / GB giving us a Today Cost (TM) of around $512
/ TB, or around $20,000 for the whole deal.

In about 10 years, 100GB of RAM and 40TB of disk will cost you about
$950 if we keep innovating at the same speed we have been. I don't
know what I'd -do- with all that extra, but it's a pleasant problem to
have. Maybe I'll emulate every computer I ever owned on my screen
saver.

-dhbarr.

PS: Sorry I didn't make your $1,200 mark :D