HP/DEC/Compaq

No one tempted by one of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-AlphaServe ... 080wt_1186

HP AlphaServer ES45 3x EV68 1.25GHz Server DY-66EBA-BA - that's gotta be pretty much the highest spec Alpha that was manufactured.
I know the electricity bill would be $$$, anyone live near a large dam?

I'd be very tempted if they were for sale over here in the UK, alas, 1/2 a world away isn't close enough.
Something romantic about the end-of-the line alpha boxes, especially as the plate says 'Made in the UK'...

Mark.

highest spec? you are kiddin *gg* the ES is midrange. the GS are really BIG and will eat the ES without any problem.

http://www.compaq.com/alphaserver/gs1280/

The DS15 and ES47 shouldn't be forgotten, as far as powerful non-‘big iron’ Alpha systems go. Those were some of the last released systems, along with the 64-processor GS1280. My DS15, for instance, is also one of the few systems that supports the very last SRM V7.3-2, as released in 2008.

Sorry, meant to say the highest MHz Alpha CPU manufactured, rather than the total machine.

Isn't there also the 1300 MHz 21364/EV7?

On a slightly different, yet related, note: What I don't quite ‘understand’ about some of the last Alpha CPUs, is that they had so relatively little amounts of on-chip cache(s). Does anyone know why? I guess it didn't affect performance? Either way, I'd love to read more about the ‘design decisions’ of later Alpha designs. (The majority of the literature that I've come across so far seems to mostly cover or otherwise mention 21064/EV4 and 21164/EV5 in greater depth, in my experience.)

The EV7z only shipped in the big systems, though you might be able to use some boards in smaller systems provided you could find them.

The 21164 was the last of the Alphas where DEC was seriously courting third-party builders, but you should still be able to find something on the 21264. The 364 came after Compaq bought DEC, so I wouldn't expect as much there.

Somewhat of an anecdote, that I wanted to share (but forgot about doing so initially), with regard to the above: There were a few items that I ordered from Australia, which were in amazing condition ― new, actually, with all the manuals and such, in the original box ― and so incredibly cheap that even the total sum with shipping included was almost half the price of what I'd have to pay for something in used condition locally, in nearby countries in Europe or from the USA. There are a few sellers on eBay from Australia with amazing prices. But yes, the larger and heavier items won't exactly be a pleasure to have shipped.

Absolutely, always useful to know for parts rather than whole systems...