UK Custom Server Providers (slightly OT)

[Cadmus]

I've been asked recently to look into purchasing a large number (~50) of fairly standard servers (2x Dual Core Xeons, 2-8GB RAM, SAS and/or SATA disks) for a large project at work.

I've been looking at the usual suspects (Dell, Sun, scratch-build) but I was wondering if anyone had recommendations or reviews of hardware providers.

It's a little off-topic, I know, but the community is just so damn helpful.

[songshu]

depends on your company policy maybe, but i never use "server hardware" as advertised by the "usual suspects".

They say:
The hardware components are better tested! but in the end it will fail someday, sooner or later anyway.
They say:
Service contract! Can they guarantee to deliver the exact same mobo in three years from now? I'm not betting on it.
Can they deliver spare parts in 24 hours? I'm sure they can, but i'm not willing to wait that long.

Usually i find that i can get the exact same hardware for half the price if it does not have a "server" label, so i just make sure i buy enough spare parts in advance so in case anything breaks they will be at hand.

I'm not suing them for copying or anything, but google does the same. just make sure you have a lot of cheap pc hardware and make sure you do not have a single point of failure.

Personally i always order the spare-parts with the cheapest supplier.
That said i realize i don't have to do 50 of them, and i do not mind to wait for my delivery.