From TechRadar · · 1m 50s
Sixteen Xeons for $700: The eBay server deal
A UK seller lists a fully loaded HP blade enclosure with 128 cores and 1TB RAM for less than a quarter of its parts value.
In brief
A UK seller lists a fully loaded HP blade enclosure with 128 cores and 1TB RAM for less than a quarter of its parts value. Enterprise hardware from the Sandy Bridge era offers exceptional value per gigabyte of memory, making refurbished server bundles attractive despite age and power demands. Originally reported by…
Sixteen blades, one chassis
A UK seller lists a fully populated HP C7000 enclosure with 16 BL460c G8 blade servers for £500 per blade, roughly $700 each. The bundle packs 128 physical cores, 256 logical threads, and 1TB of DDR3 memory.
Sandy Bridge Xeons power each blade
Each blade runs a single Intel Xeon E5-2660 processor with 8 cores, 12 threads, and a 2.2 GHz base clock. The Sandy Bridge-EP architecture delivers consistent performance across the 16-unit configuration.
Memory is the real value
The 1TB pool uses 32 modules of 32GB DDR3 registered DIMMs running at 1600MHz. Individual modules of the same type sell for roughly $100 each in the UK market, putting memory alone worth $3,200.
Total value exceeds $4,000
The 16 blades, enclosure, storage controllers, and registered memory carry an estimated resale value above $4,000. The seller asks roughly $11,200 total, making the bundle a significant discount on component value.
Why DDR3 still commands demand
Equivalent DDR5 registered memory costs more than ten times the per-gigabyte rate of DDR3 today. Buyers seeking affordable capacity still turn to older enterprise stock despite its age.
Power and support concerns
The E5-2660 draws 95W per socket, meaning 16 active blades consume close to 1.5 kilowatts under load. Firmware support for iLO 4 ended years ago, leaving buyers dependent on community tools for updates.
Seller carries strong reputation
NomadUK holds 3,740 feedback entries with a 99.9% positive rating on eBay. The seller claims each blade has been professionally refurbished and checked for functionality.
“has been professionally refurbished and checked for functionality.”
The short version
Enterprise hardware from the Sandy Bridge era offers exceptional value per gigabyte of memory, making refurbished server bundles attractive despite age and power demands.
