How to buy 1000's of computers / parts for 1000's of computers???

[Supafast]

Hi Everyone,
I have a potential need for buying 1000's of computers or parts for 1000's of computers and I don't know where are the best places to look... and Google-ing it does not seem to be the answer for this one either ! I know large online stores buy in large quantities like that...

I need to either buy the parts or fully assembled computers made with certain part specifications. Also, I've heard that the really big OEM's can get software licenses for Win XP Pro X64 for like $40-50. The best I've seen so far is still north of $100. Any ideas?

Thanks for any and all help!

Craig
Supafast
Xtreme11

PS This is not my first post on Anandtech btw, I have been here for like 6-7 years, but my account got messed up and I decided to just create a new one for this posting.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Dell? Try General Hardware as the most likely place.

 

[thescreensavers]

Home with sp2 for 82.99

Here is one for 88

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: thescreensavers
Home with sp2 for 82.99

Here is one for 88

i'm sure this helps a little but i think what the OP is looking for is more than just XP....

i have no idea OP but i know newegg gives some discounts (though slight) for bulk purchases

 

[Soccerman06]

Try contacting MS and ask what kind of deal you can work out and/or where to get all the supplies you need.

 

[Steaksauce]

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Econo...iness/Computers/Hardware/Distributors/

Try MS directly for OS's if you are buying in bulk... I'm sure they'll gladly cut you a deal.

 

[bamacre]

For that quantity, depending on what kind of config you need, I would look no further than Dell.

I mean, you'd need a massive team to build and test 1000's of systems. That would cost a pretty penny. Dell has the resources and logistics to do this kind of thing like no other company, unless you have a huge timeframe.

 

[Sforsyth]

yeah I was thinking of the 1000's of parts to put together that could take awhile.

 

[rudder]

You gotta get on the phone and start talking deals. I am sure any PC manufacturer would give a good discount on 1000 units.

 

[Kaido]

Check out CDW:

http://www.cdw.com/

 

[Slowlearner]

You need to set up a business as reseller/PC shop (licenses and fed/state tax id nos etc) and get credit/terms from the major distributors/wholesalers such as Techdata/Ingram Micro. Go down to the reference section of any major library and ask for help finding such distributors using references such as Thomas' Register etc. You will also need credit references/bank account info etc to set up such accounts particularly if you plan on buying on credit, apart from storage space, access to delivery vehicles/forklifts/handtrucks.

Locate a Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in your area (search sba.gov) and go attend one of their startup seminars/counselling. Do not start without some serious planning/business research.

Good Luck

 

[pkme2]

The best deals I've seen in the past year is lots of computer pulls. New wholesale lots on auction sites. HDDs, video cards, CDRs, DVDRs, RAM, LCDs, speakers etc.
Once in a while I buy wholesale lots on HDDs for cloning purposes and backup.

http://computers.search.ebay.com/comput...QQfrtsZ100QQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsacatZ3667

 

[zkaudio]

I just made a 25 system purchase from dell... my company has a good relationship with them. I made good friends with the sales guy there...

you can NOT get the pricing you see on sites like sl*ckdeals or techb*rgains in bulk... those systems are going out at negative points usually... it's insane. I ended up using 5 different accounts to purchase the 25 computers (5 system max on the deals) Beat his best deal for me by over 4k

 

[coolpurplefan]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Check out CDW:

http://www.cdw.com/

CDW = worse prices on the internet

www.pricegrabber.com

or, in canada, www.pricenetwork.ca

 

[darkswordsman17]

Get an idea of what specs you'll need (how much memory, how good of video card, CPU, etc.), and then contact some of the major manufacturers (Dell, HP, Gateway, etc.) and see what the best price they can offer you for those specs are and compare them.

 

[rijet0711]

The best thing would be to probably contact the manufacturer of a specific part you want directly, they would surely give you a decent discount if you are going to buy a 1000 parts

 

[Supafast]

Thank you guys soo much for the responses so far, most of them have been very helpful :> If anyone knows of any more custom computer building companies that do good work, please recommend them to me. I do not think the real big ones (Dell, HP, etc.) will be able to help me on this one because the spec for the case I need is REDUNDANT Power Supply which means I'd have to get into their more expensive server line and I also need lockable front bay enclosures for 2 SATA HD's. They are also way too inflexible about the other specs I need to fufill like a 3Ghz dual core Pentium D and an Intel branded motherboard.

Thanks again!
Craig

 

[Kakumba]

Sorry to off topic (slightly) but what are you building these for? not many applications need dual power supplies....

 

[Supafast]

No problem. I am building them to run WinXP and Microsoft SQL Server Express which is going to be fed a whole bunch of data and it will do some basic queries on the data. The reason for the (preferably) hot swap RAID1 HD's and the dual power supplies is that I need to have as much hardware reduncancy as possible for this system, not for more power or speed. I am limited to installing only 1 of these servers per site and as far as I know, the only real failover you can have (without going super crazy) is Hard Drives and Power Supplies. Nicely, they are the top two most likely to fail components, not that I want either to go bad, but it happens...

 

[Zepper]

Not sure, but I think he means redundant PSUs, not dual.

I'd think that at the quantities he's talking, and depending on the time frame, he'd best deal direct with the mfr's as production might have to be scheduled, etc. If the time line is longer, then other channels may work.

.bh.

 

[snoturtle]

No matter what company you go to if you want redundant psu's your looking at server based psu's

If I were you I would contact Dell and Compaq and tell them your specs to see if they can help

If not I'm not sure what direction to point you in for that many computers like that

Originally posted by: Supafast
Thank you guys soo much for the responses so far, most of them have been very helpful :> If anyone knows of any more custom computer building companies that do good work, please recommend them to me. I do not think the real big ones (Dell, HP, etc.) will be able to help me on this one because the spec for the case I need is Dual Power Supply which means I'd have to get into their more expensive server line and I also need lockable front bay enclosures for 2 SATA HD's. They are also way too inflexible about the other specs I need to fufill like a 3Ghz dual core Pentium D and an Intel branded motherboard.

Thanks again!
Craig

 

[MerlinRML]

Do you have enough table or bench space for 1000 desktops? You're going to need a huge physical space for that not to mention all the tables and benches you'll have to get. That's the whole reason there are rackmounted computers. For the requirement of dual power supplies and 2 hard drives in RAID 1, have you looked at going with a 1u or 2u server? You can easily fit 30+ 1u machines (leaving some room for infrastructure components) in each rack.

At that point, you can then start worrying about how you get to power and cool all those machines.

 

[Noubourne]

This seems like a great place to come for someone who is wholly unqualified to do his job. Thanks for all the great tips guys!!

 

[superkdogg]

Originally posted by: Supafast
Hi Everyone,
I have a potential need for buying 1000's of computers or parts for 1000's of computers and I don't know where are the best places to look... and Google-ing it does not seem to be the answer for this one either ! I know large online stores buy in large quantities like that...

I need to either buy the parts or fully assembled computers made with certain part specifications. Also, I've heard that the really big OEM's can get software licenses for Win XP Pro X64 for like $40-50. The best I've seen so far is still north of $100. Any ideas?

Thanks for any and all help!

Craig
Supafast
Xtreme11

PS This is not my first post on Anandtech btw, I have been here for like 6-7 years, but my account got messed up and I decided to just create a new one for this posting.

Hire me as a consultant and I'll do it for you. (Only half kidding)

 

[biostud]

I wonder how a person who doesn't know how to get 1000 PC's is in charge of buying them. Normally you would have a pretty qualified salescontract dealer/IT management to handle orders like this.