Graf Zahl wrote:If I could spare that I'd rather invest into a new system that can replace my current 9 year old one... Hopefully later this year.
That was my original plan, kinda; I wanted to do both, one after the other, as I wasn't sure if I could afford to buy the AlphaServer and a new computer at the same time. I thought of waiting until after mainline PC upgrade and then see what AXP hardware was on the market then. But having recently done an upgrade job for a customer at work, I realised there was no way in Hell I could afford a really good modern PC right now, as graphics cards and powerful CPU prices have gone though the roof, that is when bitcoiners and scalpers haven't nicked them all in the first place! CCL Online here in the UK (our go-to supplier for computer parts), for example, have "sold out please ask us to notify" for all RTX 30?? cards and several Ryzen CPUs.
So I decided to get the AlphaServer first and try again for a new PC in a couple of years. Please don't get me wrong, I would have done both eventually.
Having said that, it is true that the primary interest for me is because it's AXP rather than its age, so what Rachel said applies also; if I could have gotten hold of an AlphaStation with dual EV6's or even something with an EV7 (like i960MX, that one was not sold on the open market), I would have done; but prices for those even on eBay are around the £2K mark. If AXP had been upgraded like 8086 has been and there was a modern version I'd prefer to buy that, but even if I won the EuroMillions, I doubt the Chinese would sell me a copy of their "AXP rip off CPU" and a supercomputer to go with it

Finally, for the same reason as any of us working on GZDoom, QZDoom, LZDoom, Raze, EDuke32, Realm667, id's original DoomEd in a virtual NeXt Station, the Cats of Doom, or for that matter, my zdoom-dev-approved rework of the morphing subsystem a few years back ... "Because it's there
