Earlier this year I posted a question regarding upgrading our AMX-500 to
gradient capability. Due to the responses received, we decided that single
axis would be adequate for the experiments that we run. Thanks again to all
who responded. At that time, we were quoted a price of $17,000 for this
upgrade. (Our instrument is a circa 1991 AMX-500 with X-32 CPU/2 and MCI).
Recently, our funds for this have been allocated and we are now ready to
purchase the upgrade. I am now told by our sales rep. that this particular
upgrade option will not work adequately for our instrument and that we must
upgrade to CPU/4 (~$25K plus the price of a SGI computer) and purchase the
GRASP II for avance upgrade ($29,900). This extra cost of >$38K was
certainly a shock since it was not budgeted for.
Is anyone running a system similar to ours (X/32) with the $17K PFG upgrade?
If so, How well does this perform? What exactly does this upgrade consist
of? What other options do we have besides remaining gradientless?
Thanks in advance for the helpful information that this group is famous for.
Brian
K. Brian Killday
Research Specialist
Division of Biomedical Marine Research
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution
5600 U. S. 1, North
Ft. Pierce, FL 34946
Phone: 561-465-2400 ext. 456
Fax: 561-461-2221
Email: killday@hboi.edu