Power 9? Last I looked no one was even selling power 8 on the retail scale. Tyan had some finished? Systems kind of sort of available? And that was it. I thought IBM had stated they wanted to challenge and take Intel on in the data center and cloud space. But they sure are not doing a very good job. Sham because the hardware is a breath of fresh air.
> Like many fellow Europeans I don't have a credit card, so if that is the only way to pay, I'd have to jump through a lot of hoops to buy this.
Why would that be the only option? Never seen a shop accept credit cards only. I only have a debit card and have never had any problems.
I think this is a common misunderstanding. The US seems to use "credit card" to refer to all payment cards, but is rarely limit to just _credit_ cards.
I think the distinction between credit and debit cards is more commonly made in Europe.
Re:Talos II
by CrystalGamma on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @01:48PM
(#14960438)
I mostly mean that I don't have a card that can be used for payment over the usual networks like MasterCard (unless those “Maestro”-cards do work, which I doubt), Visa or AmEx …
Re:Talos II
by Nullabillity on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @04:25PM
(#14962175)
IME Maestro cards generally don't work, but there are MasterCard debit cards that do.
Depending on the merchant and the bank, debit cards might not work. For example, the debit card from my bank will not work if used to pay at Amazon (allegedly the bank is too strict about payment details and Amazon doesn't provide something). I had to get a credit card specifically because of this (the debit card works everywhere else I tried it).
My debit card from Wells Fargo is referred to as an ATM card on the card itself. Using my PIN was required and even then some merchants would error. Since the switch to chips in America I haven't had an issue with the card being declined except when a merchant requires me to fall back to reading the magnetic strip.
Re:Talos II
by haneefmubarak on Tuesday August 08, 2017 @08:33AM
(#14957099)
I'm stateside, but I've had lots of success paying for things online and at places in person that want a credit card by just giving my debit card (and not saying anything, ofc).
That being said, YMMV.
If you're in the US, your debit card is likely a Visa or Mastercard debit card.
I'm in the UK, and every debit card I've ever had has been a Visa or Mastercard
For contrast, I'm Swiss, and all of my debit cards have either been Maestro or PostFinance (in Switzerland, the Postal Service runs a bank which maintains its own debit card scheme).
Maestro is technically a MasterCard debit card, but I'm not aware of a possibility to use it for online payments. VPay (i.e. "proper" VISA debit) is starting to make inroads.
Does anyone know if all POWER9 processors fit into that socket, and if yes, if there is anyone selling POWER9 in retail quantities (preferably in Europe).
Another question that isn't answered on their page is the payment options. Like many fellow Europeans I don't have a credit card, so if that is the only way to pay, I'd have to jump through a lot of hoops to buy this.
I wonder how much power this system will consume on idle? I read IBM significantly improved the power management with POWER9, so here's hoping 8 cores of this won't take significantly more than the 110W idle of my 8-core Piledriver system.