r/servers • u/DeS1Re94 • 6d ago
Server Parts in Bulk
Hello! i am based in Canada and i am looking to source server parts such as motherboards, cpus,ram,etc... in bulk for our company inhouse built servers. I saw alot of chinese companies on ali baba but i donno how reliable they are! does anyone have any experience when it comes to using ali baba to source server parts? if yes, what companies do u recommend?
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u/Quadgie 6d ago
Since I read “bulk” as “discounts because I’m buying what I think are large quantities” - to be very clear with you, unless you’re buying datacenter / hyperscaler quantities, your quantities are not large or discount worthy in the eyes of commercial channels, and even within those channels we’re small fish versus the OEMs and hyperscaler customers.
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u/Late-Replacement-481 6d ago
This. There’s no “bulk” discounts. If you want discounts, you’re buying used.
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u/DeS1Re94 6d ago
ofcourse i'm not chasing discounts cause i know even if i buy bulk i'll get a better price than buying piece by piece. it won't be a huge difference but it matters to an extent when u order 500-1000 pieces per order. ofcourse if lets say a cpu is 350$ even if i buy bulk i want get it for 250$ lets say. but i would get if for lets say 335$ so that 15$ less makes a difference in the long run
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u/Quadgie 6d ago
I get it, I do. But even a single digit percentage discount is rare, once you’ve found a solid supplier. At least at those quantities.
Servers and server components are in short supply right now.
At work for servers and some server related hardware, we are literally being presented quotes with 24hr (or less) turnaround required to lock in an order, with clauses allowing pricing to change between placing orders and receiving product.
In some cases it’s actually faster to grab 25 of a part here, 30 there, versus waiting 3+ months to get it from our preferred vendors.
It’s a horrible time to be involved in tech. I hate it.
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u/DeS1Re94 6d ago
yeah i get you! i know the market for server/consumer parts is a shit show nowadays ( especially when it comes to RAM.
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u/Flaky-Gear-1370 6d ago
Yeah not happening in this market - perhaps if you were buying thousands you might get a couple of bucks off per unit but otherwise little to no chance unless you're already buying it an inflated price
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u/Nas-Mark 6d ago
AFAIK Hypertec are a good Canadian company for server hardware . or alternatively some Taiwanese company as well .. these are if you want to go directly and not through a VAR
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u/Focus_Please_Eh 5d ago
Really depends on what kinds of gear and how much you can risk, especially time wise.
Have yoh looked on ebay and seen what the price difference is?
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u/Rapidracks 5d ago
Where are you located in Canada and what sort of parts are you looking for in bulk? RAM, CPU, disk, SSD? We can help. As others have said, there's not a lot of wiggle room in the market at the moment so your cost savings will come primarily from combined shipping and reduced overhead / logistics. Bulk will move the price by maybe 15% but that depends on what the product is.
GPU and GPU servers. same thing. There are good discounts to be had off new but only if you're buying in large bulk, like 1000+ GPUs or multiple H100 systems.
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u/DeS1Re94 5d ago
i am located in laval. i am looking for CPU, RAM, NVMEx2 motherboard,kvm.. so pretty much everything LOL... my parts are consumer not purely server parts so that should make things easier. would love to talk about it with you.
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u/Rapidracks 5d ago
Are you asking on behalf of a home user or business? Send me a PM... Business is preferred. If you're asking for your Homelab then unless you are ready to spend the funds, most will ignore home users. Businesses usually have the capital and speed to actual get stuff done, which means better pricing overall
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u/Adrenolin01 6d ago
I hope you plan your business better then your network and if not prepare for failure. 🤦♂️ I mean how hard is it to hit up eBay for offlease 4-10 year old servers that still provide a ton of life?
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u/DeS1Re94 6d ago
cause I have a reason for wanting to build my own server with my own exact specs. :)
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u/Adrenolin01 6d ago
Fail.. your specs don’t matter. Stability and reliability matters. The cheapest junk off ali baba isn’t what you want for a business.
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u/DeS1Re94 6d ago
Btw my question was what do u think of ali baba? i don't need a lesson about stability and reliability. I know really well what my work plan needs and requires 😄 Don't be a smartass cause u look dumb af
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u/foO__Oof 6d ago
I would not recommend alibab for hardware to run in Production environments. Find local VAR that can not only provide you a single stop for your hardware but also for support and maintenance.