Bruce Momjian wrote: 
Matt Burke wrote:
  
we'd have no choice other than replacing the server+shelf+disks.

I want to see just how much better a high-end Areca/Adaptec controller
is, but I just don't think I can get approval for a ?1000 card "because
some guy on the internet said the PERC sucks". Would that same person
say it sucked if it came in Areca packaging? Am I listening to the
advice of a professional, or a fanboy?
    

The experiences I have heard is that Dell looks at server hardware in
the same way they look at their consumer gear, "If I put in a cheaper
part, how much will it cost Dell to warranty replace it".  Sorry, but I
don't look at my performance or downtime in the same way Dell does.  ;-)
It always boils down to money.  To communicate to the ones controlling the purse strings talk dollar bills.  To get what one wants from the purse string holders give examples like this.
Buying cheap hardware can result in a complete shut down resulting in lost sales and/or non productive labor being spent. 

Example would be a company generates 100 sales orders an hour average $100 = $10,000 if the server is down for 8 hours 1 business day thats $80,000 lost in business.  now lets throw in labor average hourly rate lets say $15.00 an hour for 10 people = $150.00 for 8 hours = $1200 in lost labor.  Now throw in overtime to get caught up  $1800  total labor cost  = $3000

The $200 to $300 saved on the card  was a good decision :-(

Now the argument can be made hardware failures are low so that goes out the door

Your next best argument is showing the waste in lost productivity.  Lets say  because of the cheap hardware purchased the users must sit idle  3 seconds per transactions  times 100 transactions per day = 300 seconds lost X 10 people = 3000 Seconds per day X 235 working days  = 705000/60/60 = 196 hours lost per year  times 3years for average life span of the server = 588 hours X  average pay rate $15 = $8820.00 lost labor

Again smart thinking. 

There are all kind of ways to win these arguments to push for higher quality hardware.