The XServe that my lab ordered back in January has finally arrived. I now get the priveledge of upgrading from the old xserve to this one! 
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Dual 2Ghz G5 XServe arrives!
- Thread starter zkmusa
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Any chance of getting you to run Folding@Home on there, at least as a burn in?
That should be a sweet machine. We got a dual 1.33 Xserve a while back and I love it. The G5s make it that much sweeter of a machine.
That should be a sweet machine. We got a dual 1.33 Xserve a while back and I love it. The G5s make it that much sweeter of a machine.
Oooo
Great news!!
Some benchmarks would be nice, too. Xbench and whatever else that can be compared to anything
This may mean IBM has finally started to produce an acceptable amount of 90nm chips. I see iMac G5 and new PowerMacs on or before WWDC, then.
Great news!!
Some benchmarks would be nice, too. Xbench and whatever else that can be compared to anything
This may mean IBM has finally started to produce an acceptable amount of 90nm chips. I see iMac G5 and new PowerMacs on or before WWDC, then.
i clicked on this thread expecting pictures because of the paperclip attachment picture thing... turns out it was a picture saying that this thread needs pictures... what an odd world....
reality
reality
Sorry I haven't been around. I've stayed up all night trying to get the 120GB of data to transfer from one XServe to another.
The thing seems really nice, just as nice as the original XServe. My only complaint so far is that the fans are INCREDIBLY LOUD when the XServe is booted in target disk mode. It sounds like a jet engine, and I'm not exaggerating. I'm thinking that when the XServe is booted in the OS, the fans will be much quieter.
I'll keep you all updated.
The thing seems really nice, just as nice as the original XServe. My only complaint so far is that the fans are INCREDIBLY LOUD when the XServe is booted in target disk mode. It sounds like a jet engine, and I'm not exaggerating. I'm thinking that when the XServe is booted in the OS, the fans will be much quieter.
I'll keep you all updated.
zkmusa said:
the os controls fan speed, so when the computer is on and OS X isn't loading, the fans are put at full blast just in case... it should be almost as if not as quiet as the dual g5's since it is in such a small place...
reality
I can't imagine the actually running system would be too loud. Otherwise the revamped V-Tech setup would blow out your eardrums a mile away. I remember hearing that the G5's got insanely loud if you removed the plastic airguard thing. Much louder than even if the system was maxed out.
Yep, I assume that just as with the G5 tower, the XServe fans are controlled by the OS, and if there's no OS running (target disk mode) or the computer is in an emergency state (such as after a kernel panic or when the plastic cover is removed in the tower), the fans kick up to full blast, just in case.
Full blast on a dual G5 tower is amazingly loud--those seven fans can push a HUGE ammount of air if they try, so I imagine with the tighter form factor of an XServe (hence smaller, higher RPM fans and faster airflow needed due to less surface area), plus the lack of need to keep the thing quiet (it is a server after all), that must kick up one heck of a racket on full blast.
Considering how quiet the G5 is under normal operation, I do wonder how much noise the XServe can manage, combining much tighter parts but the advantages of 90nm chips.
Pics! Audio files!
Full blast on a dual G5 tower is amazingly loud--those seven fans can push a HUGE ammount of air if they try, so I imagine with the tighter form factor of an XServe (hence smaller, higher RPM fans and faster airflow needed due to less surface area), plus the lack of need to keep the thing quiet (it is a server after all), that must kick up one heck of a racket on full blast.
Considering how quiet the G5 is under normal operation, I do wonder how much noise the XServe can manage, combining much tighter parts but the advantages of 90nm chips.
Pics! Audio files!
realityisterror said:
Actually, it is the reverse. Since a 1U box cannot fit large fans, they put smaller fans in them. Smaller fans must turn faster to move the same amount of air as the large fans, and thus they generate a ton of noise. Also, a 1U box doesn't have much space for heat to go so moving air is a must.
However, since the speeds of the fans are OS controlled, they shouldn't have to spin full speed all the time.
zkmusa said:The XServe that my lab ordered back in January has finally arrived. I now get the priveledge of upgrading from the old xserve to this one!
I have 9 of them on back-order, and was just told today that there is a 6-8 week wait. I NEED them here by June 1 or my summer plans are screwed. Can you send me yours so I can get started?? Come on, be a sport.
Les Kern said:
i have to wonder what you're up to...
starting a new pr0n/warez site???
clue us in...
reality
Well, the disk copy completed, and you all are right. The Dual G5 XServe is as quiet, if not quieter, than the G4 XServe we used to use. Whew!
Our last XServe had a PCI video card, but this time, we decided to opt out of the video card and run this machine completely headless. It turned out to be a problem, as when we booted up the machine at first, the startup disk could not be found. In order to get by this, we had to move over the old PCI video card just so that we could set the startup disk.
Any recommendations as to how to sanely manage a headless XServe? The admin tools are a dream, but I'm not sure if they're enough.
Our last XServe had a PCI video card, but this time, we decided to opt out of the video card and run this machine completely headless. It turned out to be a problem, as when we booted up the machine at first, the startup disk could not be found. In order to get by this, we had to move over the old PCI video card just so that we could set the startup disk.
Any recommendations as to how to sanely manage a headless XServe? The admin tools are a dream, but I'm not sure if they're enough.
zkmusa said:
I use a combo of the admin tools and Apple Remote Desktop, plus a little CLI ssh for good measure. Barring loss of network connectivity, you'll be all set.
So, how about my Folding@home question earlier?
zkmusa said:
There is an RS-232 port on the back so you should be able to console in there.
Now that I think of it, Apple has done something pretty dumb. The XServe has the RS-232 port on it for console access, but none of the laptops do! Without a 3rd party USB-to-Serial adapter, I couldn't locally manage an XServe right out of the box with my Powerbook. That just seems strange.
realityisterror said:i have to wonder what you're up to...
starting a new pr0n/warez site???
clue us in...
reality
I have 23 servers in the high school. I'm just consoldating and updating is all. We do lots of multi-media, so I have to have RAIDs with about 5 terrabytes of storage, and a total of 12 XServes doing all the various shared directories. All these will fit into the two new NetShelters I bought.
Rower_CPU said:I use a combo of the admin tools and Apple Remote Desktop, plus a little CLI ssh for good measure. Barring loss of network connectivity, you'll be all set.
So, how about my Folding@home question earlier?
Cool, I'll take a look at Apple Remote Desktop. I've heard good things about it, but I didn't know if it was worth the money.
Regarding the Folding@home question, I can't test that! The lab I work at is a biomedical informatics lab, so they use every last available drop of processing power from the server at all times!
zkmusa said:
Depending on the number of clients you'll have it might only be $300 (up to 10 clients), or $500 for the unlimited client version. For us, with the educational discount, it's well worth the money.
Don't worry about the F@H thing. It would have been cool to see how that monster would perform if it had some downtime before going into full production.