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adreams

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 24, 2005
4
0
Hi guys, i am from a pc background and recently bought an xserve from a friend. however i bought a new geforce 6800gt graphic card for it. (PCI Express)... thinking that it will work. however to no avail... i also have an AGP Card... Please help me so that i can use the PCI Express Card or if there is an adapter to convert it....


Thanx in advance
 

Sun Baked

macrumors G5
May 19, 2002
14,937
157
Which Xserve G4 or G5?

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Hardware/hardware2.html

Has some info on the PCI slot, which have a 3.3V requirement and a 30W power limit for all cards in the Xserve G5.

Sorry PCI Express won't work ... and Apple's 6800 AGP cards were 100W beasts.

Suprised you didn't try something like a ATI Radeon 9200 Mac Edition 128M PCI.

Remember PCI-X is just a PCI slot that gets overclocked. :p
 

Mord

macrumors G4
Aug 24, 2003
10,091
23
UK
mac have has 64-bit pci slots for a long time before pci-x, and dude, your best option is a 9200 pci, you really are not going to get good desktop graphics performence out of it, your better off actually using it as a server in which case the graphics card does not matter so you may as well use a crappy pci rage/radeon off ebay, and you need the mac edition or a pc card that has been flashed, remember pci not pci-e.

if you want to use it for serious desktop use your better off selling it and buying a powermac.
 

adreams

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 24, 2005
4
0
re: Xserve

Well what is the difference between an Xserve G5 and powermac... I would assume the Xserve with 2 processors would be faster & Better... Also would i be able to use it for graphics....... and if so how would it perform compared to a powermac or pc.

Also bear in mind that the graphics card needs to drive the 30" Apple display...
 

Mord

macrumors G4
Aug 24, 2003
10,091
23
UK
thier are no PCI graphics cards that can drive the 30" at full res, sell the xserve and buy a powermac, or get a mac mini and do network rendering.
 

Sun Baked

macrumors G5
May 19, 2002
14,937
157
PowerMac G5...

050378001703_01c.gif


XServe G5...

040924021715_01.gif


Basically the only advantage to the XServe is just ECC memory, 3rd SATA bus, and faster Ethernet architecture.

But you give up sound, video, bluetooth, etc. when you make the switch.

If ethernet really is that important, just install a PCI-X 1-gigabit Broadcom card -- which is all Apple did on the XServe.

The XServe's real talent comes from the Server tuned OS and the applications that run it -- especially since Apple has imposed increasingly resrictive concurrent user limits on the base OS since 10.0.0 arrived.

Edit: most all the chips are the same on the two machines. The XServe just adds a couple tweaks like ECC and the PCI-X-to-ethernet bridge chip.
 

gsnyder

macrumors newbie
Aug 4, 2005
7
0
For graphics, that XServe will be put to best use as a render box. I highly doubt it will be suited as a proper graphics workstation given the lack of video card options.

If you keep it for rendering, I recommend DrQueue. It's an open-source, multiplatform distributed rendering app. Takes a bit of effort setting it up (esp. if you're not used to Unix), but it's been rock solid for me.

-G
 

javiercr

macrumors 6502
Apr 12, 2005
419
0
London
adreams said:
Well what is the difference between an Xserve G5 and powermac... I would assume the Xserve with 2 processors would be faster & Better... Also would i be able to use it for graphics....... and if so how would it perform compared to a powermac or pc.

Also bear in mind that the graphics card needs to drive the 30" Apple display...

you assume wrong. and XServe is meant to me a server...a server doesnt even need a display.
 

Sun Baked

macrumors G5
May 19, 2002
14,937
157
Don't think anybody has a dual-link DVI card that runs on a PCI-X slot, and includes Apple drivers.

Matrox may have a dual-link solution, for PCs using PCI slot -- but they still have no Apple drivers.

So a 30" LCD on a XServe is probably a fantasy -- major problem is the current draw on all the high end card Mac edition cards that support dual-link DVI.

They are usually 75-100W high end cards, and the XServe only supports 30W for both PCI slots.

Matrox probably has low power dual link PCI cards, but again no driver.

Edit: Parahelia card driving 30" LCD for PCs. ;)
 

adreams

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 24, 2005
4
0
it came with the tiger software... would it run photoshop of freehand at all. as my friend does not want to take the machine back... still new in a box will try to sell it but just incase will i at least still be able to use it for something......
 

ITASOR

macrumors 601
Mar 20, 2005
4,398
3
If you use it as a desktop, you might want to look into sound proofing the room that it's in. Those things are so darn LOUD. Not meant to be a desktop, it just isn't.
 

gsnyder

macrumors newbie
Aug 4, 2005
7
0
Honestly? I'd sell it. If it's new in box, and you offer a slight discount...you'd probably be able to rake in enough cash to get a tweaked-out Dual G5 Tower which would be far more usable (and upgradable) for you.

-Gary
 

mduser63

macrumors 68040
Nov 9, 2004
3,042
31
Salt Lake City, UT
I'm also going to recommend that you sell it (before you open it). Use the money to buy the best PowerMac you can. The PowerMac is a real desktop machine, and is really kind of specifically tailored to doing Photoshop/graphics type stuff. The XServe is really ONLY intended to be a server or part of a distributed computing/render farm set up. You'll be able to put any (Mac) graphics card that you want in the a PowerMac.
 

Makosuke

macrumors 604
Aug 15, 2001
6,661
1,242
The Cool Part of CA, USA
The "sell it and buy a PM" posters really are correct in this case; the XServe is designed as a server/cluster node, period. You're paying a large premium for the high-density form factor, hot-swappable drive bays, ECC RAM, and user-replaceable guts plus some management features (front-panel load lights, identifier lights, hardware lock, serial port, etc), plus the dual network interfacces.

In exchange for this, you sacrifice expandability, all graphics performance worth mentioning, nicities like wireless and sound, quiet (believe me, even with the fans on low the XServe is LOUD to keep those chips cool in such a small space), and the extra heat that can be generated in a big desktop closure (this is why the XServe maxes out at 2.3GHz while the PM goes to 2.7GHz).

The XServe is a very nice server, and I like the one my lab has, but I wouldn't even consider using it as a desktop--you're paying a lot for a bunch of features you don't need and not getting other features you need. Remote access for number crunching from a Mini would work, but from the sounds of it you need yourself a PowerMac, and for the price you could get for an unopened XServe you can easily buy a notably faster loaded-up PowerMac. Faster processors, much better graphics, and money to spare for lots of RAM, external drive enclosures, or whatever else you want.
 
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