why no G5 in Xserves, too hot?

[dornball]

what happened to apple's server selection.
their 2-month old online store look doesn't display the Xserve anymore.

there also doesn't seem to be any mention of the G5 going into the other parts of Apple's "pro line"...the Xserve or the PB.

what gives? Thgroughout the Xserve's existence, its sported a slower processor than the Powermac. i personally am not interested in purchasing an Xserve, but for Apple to expand into the server market further, shouldn't they be pushing the Xserve a little harder?

-dornball

 

[MrMacMan]

I expect a Power 4 Xserver if not a 'G5' 970 soon.

But the Xserver HAS lagged behind, the heat I don't think is a problem in the G5, apple just over did it with 9 fans.

 

[Wyrm]

I see XServes on the store:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APP...Vj1YttwxRO/0.0.7.1.0.5.13.0.1.1.3.0.7.9.1.1.0

There's no picture anymore - just on the left side.

I don't think there's a thermal problem holding back a G5 XServe. Probably more of engineering bandwidth, and not putting all your eggs in one basket. I could almost see them coming out with a G5 XServe alongside their G4 ones, but they decided to pursue the PowerMac tact - gets people more excited I guess.

Businesses like their machines to work - the current XServes do - therefore business is happy.

Power users want infinite Power - the current PowerMacs do not - therefore G5.

-Wyrm

 

[patrick0brien]

-dornball

It's probably that the machine with the most-hurting market was the PowerMac. Therefore, it got the nod first.

The XServe's market is not mature yet, and yes, there are probably technical issues as well.

But the line that needed the shot in the arm the most is the PowerMac - that line got it's wish.

 

[Sedulous]

I agree, the PM market was dead and needed the boost the most. Also, they probably want to spend lots of time to ensure reliability.

 

[macphoria]

I think G5 Xserve will come out AFTER G5 PowerBook.

 

[dornball]

power4

i think it would be great if the new Xserve came out with a power4 chip from IBM. after all the power4 chip is a server chip alredy....though they would probably have to add altivec for apple.

-dornball

 

[strider42]

Re: power4

Originally posted by dornball
i think it would be great if the new Xserve came out with a power4 chip from IBM. after all the power4 chip is a server chip alredy....though they would probably have to add altivec for apple.

-dornball

I seriously doubt they would redo the whole fab process on a well established chip just to add altivec for apple on a chip that does things that don't relaly need altivec in the first place. The 970 is meant for situations where altivec is really going to be useful, and since it was a new chip, there isn't much of a problem adding it.

If apple does use the power 4 (which I doubt they will do, its big, expensive and really hot, and they would have used it already if they were going to) they would ahev to use it as is, which would probably mean the 1U form factor would go otu the window. The 970 sure, the power 4 is very unlikely IMO.

 

[pgwalsh]

I'd like to see a 4-way Xserve, but I think that's wishful thinking. However, that seems to be where things are going. Rackspace has entered that market and IBM will be too.

 

[iShater]

G5 is still a new processor. The Xserve needs to be reliable, so they will probably wait until the G5 PMs are out and they resolve any technical issues with them.

Servers need to be more reliable than they are fast.

 

[ouketii]

i heard a rumor that xserve stock was getting low. maybe for a g5 update?

 

[tjwett]

i love the XServe. i hope it gets a G5 some day. i've been toying with the idea of buying one for my next "desktop" instead of the new PowerMac. how well have the XServes sold so far? i'm guessing not very well. i haven't seen any out in the real world. my friend is a tech at a huge science lab and he said they bought an XServe, just one though. any official sales numbers?

 

[solvs]

The xServes are noisy anyway. Not really that good as a desktop. I'm sure they'll get a G5 soon. My guess is that Apple updated them with the 1.3 GHz G4s not expecting to have the 970 so soon or needing a stop gap since the Towers had dual 1.4s. They have had discounts (developer and/or employee, I forget), and seem to be low on stock. So a little while after the G5 is actually available, I'm sure they'll update the xServe with single and dual G5s. Probably lower than 2 GHz though. No point in announcing them and not being able to release them.

Unlike the Towers, which needed at least an announcement.

 

[Macpoops]

servers are designed for reliability not necessarily performance. Considering most servers are used as file servers and webservers. Not the most intensive calculative tasks. In fact i would imagine a g3 would be good as a server proc if it had SMP support and a faster bus