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PowerMac G5, iMac G5, eMac Specs

AidenShaw said:
How would you directly connect an XServe to 6 GigE networks, 4 FC SANs, and two IB fabrics?

Y O U __ C A N N O T !!

That's why I've argued for a larger server with more slots, redundant power, and the availability features needed for such use. The XServe is lacking in *connectivity*, and lacking in availability and reliability features.
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Ummm, well, how about connecting 2 GigE links to 2 different, redundant GigE switches? The 2 FC links to 2 redundant FC switches? That's what switches are for. Since when does each system have point-to-point connectivity to everything the system needs to talk to?

(OK, now we hear about how ASs application can't tolerate the miniscule latency added by going through a GigE or FC switch to gain the connectivity required.)
 
~loserman~ said:
Xgrid uses the rendezvous service which is UDP based. In other words it uses broadcast traffic for communications.
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A geometric increase in the number of nodes results in an exponential increase in interconnect traffic.
 
My last read on this thread...

I have been glued to this thread since it started. I have been waiting for the announcement on the new iMac so I can purchase one. Reading through this thread has been enlightening. I have learned more about "dual core" and other terms of which I know absolutely nothing but not much about when or where the next iMac will be released for sale.

Steve Job's may be brilliant but his secrecy sucks! People want to make decisions which effect their business or personal needs and he plays this game of "gotcha." I wonder what the total effect on business decisions are changed by his reluctance to indicate what is coming down the pipe and when. How many sales are lost or expenditurea are altered. Other people run businesses also and have to make timely decisions on what is best for their products.

For a minute I don't think Steve Job's plays games with some of these web sites...he does not concern himself with a pest (his legal department can do that) but he does concern himself with stockholders, financial reports and the industry that he depends upon for his company's success. To indicate that he would alter an entire business plan to "play games" is nuts!

So I have had it with reading page after page of people discussing a subject they know absolutely nothing about...what the next hardware to be released by Apple will be and when it will be available. When I see a new iMac ad on the Apple site about a "REAL NEW iMac" then I will One Click and wait for delivery.

Just had to vent a little...too bad PC's and XP are such a pain in the A** :D
 
NevadaJack said:
Steve Job's may be brilliant but his secrecy sucks! People want to make decisions which effect their business or personal needs and he plays this game of "gotcha." I wonder what the total effect on business decisions are changed by his reluctance to indicate what is coming down the pipe and when. How many sales are lost or expenditurea are altered. Other people run businesses also and have to make timely decisions on what is best for their products.
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That's not realistic... Some companies, the industry leaders, can announce their [incremental] plans [real or imagined] without fear of competition. Apple cannot do the same-- they must announce and [shortly] deliver revolutionay products/concepts... the little guy needs to hit you upside the head... just to get your attention.

C'mon, how many IT Directors have lost their jobs because, Apple diidn't go public with their plans.

There are several people on this list that have been [privately] updated on Apple's plans on a regular basis.

NevadaJack said:
For a minute I don't think Steve Job's plays games with some of these web sites...he does not concern himself with a pest (his legal department can do that) but he does concern himself with stockholders, financial reports and the industry that he depends upon for his company's success. To indicate that he would alter an entire business plan to "play games" is nuts!
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I believe you are right about the rumor sites, but wrong about the stockholders. He wants to keep the stockholders happy for lots of reasons, but that's not what motivates him.

Steve Jobs truly wants to change the world... and he will do whatever it takes!

He is not playing games, he is totally serious... and it is likely he will prevail!
 
~loserman~ said:
Well actually the Drives used in the Xserves Raids average a sustained data rate around 42 MBs.
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I'll take your word on the 42 MB/sec - although I just measured 60 MB/sec on WD 250 GB disks on Ultra 100 and to HDS 400 GB disks on SATA, I wouldn't have expected them to be 25% slower on the XServe. The 70 MB/sec was for native Fujitsu FC disks.


~loserman~ said:
Also I personally can't think of any reason why someone would run 2 infiniband fabrics in one box. Especially considering that IB can deliver Full bi-sectional bandwidth at 10 Gig per second( every node can communicate with every other node at 10 Gig and all communicating at the same time without blocking). It doesn't make sense.
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If it "doesn't make sense", isn't it odd that most of the IB cards are dual port?

Think redundancy - with two fabrics, you can still communicate if there's a failure on one of the fabrics.


~loserman~ said:
For that matter it doesn't make sense for a server to have Quad Fiber channel either.
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Picture, worth a thousand words....

qla2344.jpg

http://www.qlogic.com/support/product_resources.asp?id=339

Designed for high-connectivity applications, the SANblade QLA2344 is ideal in the slot-limited environment of PCI-X. With four fibre channel ports on one board in one slot, along with performance that scales as channels are added, the QLA2344 offers more channel and device connectivity while lowering overall system port cost.

Think DMP and redundancy. Or consider that an FC switch starts around $5K, and the quad adapter is $650. If you needed to connect two XServes, would you want to save $4500 ???


~loserman~ said:
Personally I like the xserve like it is. The only thing I would change I/O wise would be to replace 1 PCI-X with a 16 X PCI-express.
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The rest of the systems on the IB network use IB on PCIe cards (dual port).

photo_pci-ex.jpg


On a server, I'd go with two x8 PCIe slots, rather than one x16. There aren't many PCIe adapters, and the ones that exist are x4 and x8. (Unless you want kick-butt graphics on a server ;) )
 
End of Single 1.8 Powermac?

Can't wait for the new powermacs, i'm sat here waiting for some new specs.
I wonder if the new revisions will include a £1000 base model like it does now? I was gonna buy a single 1.8 but if i wait and they drop this model i probably won't be able to afford it?
 
mandwa said:
Can't wait for the new powermacs, i'm sat here waiting for some new specs.
I wonder if the new revisions will include a £1000 base model like it does now? I was gonna buy a single 1.8 but if i wait and they drop this model i probably won't be able to afford it?
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hopefully they make the price of the Dual 2.0GHz at the current price of the Single 1.8... that would be my dreams come true. *Preys to geek God*
 
Releasing such an incremental update just (!) when Intel and AMD are announcing their dualcores seems like a public suicide...better to stay quiet and make it a real update in three months time, no?
Apple knows how to play the publicity game, these Thinksecret specs just don't convince.
 
minimax said:
Releasing such an incremental update just (!) when Intel and AMD are announcing their dualcores seems like a public suicide...
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That's a really good point I hadn't even thought of. And it's pretty encouraging too. :)
 
on the other hand...it could be a stopgap update if IBM didnt have their act together yet. In that case they are aiming at seducing the people who really NEED a powermac but refuse to pay for 1yr old specs & prices to buy now...whilst announcing a timeframe for the dualcore to arrive in order to keep the macplebs quiet. Even lower pricing just wont cut it after the other dualcores hit the street.
 
cube said:
He asked for high-end, not cheap chips.

Regarding PCIe being significantly more expensive, I'd like to see the price list.
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It's not about the cost of PCIe compared to AGP, it's having to design new board, etc.

Also, cost does come into it since the mini is a BUDGET computer.
 
Now that the NAB conference has come and gone, I believe the Powermac update is not as imminent as one might think. Another thought has struck me :
One would think that an updated PM will have to ship with Tiger, don't you guys ? In other words, why would Apple announce a new Powermac 2 weeks ahead of Tiger, when they can't ship it at least for another 2 weeks. My thought is that they'd better announce them when they can ship'em right away...

The only reason to announce them now would be to accompany the pro-apps updates (announced in the conference), but you would think Apple would've done this at the conference.

Lastly, the fact that they didn't announce the updated PM points clearly to the fact that any updates will be minor speed bumps that don't deserve too much press.
 
ts1973 said:
Now that the NAB conference has come and gone, I believe the Powermac update is not as imminent as one might think. Another thought has struck me :
One would think that an updated PM will have to ship with Tiger, don't you guys ? In other words, why would Apple announce a new Powermac 2 weeks ahead of Tiger, when they can't ship it at least for another 2 weeks. My thought is that they'd better announce them when they can ship'em right away...

The only reason to announce them now would be to accompany the pro-apps updates (announced in the conference), but you would think Apple would've done this at the conference.

Lastly, the fact that they didn't announce the updated PM points clearly to the fact that any updates will be minor speed bumps that don't deserve too much press.
Click to expand...


Or they want people to buy there new software not knowing that in 2 weeks they will have new hardware out which these people may have bought instead if given the choice...
 
ts1973 said:
Now that the NAB conference has come and gone, I believe the Powermac update is not as imminent as one might think. Another thought has struck me :
One would think that an updated PM will have to ship with Tiger, don't you guys ? In other words, why would Apple announce a new Powermac 2 weeks ahead of Tiger, when they can't ship it at least for another 2 weeks. My thought is that they'd better announce them when they can ship'em right away...

The only reason to announce them now would be to accompany the pro-apps updates (announced in the conference), but you would think Apple would've done this at the conference.

Lastly, the fact that they didn't announce the updated PM points clearly to the fact that any updates will be minor speed bumps that don't deserve too much press.
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Well, they announced new Pro apps (today) that require Tiger and won't be available until the first of May. Why would Pro hardware be any different? Anyway, there's only 7 weeks left till WWDC. If we get a PM update this month, I don't think it will be anything more than a minor revision. If they don't get updated till WWDC, then I might believe dual-core based systems.
 
..........

I didnt expect new Powermacs (or any hardware) at NAB anyway but now macosrumors is saying that those thinksecret predicted processor speeds are most likely 970MPs but the question I have (and no one knows the answer) is whether Apple will release a new high end computer that will stand above PowerMacs because according to everything I have read and all, the Power5 derivatives are not that far away and wasnt the 970 series supposed to reach around 2.6-2.8 ghz and afterwards IBM and Apple was supposed to introduce Power5 derivative to reach 3GHZ? And as we can see 970FX GX or MP (whatever they are called) rather reached their MHZ limit... I may be too greedy too optimistic or whatever but I think that the Power5 derivative will definately be a more significant upgrade then going from 970FX to 970MP (or maybe the 970MP IS a Power5 derivative because why would Apple want to invest in technology that kind of disappointed their expectations when they supposedly worked with IBM on Power5 from grounds up rather then just tagged along)
 
NAB still has 3 days left, ends the 21st. So there is still a chance that we could see a hardware update. Looking for a repeat of last year. It could also be the eMac, iBook, or iMac.
 
blitzkrieg79 said:
I didnt expect new Powermacs (or any hardware) at NAB anyway but now macosrumors is saying that those thinksecret predicted processor speeds are most likely 970MPs but the question I have (and no one knows the answer) is whether Apple will release a new high end computer that will stand above PowerMacs because according to everything I have read and all, the Power5 derivatives are not that far away and wasnt the 970 series supposed to reach around 2.6-2.8 ghz and afterwards IBM and Apple was supposed to introduce Power5 derivative to reach 3GHZ? And as we can see 970FX GX or MP (whatever they are called) rather reached their MHZ limit... I may be too greedy too optimistic or whatever but I think that the Power5 derivative will definately be a more significant upgrade then going from 970FX to 970MP (or maybe the 970MP IS a Power5 derivative because why would Apple want to invest in technology that kind of disappointed their expectations when they supposedly worked with IBM on Power5 from grounds up rather then just tagged along)
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It might make sense to have a Pro series hardware (PM Pro) for those that need ultra-high performance for AV creation-- as opposed to the PM series for other tasks.
 
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