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Xserve as a workstation?
- Thread starter hyram
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Did you ever search the forums? I'm guessing not cause someone else recently asked this question, here's a couple to get you started...
Xserve VS Mac Pro
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/682266/
Using an Xserve as a regular Mac Pro?
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/593643/
No:
I was watching NCIS and saw the 'IT' guy sitting in a room full of servers. And I mean full, walls covered with dozens upon dozens of servers. And it was *DEAD* quiet. Total BS. Servers are insanely loud and don't belong in houses. Not to mention they are not very expandable with hardware due to their size.
- Way too big. These things are deep. Thin, but deep
- Loud. The XServe is loud, its a server after all. I had an XServe RAID and even that was loud and thats just a drive array
- Storage. The hard drives require Apple firmware and you cannot throw any drive into these guys. Apple drives are expensive
- Requires unique RAM which is uber expensive
I was watching NCIS and saw the 'IT' guy sitting in a room full of servers. And I mean full, walls covered with dozens upon dozens of servers. And it was *DEAD* quiet. Total BS. Servers are insanely loud and don't belong in houses. Not to mention they are not very expandable with hardware due to their size.
As uberamd says.
But I'd imagine they're called 'server blades' for a reason... Most people who own them usually send them away for co-location, spaces sold by the unit, the phatter/taller the server, the more expensive the racks space costs, often housed in huge air-conditioned rooms far far away from any studio, office or workroom - they're just a flat box of noise!!
Strangely enough, with all the companies going out of business these days, you can usually find XServes way cheaper than Mac Pros. I saw a... quad 2.3 I think? the other day for $1100 on Craigslist from a company closing shop.
However, as others have mentioned, they are noisy noisy beasts and you simply won't be able to put a good gpu in.
However, as others have mentioned, they are noisy noisy beasts and you simply won't be able to put a good gpu in.
If I had an OS X capable thin client, and kept the Xserve in a different room, I would totally do it. For a workstation, I don't think you need a good GPU. If you said graphics workstation, then I would complain (though not very loudly, the new ones come with GT120s I believe). If you were really crafty, you could get the extended video cables for your monitor and wireless keyboard / mouse (bluetooth is good for something like 50FT). That should let you get far enough from the noise. 
Awful lot of work / money to fix a problem the Pro doesn't have though. :\
Awful lot of work / money to fix a problem the Pro doesn't have though. :\
Ok, I get it. They're loud and big. Not to be used as a workstation.
But just to exhaust the idea, is there any limitation to the hardware (GPU aside) to running the non-server version of OS X??? You can run the Server OS X on a mapro, so I would think this should not be a problem either.
hyram
But just to exhaust the idea, is there any limitation to the hardware (GPU aside) to running the non-server version of OS X??? You can run the Server OS X on a mapro, so I would think this should not be a problem either.
hyram
That I don't know. All of my OS X Servers are not Xserves. But anything you can do in client, works in Server, and typically Xserves come with Server on purchase.
And hey, if you did use it as a workstation, you'd get props from me!
Isn't XServe version of OSX more a case of being 'case sensitive'? I know OSX Workstation can run on case-sensitive mode but some applications will break, simply because it's paths are wrong.
OS X Server will run on anything besides a laptop.
It does not come with the case sensitive file system enabled, just like OS X client. It has tons of GUI tools for administering a server, along with remote tools, and additional servers.
The File Sharing server on OS X Server, for example, comes with way more features than the one on OS X Client, and it's own dedicated administration application.
Adobe applications seems to hates it.. I accidental enabled case-sensitive once and later discovered all sorts of odd issues when various parts of CS3 tried searching for extensions. LOL..
I believe Microsoft Office also hates case sensitive file systems.
I've even had some Dashboard widgets break.