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Eug Wanker · 12:09 AM

So when?

I'd expect it to be several months after the G5 Power Macs ship, or perhaps later around when the time when the rev. B Power Macs come out. It gives them time to work out the kinks for a server class product. ie. The Power Mac end users are the guinea pigs.

(Good reason to consider rev. B too, if you can wait on a new Power Mac.)

Another reason for a later release is Panther.

I also wonder when the IBM blades will be released with these chips. Things have been quiet on that front.

slider · Jun 25, 2003, 07:07 AM

Yeah, a total guess, I said a few months after the G5's ship. I am just wondering about the heat. How well are the servers doing? How much of a redesign will they require if any? Apple did know the G5's were coming, or so they claimed to be working on it for years. I think sooner than later. Is it possible and/or practical for Xserve to use the Power4 chips instead? Would Apple do this if they could?

Eug Wanker · Jun 25, 2003, 08:08 AM

Hmmm... POWER4? I don't think they're going to jump in with that any time soon. They'd have a major problem trying to put a POWER4 in a 1U rack server, plus it's $$$$$. Indeed, I wonder how much design tinkering it will take to put the hot PPC 970 (compared to the G4) in a 1U.

Powaqqatsi · Jun 25, 2003, 08:19 AM

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
Hmmm... POWER4? I don't think they're going to jump in with that any time soon. They'd have a major problem trying to put a POWER4 in a 1U rack server, plus it's $$$$$. Indeed, I wonder how much design tinkering it will take to put the hot PPC 970 (compared to the G4) in a 1U.

The PowerXServe with Power4

. They could make a second server model that's not a 1U.

GoGoReggieXPowars · Jun 25, 2003, 09:20 AM

No Power4 for Xserves, G5 Xserve shipping October/November, depending on how fast they learn how to cool the damn things

You know, I really want a new G5, but after comparing my single G4 to a dual, all I know is I REALLY want a dual G5, and I also know that rev 1 Apple hardware is flakey as hell. Damn, when are the rev 2s coming out?!

Eug Wanker · Jun 26, 2003, 04:57 PM

Originally posted by Powaqqatsi:
The PowerXServe with Power4 . They could make a second server model that's not a 1U.

I don't think that's gonna happen either.

power142 · Jun 27, 2003, 08:16 PM

I don't think heat in a 1U is really that much of a problem, let's face it, you can get dual Athlons and Racksaver even claim to have dual Itanium2 in a 1U.....

CatOne · Jun 27, 2003, 08:42 PM

Originally posted by power142:
I don't think heat in a 1U is really that much of a problem, let's face it, you can get dual Athlons and Racksaver even claim to have dual Itanium2 in a 1U.....

You're wrong... it's most defininitely a problem. Heat in the 1U is an issue... it can be dealt with a bit.

But the big problem is, if they GENERATE a lot of heat, the "single server" case isn't that big of a deal. But if you rack 42 of 'em in the same rack (and this is very common!), the whole thing generates GOBS of heat. It can overwhelm your data center, and make you pay tens or hundreds of thousands for equipment to cool the room. This gets very expensive.

For that reason, most Intel-based 1U servers today are still selling with the Pentium 3 based Xeons. They are 1.4 GHz for the most part. The 3 GHz 1U models just started shipping about a month ago!

Processor speed isn't often the most important thing in a rack mount server. Because often they're doing file serving or web serving and that's more network/IO dependent than CPU dependent.

Eug Wanker · Jun 27, 2003, 08:55 PM

Remember also that Xserves aren't blades. They can have 4 hard drives for instance.

power142 · Jun 27, 2003, 09:06 PM

Originally posted by CatOne:
You're wrong... it's most defininitely a problem. Heat in the 1U is an issue... it can be dealt with a bit.

But the big problem is, if they GENERATE a lot of heat, the "single server" case isn't that big of a deal. But if you rack 42 of 'em in the same rack (and this is very common!), the whole thing generates GOBS of heat. It can overwhelm your data center, and make you pay tens or hundreds of thousands for equipment to cool the room. This gets very expensive.

Funny... the original poster didn't ask about heat being an issue in a FULL RACK of Xserves, just a 1U unit

DeathMan · Jun 27, 2003, 09:32 PM

Originally posted by power142:
Funny... the original poster didn't ask about heat being an issue in a FULL RACK of Xserves, just a 1U unit

So you think they should sell a 1U server that is non-rackable? Or was your comment in jest?