Sure can - it has a graphics card and USB/firewire ports etc.

Pretty much, yes. I'm not sure whether they have sound onboard though, but if not you could use a USB sound card.

You wouldn't want to do that

Like everyone else has already said. forget it... WAY too loud for a home environment unless your okay having them in like... their own room! hah. I got well annoyed at the noise of my "home servers" I just shut em off and commissioned some dedicated boxes in the USA (dirt cheap too)

Here's a recording of a G5 Xserve booting into single user mode:

http://macdave.com/temp/xserve_singl...jack_2.1mb.mov

Turn your volume up high and imagine you're in an airport. =)

These pictures show how deep Xserves are: The XServe Arrives

Dave

Thanks for all your help. I would be keeping it in a dedicated room along with other servers. And would I be correct to say XServe's are very customisable?

Not really; they are less customisable than any tower Mac, for instance.
For example, you need special parts just to add a new hard drive to them, you can fit less hard drives than tower Macs depending on the model, you need different riser boards depending on which PCI/AGP/PCI-E cards you want, etc.

Jiminy macdave. I thought my MDD was loud when the temp got up and the fans kicked in, but that is even louder ( and higher pitched ). No way could I work in a room with that in there as well.

Stewie

An MDD doesn't even compare to an Xserve in terms of noise! I used to have a MDD DP 1.25 on my desk right next to me when at the keyboard and it didn't really bother me. As you say, it's the high pitched fans that really are annoying to be around. They are also very difficult to keep running cool on hot days. I had a 10,000 BTU A/C and it could not overcome the heat put out by an Xserve in a small office (in addition to other gear.) Of course, the flip side was that I never needed to run a heater during winter time. =)

Anyhow, here are live stats on my Xserve in a data center. Note the ambient temperature above the Xserves and the fan speeds. In other words, the server room is cool, but the Xserve is still noisy as hell!

MacDave - Web Development and Macintosh Support - Xserve Temperatures

Dave

macdave, how do your Xserves keep cool in your cabinet wouldn't all the air just keep getting hotter?

Should have asked this earlier but with using an Xserve as a "Mac" would you use OS X or OS X Server?

Sorry about all the questions I am looking into get a server and a Xserve would be great as I could use a "Mac" from a Windows computer.

The XRack Pro has a fan in the rear and ducts in front. You can install either OS X Client or OS X Server on Xserves. Unless you -really- need OS X Server's features, I'd suggest the former.

Dave

Heavy One Niner, You are clear for takeoff"