Hi

I've noticed a few cheap xservers going around ~400-500 for the G4 1.33. I'm tempted to get one of these for home to replace my epia server. It'd be nice to have an all Mac setup and my epia could use a few upgrades which would be getting close to the cost of the xserve.

I've a few questions though, does anyone know how loud the G4 Xserves are? How much power do they use? Would I have to use a PCI wireless card? Does anyone actually have one at home?

TIA!

They're very loud. I'm talking hairdryer levels. Heat output is the same as a hairdryer too

Power draw is the same as a G4 tower really.

If you want wi-fi, I think you will need a PCI wi-fi card, I don't think Apple made AirPort an option on em.

If you are going to get it, I suggest sticking it in a different room (like a laundry closet, or in the garage) and running Ethernet through the walls/under the house.

They are indeed very, very loud. Nothing you want at home. Why don't you just get a mac mini? I had one running as a server for ages and it worked well without any issues. It's whisper quiet and won't use much power either. Yes, there's no raid or things like that but you can easily connect an external drive to it for redundancy. I wouldn't spend money on a G4 anymore. The mini comes with everything built in and you certainly can't beat it as far as shelve space goes :-)

Gothikon -

Below are my two G5 Xserves in a sound suppressing cabinet from a couple of years back before I colocated them in a data center. G4 Xserves are louder than G5 Xserves. Trust me, you don't want to live anywhere near them if you cherish your sanity. =)




Dave

How much was the case and who makes it?

I certainly wouldn't be planning on having it in the same room as me, but our house isn't huge so unfortunately I can't stick it at the other end of the house or in a basement.

I've considered a Mac mini but I want something with room for at least 2 and ideally 3 or more HDs. I also like the idea of an xserve as it's a bit unusual.

Daves telling a fib. That's an early prototype of the Mars rovers.

The rack: Server Racks 4U Rackmount Enclosure Cabinets For Computer Servers, RAID Storage, Rack mount Systems

It made a modicum of sense back in the day when I bought the Xserves, but wouldn't now. It's very expensive.

A G4 Xserve is basically a G4 MDD in a different form factor and a MDD will take a heap of drives, be quieter and cheaper. That being said, I think an Intel Mini is a far more sane choice than either.

Dave

I have a single CPU G5 Xserve at home but as everyone say above, its not in the house. Its is proper rack along with my data array, PC server, Gigabit Switch and UPS in the garage.

To be honest, i couldn't have it in the house, I would go insane but please bear in mind its not loud like a truck or anything, its just loud enough for you to crack the shits if you had to listen to it all day and night. Having said that, I would not trade my setup for anything - To have 9Tb of storage available throughout my house at 60-70MB/s is something I cant live without now.

I don't think anyone's mentioned how large they are, either. All the product shots are from the front and they look nice and slim and small, like a network switch or something.

In reality, they are actually pretty damn heavy and go "back" from the picture a fair distance! They're the size of a small table and you're not meant to rest anything on top of them, either.

I have a G4 1.33Ghz X-Serve and can vouch that they are very loud. I am looking for a good (and not expensive) rack to put it in, with a Dell R200 (which is really quiet).

Apple should supply earplug for use with the older X-Serve's.

No one has mentioned the cost of the drive modules yet!

My Xserve is certainly loud (relegated to the back of the house on wifi to keep the family sleeping at night), but the main dis-incentive for home use is the cost of the active drive modules (remembering that the blank ones are useless for upgrading - no electronics).

They are hard to come by in Australia and are expensive when you do. Importing them is an option (I did), but that is still expensive if you want internal storage.

But since I'm a collector, I'm happy to have an Xserve!

Regards,

JMD

most apple products seem to run hot have no idea why

The XServe is a server - that's why it runs hot (plus the G4 was a very hot CPU)

Yes the G4 was a furnace compared to todays CPU's. How Apple shoehorned Motorola's best into a 1RU unit still boggles the mind. It takes me back to my cooling mods on MDD G4's years ago.

Can you use a XServe as a real Mac?