14 DAY TRIAL // While the Mac Pro is the desktop answer that professionals have been waiting for, for heavy duty server needs, the Xserve is still the top of the line, especially the newest models.
The new Xserve is a quad Xeon, 64-bit server featuring Mac OS X Server Tiger on two Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors running up to 3.0 GHz, resulting in performance that is over five times that of its predecessor. With an industry-leading high bandwidth server architecture that includes PCI Express, independent 1.33 GHz front side buses with 4MB of shared L2 cache, and fully-buffered DIMMs (FB-DIMMs), the new Xserve delivers up to four times the I/O bandwidth, up to three times the memory bandwidth and twice the storage bandwidth of the Xserve G5. The new Xserve is Apple's most customizable server yet with dozens of options, including faster processors, larger hard drives and dual power supplies. With over one million possible build to order configurations, the Intel-based Xserve delivers unbeatable flexibility, manageability and price performance that make it ideal for everything from creative workgroups to scientific computing.
"Xserve has always been the perfect server for Mac workgroups and now it will run over five times faster for the same breakthrough price," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in the press release. "With new Intel processors, a redesigned hardware architecture, and an unlimited Tiger Server client access license, no one can offer better price performance and manageability in a 1U server."
Configurable with two Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors running either 2.0, 2.66 or 3.0 GHz, the new Xserve supports up to 32GB of 667 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory with twice the capacity and three times the bandwidth of the Xserve G5. Two eight-lane PCI Express expansion slots provide up to 2GB/s of throughput each to support the next generation of fiber channel, networking and graphics cards. Apple delivers industry-leading storage flexibility with support for up to three 3Gb/s SATA or SAS drives that can achieve an unrivaled 2.25TB of hot-plug storage in a 1U server while advanced thermal management capabilities take advantage of the low power of the Intel processors, running as low as 65W.
Apple has made the system even easier to manage with quick deployment rails for rack mounting, a new lights out management system that lets administrators control the hardware from a remote location and by including Apple's Server Monitor software and Remote Desktop agent.
The new Xserve ships with internal graphics that can drive up to a 23 inch Cinema Display as well as industry standard VGA devices and offers an ATI Radeon X1300 256MB PCI Express graphics card for professional graphics and video applications as a build to order option.