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New Xserves

When Apple released the new Mac Pros, they also updated their Xserve server line as well.

	New High-End Model (Early 2008)	Previous High-End Model (Late 2006)
Processor	2x Xeon 5400 quad core (8 cores) at 3 GHz	2x Xeon 5100 dual core (4 cores) at 3 GHz
Cache	12 MB per processor (24 MB total)	4 MB per processor (8 MB total)
SSE extensions	128-bit SSE4	128-bit SSE3
Frontside Bus	1.6 GHz	1.33 GHz
Memory	800 MHz DDR2	667MHz DDR2
Max hard drive space	3 TB	2.25 TB
PCI Express	2.0	1.0
Power supply	750W	650W

I can't believe that they managed to get an 8 core machine inside a 1U server. Even more amazing is that you are essentially getting double the machine with only a 100W power supply increase. This is a major improvement in performance-per-watt. The Xserve also houses an array of sensors that intelligently monitor temperature and idleness, and adjust processor and fan speeds accordingly. The Xserve power supplies also exceed 80% efficiency guidelines.

I'm not going to go into the processor improvements here, as I already did that in my Mac Pro post, but the power of having 8 cores in a server can be seen on Apple's benchmark page. It's been a while since there was an Xserve update so this new model beats its predecessor by huge amounts. On average, this machine is about 90% faster than its predecessor.

If you have ever used an Xserve, you will also welcome the news that the new model features a USB port on the front so no more delving around behind it to plug in a keyboard and mouse.

This is a great machine.