Xserve Gets Performance Boost with Nehalem Processors
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Apple has given its Xserve line of rackmount servers a performance boost. The new models use Intel Nehalem processors and deliver, according to Apple, "up to an 89 percent improvement in performance per watt."
In its base configuration, the new 1U Xserve ships with a single 2.26 GHz four-core Xeon 5500 processor with 8 MB of shared L3 cache, 3 GB of 1,066 MHz DDR3 ECC RAM, and a 160 GB internal SATA drive. It also includes dual Gigabit Ethernet, two 16-lane PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots, internal graphics with Mini DisplayPort output, Bonjour-enabled management and monitoring tools, two FireWire 800 ports, three USB 2.0 ports, and an unlimited client license for Mac OS X Server 10.5 (Leopard).
This configuration runs $2,999.
Processor options for the new systems include 2.66 GHz or 2.93 GHz processors (up to two 2.93 GHz quad-core Nehalem processors). Other options include 1 TB drive modules (up to 3 TB internal storage), an internal Xserve RAID card (now with support for 497 MBps performance), 4 gigabit fibre channel cards, and a 128 GB solid state boot drive.
The new Xserve models are available now. Further information can be found here.