[geeks] Replacing a Mac Pro 2006

[Mark Benson]

On 3 Dec 2012, at 04:22, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> Well, hold on a minute - the HP microserver has a low-power CPU, shoving a
> quad-core Xeon or i7 that isn't a hobbled mobile/ULV version would require
> serious cooling and a much beefier PS than the HP packs.

Sooooo, how come they can do it in less space than the Microserver's
motherboard occupies in Mac Mini? Those things do NOT hang around and they are
thinner than a full size optical drive. i7s also don't run terribly hot for
the return in CPU power.

Also you can get 1U-size PSUs that fit in the equivalent of the Microserver
form factor size (or less) that are in excess of 400W - that'd run it if you
went with a 80W or 65W i7. Alternatively you can put it in an external brick.

> Also, the (essentially) miniDTX form-factor doesn't leave any space on the
board for
> discrete graphics, you'd have to go with an add-in graphics card

That's the whole idea. Discrete graphics.

> and it would have to be half-height and short

Big deal. Plenty of people will make you a very powerful
half-height/half-length card.

> and the HP doesn't have room for a PCI-E 16x slot connector (as I recall).

Actually it does have a PCIe x16 slot in it, mine has an ATi Radeon 5330/512MB
card in it. The Microserver is limited to 25W power but that's just because it
has no power tap for PCIe graphics, I could actually rig one using the molex
for the CD drive if you really wanted to. The PSU isn't that bit but if you
consider mine with the graphics card uses 45w *at the wall plug* I think
there's room for a bit more power there.

> Also, an add- in graphics card would drive up power requirements which would
also drive up cooling issues...

Look. Apple managed to crap a G4/500 and a ATi graphics card and a 3.5" hard
drive into an 8-inch cube. The combination had the thermal output of a small
village. I think they could pull this off.

> The HP microserver is a large collection of compromises:
>
> - low-power CPU

Granted.

> - two memory sockets

The Mini only has 2 slots and can take 32GB of RAM. Non-issue, available RAM
density on modern DIMMs is way higher than you seem to think.

> - limited expansion capability (2 slots, one PCI, one PCI-E x4, both
> low-profile & short

Agh-Aggggh. The first slot is 16x and full length albeit with limited
headroom.

> - one NIC

That's just down to the motherboard chipset. Dual NICs ain't an issue.

> - weak graphics

I solved that one - see above :)

> - limited on- board RAID

It's $150 for gods sakes, it's not gonna have RAID 10!

> - OPTIONAL management card

We're talking about a *desktop PC* here, I used the Microserver as a size
comparison. I don't want a server.

> The machine has it's purposes, but it is not a micro-powerhouse, and it
isn't
> a simple CPU-swap away from becoming one.

Yeeesss but the point is that, in a smaller (I think, based on the size of the
Mini) form factor than the Microserver, Apple could build a decent PC with
discrete graphics. I still think that and you didn't do much of a job
convincing my otherwise :)

> I found a great MB for my chenbro SR30169 chassis - it takes an LGA1155
CPU,
> has 4x SATA (2x 6.0 Gb/s ports, 2x 3.0 Gb/sec), dual NICs, Wi-Fi on-board,
> HDMI and DVI video ports and can take 16 Gig of RAM, but that machine is
twice
> as large as the HP microserver. I can add a PCI-E x16 video card if
desired.
> It is the GA-Z77N-WiFi
>
> I wonder if it is 'Hackintosh-able'? Appears so:
>
> http://www.tonymacx86.com/tags/gaz77nwifi.html

That at least is useful. Thanks. I need to look up my PC motherboard and see
if it's doable. It's a fracking nice PC and if it'd run 10.8 I'd be happy.


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Mark Benson

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