Hi Austin
I'm using an XServe G5 2ยท0 GHz single processor as a desktop machine,
running Leopard client. (It came with 10.3 server but I wanted Leopard
for TimeMachine and didn't need server capabilities. To be honest I
just wanted the coolness of having my own XServe/shiny Apple joy,
although learning how to set up server stuff would have been a bonus.)
It's a bit slow but it does the job - mostly. It does need a decent
video card (yet to be purchased) - without it games just lead to black
screens of death. Also, even though I've built a cage to hold it on
the side of my desk which diverts some of the fan noise away from me,
it's still distractingly noisy.
IIRC, G4 takes 4 PATA disks, while I know the G5 takes 3 SATA disks.
Mine came with a CD-reader but I've swapped that for a laptop CD/DVD
reader. There may be limits on the total drive capacity:
- G4, everymac.com says 'up to four 180 GB ATA/100 hard drives'
- G5, everymac.com says 'up to 750 GB of storage with three 250 GB
SATA hard drives'. However, XServe dealers who serviced my XServe say
up to 3 by 1TB is feasible.
Overall, if you can find a way of dealing with noise (maybe put a wall
between you and the XServe, then look for long keyboard, pointer,
monitor cables and a big masonry drill - or just put an ethernet
connection to your switch/hub and control it via your normal quiet
desktop machine), want a high capacity machine that can support
several drives and looks pretty cool, I'd go for the G5.
However, you may find a Mac Pro quieter - and it has capacity for up
to 4 drives, already will have a working video card.
Finally, as I'm sure you've realised, G5s are limited to Leopard.
Hope this helps
Bruce
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