Apple's new Mac Pro, 8core xeon processor (2x 4 core), 16gb ram, 3tb hd, 512mb video

graphic7

I'm currently using mine as a Sun Ray server (Sun Rays are thin clients sold by Sun which are solid-state devices that have no moving parts -- not even a fan) and an Oracle development server (most of the work I do on the side involves DBA and PL/SQL development). It also serves as my build system for OpenSolaris ON sources (the consolidation of OpenSolaris that contains the kernel, drivers, and the bulk of the userland), as I'm currently improving support for my Tadpole SPARCbook 6500, which requires that I have a build environment that's capable of building ON in a realistic amount of time.

In terms of performance, a single UltraSPARC-II processor will be blown away by any modern x86 processor; however, given a sufficiently multi-threaded workload, my E4500 would compare to any modern x86 processor. I can do an MPlayer build in roughly 2 minutes, as this is important, given I'm also an MPlayer developer (you'll see my name in the AUTHORS and MAINTAINERS files in the MPlayer source tree, because I maintain the MPlayer Solaris and AIX ports). A modern x86 system compiles MPlayer in anywhere from 3-5 minutes.

I'm currently running Solaris Nevada 64a (this is an Alpha release of Solaris 11).

I would hold off on purchasing an E4500 and A5200, unless you're in an area where power is sufficiently cheap. Given I live in Tennessee, which has some of the cheapest power in the entire country, the E4500 and A5200 only add $50 to my power bill/month. You'll also need to worry about cooling, which is very important, especially if you live in a hot and humid region.

If you're still interested in purchasing a SPARC system, I would recommend an Ultra 80 or Blade 1000. These systems can both be purchased for $200-$500 off eBay in loaded configurations. For example, an Ultra 80 /w 4x450MHz UltraSPARC-II procs (4MB cache /proc), 4GB of memory, and at least 2x36.6GB disks or 2x73GB disks should be in this price range.

-Job-

I'll settle for a Solaris VM to host J2EE apps under Websphere. My current "server" is overheating as it is.

graphic7

You shouldn't have any problem running Solaris 10 or Nevada in VMware; however, I can't guarantee what level of performance you'll receive. As for your current server overheating, I'd make sure you have your fans placed properly throughout the chassis. I have a peecee that tends to run anywhere between 50-60C, but my E4500 rarely gets above 40C (anything about 50C on an E4500 is considered dangerous). This is because the E4500 has its fans placed properly, but its also placed properly in the room, so that air can be sucked in from the right, blown over the CPU heatsinks and memory DIMMs, and then blown out the left side of the chassis.

FulhamFan3

Where are you getting that price from? I just went to the apple website and put the same specs as you and it comes up with $5,700.

-Job-

Someone else in the thread mentioned $12,000. I guess i just took their word for it.

-Job-

I'm having some issues configuring the shorewall firewall in my Solaris installation. I think the Solaris 10 version i installed, which i got a while back, is a desktop version. I don't see the point of having Solaris as anything else other than a server to be honest.

aliaze1

Mac OS X is UNIX based, so perhaps a knowledgeable person could tweak the MAC Pro to run UNIX?

Aquafire

Dead easy.

Aquafire.

las3rjock

Agreed, especially since the Open Group has already certified Mac OS X Version 10.5 ("Leopard") as meeting the UNIX 03 standard. The other UNIX 03 certified operating systems are Solaris 10, HP-UX 11i V3, and AIX 5L.

Aquafire

Speaking of which...

For a while there, Sun was offering free copies of its Solaris 10 system.

This link might still work...

http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/...xpress/get.jsp

I installed it onto an older x86 machine of mine...

Not bad...considering..

( who said there's no such thing as a free lunch ? )

Aquafire

aliaze1

lol!