Mac Pro Server Mid-2010

The Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.8 Server (Mid-2010/Nehalem) model was introduced as a substitute "high-end" server configuration for the discontinued rack-mountable Xserve line. In many ways, the Mac Pro Server represents a throwback to the days of the Mac Server G4 series where Apple shipped a server "version" of an otherwise identical Power Mac G4 model, but often configured with more RAM and/or a larger hard drive and always with pre-installed server software.

Likewise, the Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.8 (Server) is identical to the Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.8 (2010/Nehalem), but shipped with more RAM, two hard drives, and a pre-installed copy of Mac OS X 10.6 Server.

The Mac Pro "Quad Core" 2.8 Server (Mid-2010/Nehalem) features a single 2.8 GHz Quad Core 45-nm Xeon W3530 (Nehalem) processor with a dedicated 256k of L2 cache for each core and 8MB of "fully shared" L3 cache. Through custom configuration, it also could be configured with a single 3.2 GHz Quad Core "Nehalem" Xeon (W3565) processor for an additional US$400, a single 3.33 GHz Six Core "Westmere" Xeon (W3680) processor for an additional US$1200, two 2.4 GHz Quad Core "Westmere" Xeon (E5620) processors for an additional US$775, two 2.66 GHz Six Core "Westmere" Xeon (X5650) processors for an additional US$2275, or two 2.93 GHz Six Core "Westmere" Xeon (X5670) processors for a mere US$3475 extra. As requested by readers and because of significant technical differences between some models, EveryMac.com has cataloged these custom options as distinct models.

By default, this Mac Pro Server was configured with 8GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM, two 1TB (7200 RPM, 32 MB cache) 3Gb/s Serial ATA hard drives, an 18X dual-layer "SuperDrive" and an ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card with 1GB of GDDR5 memory.

Expansion includes two external 5.25" "optical" bays (one available by default), four internal 3.5" "cable-free, direct attach" hard drive bays (three available by default), and four PCIe 2.0 slots (one free PCIe 2.0 x16 slot and two free PCIe 2.0 x4 slots with the default single graphics card installed).

Port selection includes five USB 2.0 ports, four Firewire "800" ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet, two Mini DisplayPorts and a dual-link DVI port, and more. AirPort Extreme (802.11a/b/g/n) and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR comes standard.

Following the discontinuation of the Xserve, Apple positioned this Mac Pro as an alternative solution for the server market. [18] The fundamental hardware was identical to the standard quad-core 2.8 GHz model, but it came equipped with more RAM, two hard drives as standard, and was bundled with an unlimited client license for Mac OS X Server. [3, 18] This configuration was praised as a reliable and easy-to-deploy server for Mac-based workgroups. The expandability of the tower chassis facilitated the addition of storage and specialized PCIe cards, making it a valuable asset in small offices and creative studio environments. [3] Its powerful Nehalem processor was well-equipped to efficiently handle file sharing, backups, and other server tasks. [3]