MP 1,1-5,1 Low Power Server

[WhatDoYouGuysWannaDo]

A buddy gave me his dad's old octo 2.8 Mac Pro 3,1. Wasn't sure what to do with it, but thought I might try to turn it into a home server for backups and hosting for local web development.

I didn't want it to use up a bunch of electricity, so I ordered two 8GB 667Mhz memory sticks, since I figured fewer sticks would use less power, and people were saying the slower speed uses less power as well. I guess I could even just run one stick if I really wanted. Plugged those in and they worked fine.

Then I ordered a XEON L5408, figuring I would just get one, which should drop CPU power consumption by 75%. Problem is, I didn't pay attention, and ordered the SLBBT stepping, and it won't boot. I don't see any sellers that seem to be able to guarantee that they'll ship me a SLAP5. Anyone have any tips?

 

[DFP1989]

Sounds like an expensive free server you’ve picked up.

If you’re that worried about it being low power, get a Mac Mini.

 

[mattspace]

I didn't want it to use up a bunch of electricity...

For comparison based on a quick googling, the 2018 Mac Mini is about 8w at idle, your Mac Pro is going to eat about 240w at idle.

 

[DFP1989]

For comparison based on a quick googling, the 2018 Mac Mini is about 8w at idle, your Mac Pro is going to eat about 240w at idle.

This. Your slower RAM isn’t going to make any difference.

 

[WhatDoYouGuysWannaDo]

I know, I know, Mac Mini. I just want to see how far I can push this thing. I did find a seller who has SLAP5s, so I ordered one. I can say that with the SLBBT installed, my Kill-A-Watt was showing a range between 85 and 125 watts. Obviously I can't know if the CPU was even using any power at that point, since it's not supported, but if it was, that might be a good sign. I'll come back to brag more if the SLAP5 ends up being as good or better.

The thing with the Mini is, I'd still have to run an external drive enclosure for the backup drives, and that will use more power. I know it will still be less than the Mac Pro could possibly be, but, these parts are cheap, and I wanna see what it can do!!!

 

[WhatDoYouGuysWannaDo]

Okay, here's a little update! I finally got my SLAP5 XEON L-5408! With just one cpu, the two 8GB memory sticks, and no video card, I'm idling at 90 watts! Maybe one memory stick would take it down to 80? I think that's pretty impressive, however, now with the new M1 Mac mini being out, I kinda just wanna get one of those. Not sure what to do with this Mac Pro then...

 

[DFP1989]

For what it’s worth a Mac mini already idles under 10W and maxes out at less than your Mac Pro’s idle usage.

The new M1 Macs look interesting, will be good to see some real world performance testing on them. I’m especially curious to see how FCPX compares to Intel machines.

 

[WhatDoYouGuysWannaDo]

I am curious to see how much a couple of internal 3.5 drives would increase the Mac Pro's power consumption versus the total power consumption running a Mac mini with an external dual drive case. I'm guessing the mini would still far outperform the Pro.

I'm just excited about the M1 because it's the first one, and for a home server I think it would be more than adequate, even with the base 8GB. I was thinking about a Raspberry Pi too, but I feel like once I accessorize an 8 GB Pi, the price is gonna be close enough to a base Mac mini, I might as well just get the mini.