PC vs. Mac Desktops, Cont'd (Building a Mac Pro?)

[volcs0]

The GA-EP45-UD3P is still one of the best, most compatible Hack motherboards you can get.

Just about everything you need / want, etc. is in this thread.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=232023

It is still a very active thread, and Kaido and Mosslack will be quick to answer questions.

My own setup is:

GA-EP45-UD3P
Q6600
GeForce 9800GTX

I paid about $800 for everything, including case, cooling fan, hard drives, memory, optical - about a year ago. If I had to do it again now, I would prob. get the same motherboard with a faster processor.

[M A V I C]

abevilac wrote:
...I dunno...seems like a lot of work when you can get a 24" refurb iMac for $1099 which includes the mouse and keyboard [as well as, of course, a monitor] and you can be sure that it will run the OS. That's my opinion.

You're right, it has a mouse, keyboard, display and comes with iLife.

However:
2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory

If you're willing to go with that old/slow stuff, then you can build a hackintosh for much left, but a nicer display, keyboard, mouse iLife... and have money left over.

[davester]

What are they doing that they need a mac pro? They must be doing some pretty sophisticated work (extensive video editing or game development?). As noted by abevilac, they could have spent roughly the same money on an iMac and probably have had a much better and more reliable computer. Also, did they include the cost of the OS in the $950?

[M A V I C]

davester wrote:
What are they doing that they need a mac pro? They must be doing some pretty sophisticated work (extensive video editing or game development?). As noted by abevilac, they could have spent roughly the same money on an iMac and probably have had a much better and more reliable computer. Also, did they include the cost of the OS in the $950?

Much better? Compare the processors alone (again, I'm guessing they use a p55 chip as that's what would be most comparable to a Mac Pro that's not a Xeon.)
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=58&p2=108

[decay]

check this out:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=53&p2=45

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - 2.40GHz - 8MB L2
vs. Intel Core i7 965 Extreme - 3.2GHz - 1MB L2 - 8MB L3

[DRR]

There is a "soft spot" between the iMac line and the Mac Pro lines where hackintoshes like quad core i5's and i7's make a lot of sense. For most people, who use the internet, iLife, and an office suite, a Core 2 Duo iMac is plenty of horsepower. If you need more horsepower and expandability and are willing to do the work, a quad core hackintosh has a lot of advantages over a quad core Mac Pro. A step up from that is the 8 core, which I don't think I've ever seen a hackintosh hit? That would be pretty impressive.

[DRR]

Build a hackintosh around this! Would love to see it go head to head with a Mac Pro!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813131389

[M A V I C]

decay wrote:
check this out:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/default.aspx?p=53&p2=45

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 - 2.40GHz - 8MB L2
vs. Intel Core i7 965 Extreme - 3.2GHz - 1MB L2 - 8MB L3

Price wise, the Extreme edition isn't worth it. The 860 offers much better price v performance.

Considering p55 boards are less expensive, the 860 actually costs less than a Q6600.

I compared the E8200 to the 860 because that's pretty much comparing the iMac to a slightly less expensive hackintosh.

[Dick Moore]

I recommend a visit to www.efixusers.com and its Guides section, particularly AsereBLN's Step-by-step. There's also a link there to the LifeHacker "No-Hack" install guide for a particular family of Gigabyte main boards. The efixusers, who all have abandoned the EFi-X boot module in complete frustration, have the easiest to use website, especially compared to InsanelyMac. All kinds of help are available at efixusers, as detailed as needed. They helped me, now I help where I can. Am writing this on my Frakkintosh = MacPro C2D.

[Panopticon]

That's a great site {www.efixusers.com} Dick! I got a lot of 'clear & clean' info from those folks.

Apple 'boot ROMs'
Yep, no such animal. The switch to Intel included adopting the EFI {Extensible Firmware Interface} standards.
And despite the urban legend, Apple uses no secret chipset on current Macs!

Posting from my Quad FauxPro {10.6.2}:
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L {5.1 audio & gigabit net}
Q8200
2x 1TB SATA-II HDs
nVidia 9400GT-512
LG 22X SATA DVD Burner w/ LightScribe
Lucent FW800/400 {3+1 ports}
BlueTooth
w/case, 500W PSU, & 4 fans, cost = $500. :priate:

edit: clarified hardware list