Canon 7D editing machine - hackintosh $900 = $2500 mac pro

[Nik Manning]

Ok now that I have the Canon 7D on order I have to update my editing machine. I have a G5 that is a power pc version. Time to go intel. Checking out the prices for the macs versus what they offer I have decided to go with the hackintosh. My main concern was that apple was switching to snow leopard and I wanted to know if the hackintosh could support this upgrade. The answer seems to be yes.

Check out this lifehacker article http://lifehacker.com/5351485/how-to-build-a-hackintosh-with-snow-leopard-start-to-finish?skyline=true&s=x

I will be building this exact machine and I will report back to the community about stability and performance. But if the author is to be believed it will perform better than the $2500 Mac Pro. That is crazy!

[NoxNoctus]

Why go through that trouble? Build an even more powerful PC that wont have hardware issues, or shut down when an OS update comes through? Hackintoshes are cool projects for netbooks and the like for a personal computer, but for critical work, I wouldnt trust it.

[xmephestox]

http://www.efi-x.com/

[ryansheffer]

Yea. As much as I've always wanted a hackintosh, I've steered clear. In my experience its at the worst possible moment when you have catastrophic computer failures during a big project. I'd hate to ruin my multiple hundred thousand dollar project because I saved a little money on my computer.

With that being said - man I want a hackintosh.

[NoxNoctus]

me too. I'm thinking about getting a Dell Mini for it. I love OSX for the most part, and Final Cut, but being self-financed I've forced myself to do mounds and mounds of research, and ended up building myself a new i7-based machine. Spent $1200 on everything, 12GB RAM and all. Specs run neck and neck with the highest end Macs.

Not to mention Windows 7 is an utter dream. They've hit a home run with it finally.

[Kegan]

Well, in that case I believe its different. If you're working on a multi-hundred thousand dollar project, at that point it would be ridicule to save a couple thousand and go the hackintosh route. If you're working on projects of that capacity on a regular basis...is a hackintosh really necessary?

Hackintoshs are just for those looking to save a bit of money when their projects are relatively low budget. Not to question their reliability, because I'm running one after having owned a Mac Pro and I can safely say that so far, so good and I've put it through hell. I also have it dual-booted with Windows 7 and both are working fine.

I also own a Macbook Pro that I run right beside it and going back and forth between them (they're networked), I've had no issues either.

As long as you know what you're doing and you've done your research, Hackintoshs can be a good thing for those on a low budget. Buy the OS, so you can support Apple in a small way, but if you like the workflow of a Mac, but have the budget of a PC...

Kegan

[Richard J. Johnson]

http://www.efi-x.com/

That is one cool interface. not sure what I'm looking at. but very cool site.

[Richard J. Johnson]

There are a few guys on the boards that run some insanely powerful hackintosh systems and they swear by them. But I'm a little leary about the tech support. I have a PPCG5 Dual and it edits HD video just fine. And when my 7D comes in it will edit that just fine as well. It may move a little slower but with both of my kids in school and a massive debt load, no computer company is getting any of my money right now. fortunately the 7D will be a gift.

[ryansheffer]

Hunter. I agree with you 100%.

I want a hackintosh not because I should own a hackintosh, but because I love tinkering with gadgets and getting good deals. As much as I think my Mac Pro is a beautiful piece of machinery I would rather be able to say I got a deal and built the thing myself.

No way I could get away with using one of these guys on big projects. Too risky. I need that Applecare.

Applecare is incredible by the way. I recently had my logicboard fail during a project. Apple sent me a new computer and the packing slip to send the old computer back in the same box. If you call enough and have good reason, they will do this and not make you bring it into an Apple store. Awesome.

[ryansheffer]

By the way - though I've never used it.

My understanding is that EFI-X is a usb stick that automates the hackintosh process.

[sblfilms]

Why go through that trouble? Build an even more powerful PC that wont have hardware issues, or shut down when an OS update comes through? Hackintoshes are cool projects for netbooks and the like for a personal computer, but for critical work, I wouldnt trust it.

What? If you know what you're doing, you would build a system that can do a vanilla install and then software updates install just like they do on an Apple box. I have A MacBook Pro for most of my usage, but when I need a little more heft (and storage space) I boot into my OSX partition on my Core i7 960 box and go to town. Using hardware that you would find in an Apple computer, it is just as stable as my MBP.

[Richard J. Johnson]

Now if they just had Happle stores...

[ryansheffer]

Man - the more I hear positive things the more I want to try. Maybe just as a secondary, networked computer? Let my assistant editor use a hackintosh and me on a Mac Pro? I just want to play around and build a mac. Done it enough with PCs.

[open-heart burglary]

I've been using a Hackintosh for almost 9 months. It's super stable and as long as yoou don't grab every point update right when they come out, you can look on the insanelymac forum and see if the update will work for you, and other people's experience's with it. My machine is awesome thoough. It's super fast and reliable. I will never buy an actual mac ever again. If my motherboard tanks, I can buy another one for around $100.00. That's not so bad.

[Kegan]

Ryan, that was a lot of it for me too. I wanted the challenge. To be honest, I've never had so many problems building a box before, but I was using Macs for the past 4 or 5 years and hadn't even touched a PC since I was in high school. That may have been why it took me longer to get it completely operational, but its so incredibly satisfying to be able to say that I made the Mac that I'm running.

Really, a good feeling - once my projects start getting larger and my budgets go back up, I have all intentions of picking up a Mac Pro again so that I have the piece of mind in terms of warranty and reliability (of course all machines fail, but I rather it be an Apple error than a ME error).

Kegan

[Richard J. Johnson]

It's still a PC.

[Kegan]

Fair enough - I built a personal computer, that runs OS X. Is that the politically correct term?

[NoahK]

Yeah it kind of is what it is- you get the lower price point of a PC along with all of the tech/hacking/instability updates of a PC as well. You can hot rod a Volkswagen to look like a Bentley too, but you won't get much help from a Bentley service center when it craps the bed lol.

Noah

[ryansheffer]

Well. It doesn't run windows. That's all I care about.

[Rakesh Jacob]

MUST AVOID THIS THREAD!!! MUST NOT ENTER INTO ANOTHER CIRCULAR ARGUMENT!!!!
have fun guys!

[bimdas]

It's just an operating system when it comes down to it. Once mac had crossed over to PC hardware (intel processors) then the difference between the two just came down to looks and the operating system.
Except with building your own mac, you can select quality components that in themselves have lifetime warranties and if something goes wrong then you'll be able to just go down to the local pc shop and get a replacement. Its not recommended for anyone who doesn't know anything about hardware and can diagnose problems. The only two hardware faults I get all the time from friends and family are either a harddrive failure or a faulty power supply. Everything else rarely breaks down if you get quality components.

[Nik Manning]

Why go through that trouble? Build an even more powerful PC that wont have hardware issues, or shut down when an OS update comes through? Hackintoshes are cool projects for netbooks and the like for a personal computer, but for critical work, I wouldnt trust it.

Have you used an intel hackintosh before? Did you read the article I linked to? The reason to go through all that trouble of a 2 hour install job is price vs performance. I will get a faster machine than most for less than most. I currently have 3 Mac computers and 2 that I bought for work. I am very familiar with the cost and stability. Nobody is going to see this machine it will be in a closet. At $900 I have to atleast try it right? That is a potential $1600 savings! And I can always put Windows 7 on it.



From article.

In short, my $900 "Hack Pro" sports nearly as good or better hardware than any Mac that Apple sells short of the $3,300 8-Core Mac Pro (http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MB535LL/A?mco=Nzk2MDk0Mw) (which can, incidentally, get more expensive, but it won't get much better).

[xbourque]

You can hot rod a Volkswagen to look like a Bentley too

I wish non-car related discussion boards would filter out car names instead of swear words. Enough with the car analogies already! :-)

On a more on-topic subject:

I'm good with hardware, and I wouldn't have problems diagnosing/replacing bad components if I had a dud. What I find intimidating with building a hackintosh is the insane amount of parts available on the market.

Googling for "start here" threads usually lead to gamer machines or super low-end machines for people who want something between a Mac mini and iMac.

Anyone can point me to a parts list that could get me started on a box suited for video editing/compositing? Octo-core, 12 GB RAM, 5 drive bays (or more), decent graphics.

I especially at loss regarding motherboards.

Anyone who has a sucessful hackintosh care to share their detailed specs?

-X

[Kegan]

Sure, I wouldn't mind sharing my specs:

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.8ghz)
- 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 RAM
- 500GB Seagate HDD @ 7200rpm
- Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Mobo
- NVIDIA 9500GT 1GB
- 700w OCZ Fatality Power Supply

Dual-booted running Windows 7 and OS X 10.5.6 - looking to do a fresh install with SL on another drive to test stability and add another 4GB of RAM.

Great place to start for parts:

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

OR

check the forums if you want to find rigs that already work together and have guides already made up:

http://www.insanelymac.com/

Any questions, shoot me a PM or ask in the thread.

Kegan

[bimdas]

I wish non-car related discussion boards would filter out car names instead of swear words. Enough with the car analogies already! :-)

On a more on-topic subject:

I'm good with hardware, and I wouldn't have problems diagnosing/replacing bad components if I had a dud. What I find intimidating with building a hackintosh is the insane amount of parts available on the market.

Googling for "start here" threads usually lead to gamer machines or super low-end machines for people who want something between a Mac mini and iMac.

Anyone can point me to a parts list that could get me started on a box suited for video editing/compositing? Octo-core, 12 GB RAM, 5 drive bays (or more), decent graphics.

I especially at loss regarding motherboards.

Anyone who has a sucessful hackintosh care to share their detailed specs?

-X

There's a good reason why gaming machines are a good description for good editing machine. There are million more hardcore gamers than editors and they want just as fast and stable computer as anyone else out there. And there are plenty of them out there to tell you whether a component will be a dud or not.

A good quality PC motherboard will never die. They are basically covered excessively in heatsinks to keep them cool because all the good ones are built for overclocking. That's a whole nother advantage to building your own right there and then. But your motherboard is the starting block and then you simply add compatible parts to it and put it together like a lego set. The fastest processor you can afford, as many hard-drives as you need, plenty of cheap corsair ram, videocard, a quality power supply and case. Keyboard, monitor, operating system and you now have a working computer. It's childs play really I could teach my 9 year old nephew how to do it.

[sblfilms]

Yeah it kind of is what it is- you get the lower price point of a PC along with all of the tech/hacking/instability updates of a PC as well. You can hot rod a Volkswagen to look like a Bentley too, but you won't get much help from a Bentley service center when it craps the bed lol.

Noah


You definitely have no idea what you are talking about, and I mean that not in an insulting way but in a blunt and factual sense :grin:.

All the hardware Apple uses in their computers is readily available in some form (usually exactly the same part number) on the big parts websites like Newegg. If you run a system made up of Apple supported hardware, it is no more or less stable than running OSX on the original Apple branded hardware. Hell, it took me less time to upgrade to SL on my Hackintosh than it did my MPB :smile:

I download OS point updates, apple software updates, etc. with no problem because I basically built a Mac Pro sans the EFI hardware built in to the Mac Pro.

[NoxNoctus]

I guess "The Hack"s gotten more safe to do, apparently. I've heard many a horror story about a Hack that got updated and everything crapped out.

It's your machine, do with it as you please. I'd just naturally be cautious about the whole thing. I like my data :-p

[sblfilms]

Well, I have all my non system data on a separate drive (well, two drives in a raid 1 array) so it isn't an issue. You are no more likely to FUBAR a Hackintosh that is completely vanilla than an original Apple machine. With either of them you should always wait for the putzes who immediately download updates to be the bug testers before you do ;)

[Nik Manning]

I guess "The Hack"s gotten more safe to do, apparently. I've heard many a horror story about a Hack that got updated and everything crapped out.

It's your machine, do with it as you please. I'd just naturally be cautious about the whole thing. I like my data :-p

Please if you are interested in a hackintosh read the article before commenting on stability and difficulty everyone.

http://lifehacker.com/5351485/how-to-build-a-hackintosh-with-snow-leopard-start-to-finish?skyline=true&s=x

If anyone here is worried about losing there data because they are using a hackintosh should simply backup there data. Everything else is easy to replace.

My Canon 7D = $1650 (tigerdirect 15% off)
Hackintosh = $900

Mac Pro = $2850 configured to match the Hackintosh.

I was able to squeeze in a whole Canon 7D because I am going the Hack route. LOL

[Barry_Green]

I guess "The Hack"s gotten more safe to do, apparently.
As I understand it, that EFI-X device means that no "hacking" is done whatsoever.

In the early days of the "hackintosh" people had to go muck around with the OSX code and patch it to jump over the hardware verification step, or something like that, and when an update would come out, oops-- it'd blow your "hacked" OS.

But with the EFI-X device, you don't hack anything. You install a 100% full regular copy of OSX. If an update comes out, you update. Reportedly, no problems like used to occur.

[Rakesh Jacob]

Here's a pretty good episode of Tekzilla that goes through a Hackintosh with the EFi-X
http://revision3.com/tekzilla/satadock

I built a Hackintosh with 10.5.6 before I saw the EFi-X, took a bit a screwing around but it worked; glad I didn't spend the money because in the end it's MacOs... whoopie....

[NoxNoctus]

As I understand it, that EFI-X device means that no "hacking" is done whatsoever.

In the early days of the "hackintosh" people had to go muck around with the OSX code and patch it to jump over the hardware verification step, or something like that, and when an update would come out, oops-- it'd blow your "hacked" OS.
.

Thats the version I was familiar with. I was going to build a Hackinsystem then decided against it, and settled in with a cozy high-end pc. Now that its stable I might just build a supercomputer. I miss Final Cut every now and then!

[mattsand]

- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 (2.8ghz)
- 4GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 RAM
- 500GB Seagate HDD @ 7200rpm
- Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P Mobo
- NVIDIA 9500GT 1GB
- 700w OCZ Fatality Power Supply

wow, i have the exact same box, down to the brand and model names, except i use a gigabyte ati 4700 which i heard was better for the proapps, and man it flies. i honestly wouldn't trust it either without a backup, but with everything on an external sata drive (plus daily backups of it) that also has fw800 i can just move to one of my "real" macs if needed, even if it's not as fast. it's not that i expect the hardware to fail, but all of a sudden an extension is required for something and it doesn't boot anymore. of course never upgrading or installing anything mid project takes care of that too.

[Kegan]

Yeah, it definitely flies. I want to try SL on another drive, because it seems that all SL installs have to be on a fresh drive...

Plus, I don't want to screw up my 10.5.6 + Windows 7 that's already working fine.

Kegan

[mattsand]

um, 4870 obviously...

[ydgmdlu]

Here's the best quad-core Hackintosh that you can build at the lowest price:


Intel Core i7 920 (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009642)
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Motherboard (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009618)
Corsair 12GB PC3-12800+ (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010241)
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010294)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA 3.0 (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010249)
SilverStone 750W 80 Plus Power Supply (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010761)
LG 8X SATA Blu-Ray Writer (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010970)
LITE-ON 8X SATA Blu-Ray Combo Drive (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010550)
Thermaltake VI90001W2Z Full Tower Case (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010425)
Prolimatech Megahalems CPU Cooler (http://www.jab-tech.com/Prolimatech-Megahalems-CPU-Cooler-775-1366-pr-4428.html)

Total system cost, shipped and after mail-in rebates, is only ~$1682. I went soft on the CPU because I think that it should be overclocked (it can do 3.6 GHz easily), and the higher-end chips don't provide much more overclocking headroom.

Here's the cheapest build to match Mac Pro specs as closely as possible:


Intel Core i7 920 (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009642)
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Motherboard (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009618)
Patriot 3GB PC3-10666 CL7 (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10009682)
XFX GeForce 9500 GT 512MB (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010679)
Samsung 750GB SATA 7200 RPM 32MB (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10007193)
LG 22X SATA DVD Burner (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10010593)
Antec NSK6580 Mid Tower w/ 430W Power (http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=10006027)

Total system cost, shipped and before mail-in rebates, is only $901. Mail-in rebates take off another $30. Every one of those components, except for the last one, is equivalent to or slightly better than what's found in the $2499 Mac Pro. The case is not as pretty, and the power supply probably has a lower wattage capacity. But there's no need for a high-wattage power supply, as today's modest computer systems don't even consume much more than 300W at peak usage. You can still safely overclock the CPU to 3.2 GHz.

All of the components that I've listed should be completely compatible. Even if you include the cost of a fancy keyboard, mouse, speakers, and 24" LCD, the price for either system should still be below the entry price for a quad-core Mac Pro.

And if you buy a "legitimate" copy of Snow Leopard, the added expense is only ~$30.

[Lucian]

Will Hackintosh work on Dell XPS Studios?

Btw, i7 quads 920 w/ gb ram and blu ray burners can be had for 800 bucks now.

[Nik Manning]

As stated before I will build the exact hackintosh posted on lifehacker and I will return with feedback for the community.

[ydgmdlu]

Btw, i7 quads 920 w/ gb ram and blu ray burners can be had for 800 bucks now.
This is not true. I just configured the cheapest possible iBUYPOWER (which offers the least expensive systems) i7 920 system, with 3 GB RAM and a single Blu-ray burner, for no less than $913. I think that it's literally not possible because the components can't be found for lower prices, even for OEM. For example, a Blu-ray burner alone is about $200, and the CPU is a little under $300. And just because you can buy such a low-cost system does not mean that it would even be fully compatible with OS X, at least not without a bunch of tweaks, hacks, and workarounds. I chose all of those parts carefully with an eye for compatibility, performance, and price.

[Lucian]

This is not true. I just configured the cheapest possible iBUYPOWER (which offers the least expensive systems) i7 920 system,

Actually it is true, I ordered just before the labor day. Look in the Dell outlet store, mine came in a sealed box, it'd never been opened. I can post the invoice if you want proof. Free upgrade to windows 7, and even a 19 in 1 media card reader.

Dunno if the Hackintosh dongle will work together though.

[ydgmdlu]

What model did you get? I checked the Dell Outlet Web site, and I could find nothing like what you're describing.

[xbourque]

ydgmlu: Thanks a lot! That's exactly what I needed to put me on the right track.

Some questions still remain:

Is there such a thing as a dual i7 motherboard? (I'm talking about dual CPU, not just multi-core).

Will a quad core i7 show up as 8 CPUs in MacOSX because of hyperthreading? (i.e. in Activity Monitor for instance).

--X

[chakamonkey]

I have had an EFI-X machine for about a year. The upgrades have been painful and required before almost every rev of OS X. Their attitude in the forums seems routinely hostile or arrogant.

The upgrade to Snow Leopard will require a new dongle. I guess you just throw your old one away.

There is a very narrow set of hardware that is supported, and if you carefully read the forums, you can maximize your chances of getting it to work right.

It does not play nice with my MXO, so be careful in thinking that you can be assured that your hardware peripherals will be compatible. The latest firmware can't handle mirrored setup of dual monitors.

ALL THAT SAID, I am happy with my system. I found an Areca RAID card that works for booting OS X directly from RAID 5. It runs all my Mac apps (Final Cut Studio, Shake, Adobe CS4) without a problem.

If you are going to go this route, understand that you are at the mercy of a company that views this as non-production equipment.

[Lucian]

What model did you get? I checked the Dell Outlet Web site, and I could find nothing like what you're describing.

You have to loiter there. Notice when you refresh the inventory count goes up and down. The good deals pop up and you have to be ready to pull the trigger. They had an i7 920 Quad, with blu ray, 8gig ram, network card, 19 in 1 media reader, and DUAL hard drives 7200 rpm for $820. I dropped the ball on that one. The also give you free shipping.

No, I don't work for Dell, and two years ago swore them off forever, but I'm a whore at heart and I couldn't find a deal that was even close unless I tried to build it myself, which I've done, but it's always sketchy and I do like those Mumbai whiz kids manning the phone lines 24-7 to bail me out.

[ydgmdlu]

ydgmlu: Thanks a lot! That's exactly what I needed to put me on the right track.
I'm very glad to help! That's why I went through the trouble...


Is there such a thing as a dual i7 motherboard? (I'm talking about dual CPU, not just multi-core).Not a good idea. Dual Nehalem motherboards are for the server market, which means that they will be quite expensive. On top of that, you'll need the Xeon (i.e. server) versions of the corresponding i7 CPUs, which is another price premium. I very much doubt that an octo-core will offer the level of performance that justifies the price. There will always be diminishing returns. Eight cores will be much faster than four, but not twice as fast. And only properly optimized applications can take advantage. Most of the time, those extra cores won't be contributing very much. That's why I haven't bought into SLI and Crossfire.


Will a quad core i7 show up as 8 CPUs in MacOSX because of hyperthreading? (i.e. in Activity Monitor for instance).Basically yes.

[ydgmdlu]

You have to loiter there. Notice when you refresh the inventory count goes up and down. The good deals pop up and you have to be ready to pull the trigger. They had an i7 920 Quad, with blu ray, 8gig ram, network card, 19 in 1 media reader, and DUAL hard drives 7200 rpm for $820. I dropped the ball on that one. The also give you free shipping.

No, I don't work for Dell, and two years ago swore them off forever, but I'm a whore at heart and I couldn't find a deal that was even close unless I tried to build it myself, which I've done, but it's always sketchy and I do like those Mumbai whiz kids manning the phone lines 24-7 to bail me out.
Yeah, that's very good to know. It's not that I don't/didn't believe you. My point was that you can't count on deals like the one that you found if you're trying to find something that's easily available and, even more importantly, will actually work with what you're trying to do (in this case, make a Hackintosh).

[ydgmdlu]

For anyone who wants to look at other components than the ones mentioned so far, check out the user-compiled hardware compatibility lists:

10.6.0: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.6.0
10.5.8: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.5.8
10.5.7: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.5.7
10.5.6: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.5.6

Also check out the InsanelyMac forums for support on how to get components not on those lists to possibly work. Best to stick with the most popular recommendations, though.

[sblfilms]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375 - $185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202 - $280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106254 - $160

$625. If you can't get a case, video card, ram, and HDD for the remaining $175, you're either stupid or have expensive tastes. Building an i7 hackintosh is completely doable on an $800 budget.

[Lucian]

Yeah, that's very good to know. It's not that I don't/didn't believe you. My point was that you can't count on deals like the one that you found if you're trying to find something that's easily available and, even more importantly, will actually work with what you're trying to do (in this case, make a Hackintosh).

No it's no biggie, the other thing with a Dell is I think they're hard to overcock. Not sure if it's even possible. But they are cheap, esp the outlet, and they're also recommended by Videoguys for some reason.

[xbourque]

Not a good idea. Dual Nehalem motherboards are for the server market, which means that they will be quite expensive. On top of that, you'll need the Xeon (i.e. server) versions of the corresponding i7 CPUs

That would explain why I couldn't find such a mobo.

Thanks for the info.

-- X

[ydgmdlu]

Yes, if you go with the GA-EX58-UD3R instead of the GA-EX58-UD5 that I selected, you can knock off $100. When I was looking into an i7 Hackintosh months ago, the UD5 was the mobo of choice, which is I why I selected it here.

[sblfilms]

That certainly is a different thing to say compared with "This is not true. I just configured the cheapest possible iBUYPOWER (which offers the least expensive systems) i7 920 system, with 3 GB RAM and a single Blu-ray burner, for no less than $913. I think that it's literally not possible because the components can't be found for lower prices, even for OEM."

You were wrong, so instead of shifting the goal posts just admit it and move along.

[ydgmdlu]

OK, I did a new list from parts on NewEgg that were cheaper. It still matches or exceeds the $2499 Mac Pro.


Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202)
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375)
Crucial Ballistix 3GB DDR3-1333 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148263)
Sparkle GeForce 9500 GT 512MB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187035)
Western Digital 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319)
LITE-ON 22X DVD Burner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106281)
LOGISYS ATX Computer Case with 480W Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811148046)

Total shipped price is just ~$730, and there's even a $15 mail-in rebate on the motherboard. You'd be dumb not to get this!

[ydgmdlu]

That certainly is a different thing to say compared with "This is not true. I just configured the cheapest possible iBUYPOWER (which offers the least expensive systems) i7 920 system, with 3 GB RAM and a single Blu-ray burner, for no less than $913. I think that it's literally not possible because the components can't be found for lower prices, even for OEM."

You were wrong, so instead of shifting the goal posts just admit it and move along.
Yes, I was wrong, and I'm big enough to admit it.

BTW, even with the Blu-ray burner that you linked, the price still doesn't come under $800 (for a comparable system). I pretty much selected the cheapest (or next-to-cheapest) components that I could find.

[Lucian]

OK, I did a new list from parts on NewEgg that were cheaper. It still matches or exceeds the $2499 Mac Pro.


Intel Core i7 920 2.66 GHz (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202)
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128375)
Crucial Ballistix 3GB DDR3-1333 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148263)
Sparkle GeForce 9500 GT 512MB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187035)
Western Digital 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319)
LITE-ON 22X DVD Burner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106281)
LOGISYS ATX Computer Case with 480W Power Supply (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811148046)

Total shipped price is just ~$730, and there's even a $15 mail-in rebate on the motherboard. You'd be dumb not to get this!

Yowzer! $31 for a case and powersupply? The two components I've had fail most frequently are HDD's and power supplies, I'd bump up the quality on that if it was me.

And don't forget your OS. As I understand it, you can get the full Mac OS by merely buying the SL upgrade? So that's, what, another 100 bucks?

Btw, I also got my LED display at the DEll outlet, it's 24" 1920x1080 for $199.

[ydgmdlu]

Well, I was going for CHEAP. But I agree with you. I'd personally spend around $100 for a PSU.

The Snow Leopard upgrade is only $30. It's technically an upgrade-only license, so you're not supposed to install it on a machine that doesn't already have a legal copy of Leopard. But hey, it's better than pirating the OS from torrents!

[ydgmdlu]

Also, I looked but could not find a "full version" of Snow Leopard from the Apple Store. Only the upgrade version is sold. So I guess, to be fully "legit," you have to get a full version of Leopard plus the SL upgrade.

[bimdas]

yeah don't get anything less than a 600w power supply from a reputable maker like corsair. I've had 3 antecs and a super-flower psu blow up on me. If you get the really cheap ones, they take out every component on their way out. To be extra safe, hook your computer upto a power surge protector and plug that into a ups.

[xbourque]

Also, I looked but could not find a "full version" of Snow Leopard from the Apple Store. Only the upgrade version is sold. So I guess, to be fully "legit," you have to get a full version of Leopard plus the SL upgrade.

No. To be fully legit you need to buy the 169$ "Mac Box Set" that includes iWork and iLife. Really bizarre strategy. Since SL is Intel only, and that Intel boxes shipped with Tiger for only a "short" time, I guess they figure that not many people would have bought the full version anyways.


-X

[ydgmdlu]

Curiously, I've never had a PSU fail on me in the last decade. I've only started using brand-name PSUs in the last couple of years.

You don't need a 600W power supply. Like I said earlier, modern systems rarely peak at over 300W. The truth is that cheaper brands are liberally rated, while the best brands are actually somewhat conservatively rated. That, on top of the the differing quality of components, is the reason for differences in failure rates. When you get a quality 500W PSU, you can be sure that it can really sustain a 500W load. A cheap 500W PSU might be able deliver 500W for a while, but it could easily burn-out or blow-up under that load for an extended time.

I don't know about Corsair, but the two best brands are PC Power & Cooling (the very best) and SeaSonic (the most cost-effective, efficient, and quiet). Enermax has also come into its own in recent years. SeaSonic does a lot of OEM, and I think that it's actually the OEM for Corsair or Cooler Master. PC Power & Cooling is overkill, IMO.

[1dog Studios]

From experience I want to say do lots and lots of research on forums and reviews. For example do a search for the motherboard and add the words "overheating" etc, etc.. I was going to go the "get it for as little as possible route" too.
In fact my first build was going to be a Hackintosh to edit Red footage. I stayed with Windows 7 thought because of how CS4 performs.
Now to sell my computer it is only worth $600 Canadian.
I am upgrading as we write but that original build is as follows:
Core2Quad Q6600 OC'd to 3.4 Ghz
8GB Ram
2x 500 GB Sata II drives running in Raid 0
Intel 975XBX2
Corsair 650w PCU
Antec Mid Tower 900 Case
DL DVD Burner
8800GT Nvidia Video Card which I soft mod to a Quadro

[ydgmdlu]

No. To be fully legit you need to buy the 169$ "Mac Box Set" that includes iWork and iLife. Really bizarre strategy. Since SL is Intel only, and that Intel boxes shipped with Tiger for only a "short" time, I guess they figure that not many people would have bought the full version anyways.


-X
Huh.

[1dog Studios]

My current build I did more research, and learned a lot about PCU's. I can't remember the site, but I found some great reviews where they literally take the PCU apart and examine the quality of the internal parts.

Based on that I went for the Corsair Professional HX850W 850W (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=38650&vpn=CMPSU%2D850HX&manufacture=Corsair). This baby's a dream. Need clean stable power to keep your system running stable. Especially now that I will be using the EVGA X58 Classified.

[bimdas]

My current build I did more research, and learned a lot about PCU's. I can't remember the site, but I found some great reviews where they literally take the PCU apart and examine the quality of the internal parts.

Based on that I went for the Corsair Professional HX850W 850W (http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=38650&vpn=CMPSU%2D850HX&manufacture=Corsair). This baby's a dream. Need clean stable power to keep your system running stable. Especially now that I will be using the EVGA X58 Classified.

your right, nothing beats research. theres so many pc freaks out there now that you can do a search on any component and get hundreds of opinions. If a product is dud, it isn't hard to find out.

I use to fix peoples computers as a side wage and the problem seemed to always be the psu. With one of my friends he got a pc technician from the local pc store to look at it. He said the motherboard was fried and that needed replacement along with everything else because they don't make that model anymore. Strangely when I replaced the psu in it, it started up as if nothing ever happened. His psu blew again a few months later and I got him a power surge protector and since then, no problems. It depends alot on the quality of power and electrical system in your house or unit.
If your sharing power with other tenants, you should get a power surge protector or the top of the line psu. The more watts you get the more efficient it runs. Plus if you are going to need more space you can plug in 4 or six hard-drives without worrying about power.

[mattsand]

i see that a lot of people use or recommend the geforce 9500, but i'd like to mention again that for proapps the ati 4870 is the fastest, and it's also natively supported by the os, and is an option if you buy a mac pro. i got one with 1gb and 3 ports, which isn't fully compatible with the native driver, but with a custom injector string it works perfectly. my xbench score for graphics beats the real mac pros, and i've never seen motion snappier. color seems to be optimized for the x1900 still but that's likely to change. i haven't upgraded to studio 3 yet.

[vx1kOrnot]

Luck i got a Efix , but now got a MBP 2.8 Unibody 15" 4Gigs of Ram :)

I still got the Dongle , but no Tower to put it in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk7PwBd9OyY

[ydgmdlu]

i see that a lot of people use or recommend the geforce 9500, but i'd like to mention again that for proapps the ati 4870 is the fastest, and it's also natively supported by the os, and is an option if you buy a mac pro. i got one with 1gb and 3 ports, which isn't fully compatible with the native driver, but with a custom injector string it works perfectly. my xbench score for graphics beats the real mac pros, and i've never seen motion snappier. color seems to be optimized for the x1900 still but that's likely to change. i haven't upgraded to studio 3 yet.
Yeah, for the video card I would recommend doing research and buying based on what you need. Few applications actually take advantage of the video card, so unless you are a heavy user of those specific applications, or unless you want to game a lot on your Hackintosh, a fancy video card is just not worthwhile. The GeForce 9500 GT is the same card as the GeForce GT 120, which is found in the baseline Mac Pro configurations (quad-core and octo-core).

[Lucian]

The Snow Leopard upgrade is only $30. It's technically an upgrade-only license, so you're not supposed to install it on a machine that doesn't already have a legal copy of Leopard. But hey, it's better than pirating the OS from torrents!

I'm still not clear on this, you can buy the $30 SL upgrade and that would install the full OS on a blank HDD? If so, that's a good deal.

[sblfilms]

Apple doesn't release OS "upgrade" discs that search for are current install like MS does, they sell one disc that can be used to do a fresh install or upgrade. So yes, the $30 SL package is the complete OS and has no need for a previous install to be on the HDD.

[Nik Manning]

Well Well saga continues!

Hackintosh update to 10.6.1 with no problems. This is great news! http://lifehacker.com/5356864/hackintosh-upgrades-without-problems-to-1061




If you happened to follow along with my guide to building a Hackintosh with Snow Leopard, start to finish (http://lifehacker.com/5351485/how-to-build-a-hackintosh-with-snow-leopard-start-to-finish), you may be curious as to whether you need to do anything special to upgrade to yesterday's Snow Leopard 10.6.1 release (http://lifehacker.com/5356791/apple-updates-snow-leopard-to-1061). In short: You don't. Just upgrade like normal; your Hackintosh should handle it like a charm. (Mine did.) If you were intrigued by the guide but were a little intimidated by all the command-line work, stick around—next week, I'll show you how to install Snow Leopard on my Hackintosh build without any of that tedious command-line hacking.

[Nik Manning]

Update: New No Hack Version released today to get Snow Leopard Running and it updates with no problems!
I ordered all my parts from new egg so after everything is in and installed I will update.

http://lifehacker.com/5360150/install-snow-leopard-on-your-hackintosh-pc-no-hacking-required?skyline=true&s=x

[vcfilms]

Thinking about doing this myself. How are my specs for this build. Any issues there.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400
Asus p5q mobo
8GB Corsair XMS2 8500 memory
Ocz 650 Watt PSU
Geforce 9800GT Graphics Card

Let me know what you guys think. Anyone have similar to this up and running?


from the lifehacker site:

NOTE: Just like the last post, this guide is focused specifically on the hardware I suggested (http://lifehacker.com/5351485/how-to-build-a-hackintosh-with-snow-leopard-start-to-finish#hardware) in the previous guide—specifically the motherboard. If you try following this guide on other hardware, there's a very good chance it won't work as advertised.

[orangespoon]

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum is your friend when it comes to building a hackintosh; base your hardware on success stories in those forums and it should go fine
but is still only for those comfortable with PC/Apple tech and installation/maintenance

i am currently running:

Intel Q6600 @2.4Ghz
8Gb Ram
Gigabte GA-P35-DQ6 Mobo (onboard sound)
2 x 1Tb Samsung HDD (don't try raid config, too many issues)
nVidia 8800 GTS 320Mb Video

it is rock solid and silky smooth fast :)
make full use of the time machine functionality of course

i will soon upgrade the video card to something fast as the new tech in snow leopard will start to unleash that power soon for number crunching tasks

[editman]

I do all my editing in Avid with an Acer Travelmate 7730. Works like a charm but this is in windows.

[Isaac_Brody]

A better place for handling questions on a hackintosh editing rig.

http://www.insanelymac.com