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

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What model did you get? I checked the Dell Outlet Web site, and I could find nothing like what you're describing.
 
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
 
EFI-X is not a complete Mac replacement

EFI-X is not a complete Mac replacement

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.
 
ydgmdlu said:
What model did you get? I checked the Dell Outlet Web site, and I could find nothing like what you're describing.
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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.
 
xbourque said:
ydgmlu: Thanks a lot! That's exactly what I needed to put me on the right track.
Click to expand...
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).
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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).
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Basically yes.
 
Lucian said:
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.
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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).
 
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.
 
ydgmdlu said:
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).
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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.
 
ydgmdlu said:
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
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That would explain why I couldn't find such a mobo.

Thanks for the info.

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

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!
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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.
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
ydgmdlu said:
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.
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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
 
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.
 
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