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+--- Thread: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 (/showthread.php?tid=111474)
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - mikebw - 02-05-2011
clay wrote:
the OWC SSD options look slightly faster than the Samsung you posted, for about the same price:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/Solid_State_Pro
Yeah, some of the OWC SSD's are the fastest ones available- http://www.barefeats.com/hard130.html
On-board Firewire on the GA-X58A-UD3R will be nice, not all PC mobo's have it, interesting how there is one 6-pin and one 4-pin. Definitely triple-channel memory though.
I am not familiar with the 1366 socket overclocking scene, but I am initially concerned that the DDR3-1333 RAM you chose might not be the best choice to overclock, maybe DDR3-1600 would be a better place to start? Again not sure.
Also, I would not waste money on 2GB chips, start with 4's all around that way you won't be tossing them out later if you want more RAM.
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - wowzer - 02-05-2011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-128-423&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=hackintosh&Page=1#scrollFullInfo
It seems to run a hackintosh just fine.
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - wowzer - 02-05-2011
Be sure you got the correct install:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/wiki/index.php?title=Graphic_Chipset_Database
While you're at it, I'd suggest getting a custombeast from TonyMac. Tell him your rig and he'll put a custom install program together for you.
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - john dough - 02-05-2011
I am comparing this to an "entry level" MacPro (which I was in the market for) and let us see how the costs compare:
This described system, as noted: $1780. I may have to bump up the RAM so that they are all matched to work on the MB, so the cost would be about $70 more, so $1850. With the OWC SSD (as priced with the system below), the cost would be $150 higher or $2000 loaded.
MacPro - least expensive I could see was $2200.
- Add 16GB RAM: $460
- Add 2nd Optical drive, $25
- Add SSD HD from OWC, $600
We are up to $3285.00. For a BASE MacPro with the upgrades I want. If things were equal, I would do it, but they are not. Even without the SSD, we are almost $700 higher than a system that would, as far as I have read, be much faster and more configurable.
As far as the average forum denizen, this may be overkill, but this is what I am in the market for. Yes, people can roll a Hackintosh for less, but this would be my day in, day out computer, not a project; I may end up spending even more if there is a good reason for me to do it.
Yes, people are still buying MacPro computers. If I can get the same or better bang for my buck AND save $700, why would I not?
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - miK. - 02-05-2011
freeradical wrote: He needs to post this thread to some forum where the average person reading the post understands what he's talking about.
Filliam H. Muffman wrote: So nobody buys Mac Pros any more?
I think more people than you'd think are on board with what john dough is up to.
People have had it with how expensive the new Mac Pros are and don't want the
iMac or Mini. I, for one, am one of these people and am speculating a build as well,
but more around the $1k mark (home build). A good indication is how many people
are on the tonymac forum doing this very same thing. http://www.tonymacx86.com/
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - Will Collier - 02-05-2011
I had no trouble at all overclocking a 2.6GHz i7 (1366, Gigabyte UD4P board, now discontinued) to 3.6, air-cooled with a Scythe Mugen 2 heat sink. Didn't bother pushing it any farther than that. Been steady as a rock for over a year now.
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - macphanatic - 02-05-2011
I just built a Gigabyte P55A-UD3 with i7, blu-ray rom/dvd burner, nvidia graphics card and 4 gig ram with a new power supply. Cost was around $450. I used an existing case, hard drive and keyboard/mouse set up.
I'm using this to run iTunes on to feed two AppleTV's (1st generation). I'm thinking about adding a second gen AppleTV as well. I chose this set up, as I'm also using it to rip blu-rays and convert them, as well as other videos, to m4v's for iTunes.
Yes, I could have gone with a Mini, however it would have cost $700 plus an external blu-ray and another enclosure for hard drives. While the hackintosh may not look as pretty as a Mini, it's one enclosure and one power supply.
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - seinzumtode - 02-05-2011
Just a few thoughts on your build:
1) I'd skip the Zalman HSF. It's a nice cooler, for sure, but you're going to invariably pay too much for it as Zalman coolers always command a premium for some reason. It's not the only word I'd trust, but frostytech.com has tests on a gazillion coolers so you can compare them to one another. If you're going to go crazy on your overclock, then you want as good a cooler as you can buy. The 9900 might make sense if you're looking for a huge overclock, but for the price you can find a cheaper cooler that's as or more effective and quieter (if that matters). The 9900 WILL be quite loud if it has to run full on to keep that processor cool because you've oced the hell out of it. If you're not going to do a monster oc, then a far cheaper cooler will work just as well as the 9900. The Zalman coolers are beautifully made, but you won't even be able to see it in the Antec 300! I can see both of my Zalmans inside their cases, and I rarely look at them. I do thank my lucky stars I bought them both at huge discounts, though, because they don't cool well enough to justify their retail prices.
As a side note here, part of the reason people were suggesting in the earlier thread to go with Sandy Bridge is that SB runs MUCH cooler than the 1366 processors. I skipped 1366 and waited for Lynnfield because it runs essentially as fast as Nehalem, but is substantially cooler. SB is even faster, more efficient, and according to some tests run on tomshardware.com earlier this week, even overclocking the hell out of SB doesn't really have much impact on its power consumption. You might want to look at some of the numbers and think about it a bit, because if you OC a 950 much, (a) it's going to suck down the juice like there's no tomorrow and (b) put out a lot of heat. If you just do a small OC it won't be nearly as big a deal, of course, but it will still use more power than one of the Sandy Bridges.
2) I haven't been following it closely, so I don't know what's going on with TRIM commands and OS X. If there's still no way to pass such commands, then make sure the SSD drive you buy has excellent garbage collection. The OWC drive mentioned above might be a good alternative to think about, but I think the real SSD maniacs all push the Corsair lines. The Performance series has SATA III, so you could actually make use of your motherboard's capabilities to the fullest. Also, I'm sure you've thought about it and have your reasons, but why the 256 GB version? If you're only going to use it as a boot drive, that seems excessive. I started thinking about putting an SSD in my Hackintosh a while back, so I did some calculations as to how big the drive would need to be, and determined a 30 GB drive would be big enough, but 60 would leave plenty of room for expansion. Now you may have a lot more applications installed than I do, but I'm not sure what it would take to make 256 GB necessary! I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it, just that if you bought one 128 now, and added another 128 later (or buy them both now, but the next generation of SSDs are supposedly right around the corner) and ran them in a RAID you'd get more bang for your buck.
Anyhow, it looks like a nice build overall. If it were me, I'd do a number of things differently, but that's not because you've in general made bad choices. Good power supply (though probably more power than you need - even 600 would probably be overkill), good RAM (you will need triple channel as noted above, though, and you should probably at least get 1600 if you're going to overclock), good everything, really. You might want a nicer case, of course, but that would add expense to the project. I have a 300, and it's certainly a decent case - especially for the price. If you watch slickdeals.net you can find a deal on a nicer case at around the same price, but if you don't want to hassle with it, the 300 is fine.
It is worth noting that if you bought the actual Mac, did the upgrades yourself instead of paying Apple for them, and take into account selling it some day . . . you might save money in the long run. Since 1366 is nearing the end of its run (Q4 Intel says), the resale value of your proposed build down the road isn't going to be great. As you know from your estimate of your current Mac Pro's value, they're worth quite a bit when you decide to upgrade. This is the main reason, I think, that most Hackintoshers shoot for much lower budgets: WAY more bang for the buck than Apple's machines so that we don't even care when we upgrade. If you take macphanatic's example, and I have a similar build, who even cares in two, three years? You'll still have a machine that's still VERY powerful that you can repurpose, sell, give to a friend or family member, and you're not out much. If you write it all off anyway, then this probably isn't much of a consideration. Ultimately, it boils down to, as with many things, diminishing returns.
So here's my advice: go ahead and buy the SSD you want now, and put it in your current Mac Pro and see what a difference it makes. It won't speed up the processor intensive activities you do much (at all?), but it will make the overall experience of using the computer a joy. I put my Intel X25-M in my Hackintosh while my father was here last month and showed him how fast the machine booted and then how, even after just booting, I could open up essentially every app on the computer in an instant (all at the same time, mind you). He couldn't believe how fast it was. Maybe that will tide you over until either Sandy Bridge is sorted out (you'll probably want one of the Z68 motherboards if you go this route anyhow, so you can both overclock and use Quick Sync if it'll work on a Mac, and the Z68s won't be out for a few months), the 1366 replacements are out (which will be 8 cores to start and use quad channel RAM, or so I've read), or, due to the replacements finally landing, the 1366s will drop in price and you can build this machine you've planned for a decent amount less. We're unfortunately in the midst of so much upheaval in the processor world that I don't think taking the leap and spending a load of money right now is such a good idea. Then again, you probably won't be disappointed at all by the performance upgrade you'll receive if you go ahead with this plan!
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - Filliam H. Muffman - 02-05-2011
john dough, you should buy RAM in sets of 3 for the X58 motherboards. Corsair does not seem to have many 3 x 4 GB sets for sale. 12 GB would be the first step, 18 GB (3 x 4 GB + 3 x 2 GB), or 24 GB (6 x 4 GB) for the maximum. 18 GB and 24 GB might not overclock well with so many modules.
12 GB G.SKILL $157, or $314 for 24 GB.
Re: Hackintosh thoughts, part 2 - Trouble - 02-05-2011
If you want FW800 http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1,1067365,1067365