11-25-2010, 06:29 AM
I call it CompyMac X86.
PARTS LIST with links (prices may have changed)
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128405&Tpk=p55m-ud2
Intel i7 870 quad-core - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115213&cm_re=i7_870-_-19-115-213-_-Product
G.SKILL Ripjaws 2x4GB DDR3-1333 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231311&cm_re=gskill_4GB-_-20-231-311-_-Product
P-Link IPC-3035 3U rackmount case - http://store.chassisoutlet.com/3u3x5x3ba14d.html
Startech ATX2POWER530 - http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?961529
EVGA GeForce 8600 GT - (free, hand-me-down from a friend, not the best but good enough for now)
1TB Seagate HD SATA- (already owned, used in G5)
Maxtor 250GB ATA - (already owned, used for music in G5)
Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-111D ATA "SuperDrive" (also from G5)
OS X 10.6 Install DVD - $29 from Apple Store
My Total = ~$700 with tax and shipping
My goal was to get as high a level of performance as the best current iMac for less money. I already had a decent monitor, hard drives, keyboard & mouse. Just needed more power. You would spend over $2,000 to get the 27" iMac with the same processor as this build. Granted I don't have a 27" glossy LCD, but that was part of the appeal for me actually.
It took me about 8 hours of actual work to get it all together once I had the parts, plus countless hours researching and shopping around. My first Hackintosh. There is a learning curve but in hindsight the installation of the hardware is about as difficult as the software was, not for everyone but it can be done.
I was a Mac repair tech for a couple years so I know my way around a computer case, and let me tell you my old G5 is a freakin' masterpiece of design compared to this new rackmount case but I am pleased with it just the same. I suppose with commodity hardware you just aren't going to get the same level of perfection. Despite the specs the case can really only hold like 3 Hard drives and maybe 3 opticals if you really cram it in. The problem is the power supply cables filling it up, and the location of the RAM on this board kind of limits how many drives you can stack up on the outside edge. The power wires for the processor were not really long enough so I had to route them under the front edge of the video card, basically blocking the rest of the PCI slots in the process. Will need to revise that plan in the future if I want to add anything else but it works for now.
My first attempts at installing OS X failed because apparently the drive I was trying to use (a 160GB Maxtor - DiamondMax 9 SATA original from my G5) predates Native Command Queueing (NCQ) and this somehow prevents the hardware from booting from it, even if the OS has been installed. So if you ever go this route just make sure you don't try to use an old-ass drive, pretty much everything since 2004 has NCQ so nobody bothers to mention this on the forums.
I had to replace the stock 2x80mm fans on the front of the case because I could not stand working next to what sounded like an airport. WEEEEEEEE. I pulled out the 2 fans and was able to work in a single 120mm fan I had sitting around. Almost forgot how much I hated Molex connectors!! Had to cut a special shim for the side of the fan that faced the plastic air filter as it was rubbing. Used a piece of pressboard and cut out a hole in the middle with a dremmel to match the size of the fan, works great and soooo much quieter.
Performance is just off the wall compared to the G5. iPhoto is immensely faster. Everything on the web is better, well not so much MRF but whatever. I went with 8GB of RAM (2x4) so I could keep 2 slots open and add more later without tossing anything. RAM is cheaper now than when I bought it.
Geekbench Score (32 bit)- 8135
Integer - 6764
Floating Point - 13205
Memory - 3845
Stream - 3772
64-bit test costs money, but referencing this it should be over 10,000.
Cinebench 11.5 Scores-
OpenGL: 12.52 fps (the 27" iMac would be at least double this due to the newer Radeon 5750 video card)
CPU: 5.53 pts (the 27" i7 iMac would be identical to this)
I intend on overclocking to the mid 3GHz range sometime in the future which would put this above any iMac right now in terms of processing power, and with the right graphics card (they're cheap!) it could outperform the best iMac on any level. But for now games are not my priority.
I'm sure there is more to say but it's getting late. Very pleased overall. Would recommend anyone consider one as long as you can deal with getting your hands a bit dirty. You cannot expect to get the same out of the box experience as with a real Apple computer, but you can save a lot of money for giving that up and get exactly the features you want too.
PARTS LIST with links (prices may have changed)
Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6813128405&Tpk=p55m-ud2
Intel i7 870 quad-core - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819115213&cm_re=i7_870-_-19-115-213-_-Product
G.SKILL Ripjaws 2x4GB DDR3-1333 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6820231311&cm_re=gskill_4GB-_-20-231-311-_-Product
P-Link IPC-3035 3U rackmount case - http://store.chassisoutlet.com/3u3x5x3ba14d.html
Startech ATX2POWER530 - http://www.nextwarehouse.com/item/?961529
EVGA GeForce 8600 GT - (free, hand-me-down from a friend, not the best but good enough for now)
1TB Seagate HD SATA- (already owned, used in G5)
Maxtor 250GB ATA - (already owned, used for music in G5)
Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-111D ATA "SuperDrive" (also from G5)
OS X 10.6 Install DVD - $29 from Apple Store
My Total = ~$700 with tax and shipping
My goal was to get as high a level of performance as the best current iMac for less money. I already had a decent monitor, hard drives, keyboard & mouse. Just needed more power. You would spend over $2,000 to get the 27" iMac with the same processor as this build. Granted I don't have a 27" glossy LCD, but that was part of the appeal for me actually.
It took me about 8 hours of actual work to get it all together once I had the parts, plus countless hours researching and shopping around. My first Hackintosh. There is a learning curve but in hindsight the installation of the hardware is about as difficult as the software was, not for everyone but it can be done.
I was a Mac repair tech for a couple years so I know my way around a computer case, and let me tell you my old G5 is a freakin' masterpiece of design compared to this new rackmount case but I am pleased with it just the same. I suppose with commodity hardware you just aren't going to get the same level of perfection. Despite the specs the case can really only hold like 3 Hard drives and maybe 3 opticals if you really cram it in. The problem is the power supply cables filling it up, and the location of the RAM on this board kind of limits how many drives you can stack up on the outside edge. The power wires for the processor were not really long enough so I had to route them under the front edge of the video card, basically blocking the rest of the PCI slots in the process. Will need to revise that plan in the future if I want to add anything else but it works for now.
My first attempts at installing OS X failed because apparently the drive I was trying to use (a 160GB Maxtor - DiamondMax 9 SATA original from my G5) predates Native Command Queueing (NCQ) and this somehow prevents the hardware from booting from it, even if the OS has been installed. So if you ever go this route just make sure you don't try to use an old-ass drive, pretty much everything since 2004 has NCQ so nobody bothers to mention this on the forums.
I had to replace the stock 2x80mm fans on the front of the case because I could not stand working next to what sounded like an airport. WEEEEEEEE. I pulled out the 2 fans and was able to work in a single 120mm fan I had sitting around. Almost forgot how much I hated Molex connectors!! Had to cut a special shim for the side of the fan that faced the plastic air filter as it was rubbing. Used a piece of pressboard and cut out a hole in the middle with a dremmel to match the size of the fan, works great and soooo much quieter.
Performance is just off the wall compared to the G5. iPhoto is immensely faster. Everything on the web is better, well not so much MRF but whatever. I went with 8GB of RAM (2x4) so I could keep 2 slots open and add more later without tossing anything. RAM is cheaper now than when I bought it.
Geekbench Score (32 bit)- 8135
Integer - 6764
Floating Point - 13205
Memory - 3845
Stream - 3772
64-bit test costs money, but referencing this it should be over 10,000.
Cinebench 11.5 Scores-
OpenGL: 12.52 fps (the 27" iMac would be at least double this due to the newer Radeon 5750 video card)
CPU: 5.53 pts (the 27" i7 iMac would be identical to this)
I intend on overclocking to the mid 3GHz range sometime in the future which would put this above any iMac right now in terms of processing power, and with the right graphics card (they're cheap!) it could outperform the best iMac on any level. But for now games are not my priority.
I'm sure there is more to say but it's getting late. Very pleased overall. Would recommend anyone consider one as long as you can deal with getting your hands a bit dirty. You cannot expect to get the same out of the box experience as with a real Apple computer, but you can save a lot of money for giving that up and get exactly the features you want too.
