Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

trek2008 · Dec 16, 2005, 03:29 PM

I am thinking of custom building a macintosh. Does anyone know what kind of motherboard I need, or know of a site that has specs. I want to make like a MediaCenter computer like HP has. Any help would be appreciated.

Lateralus · Dec 16, 2005, 06:44 PM

Well, you would need an Apple motherboard for starters...

production_coordinator · Dec 16, 2005, 07:14 PM

Start with a Apple motherboard and video card... and go crazy...

trek2008 · Dec 17, 2005, 10:03 AM

I am aware I need an Apple motherboard. Does anyone know where I can get one, or do I need to get it directly from Apple?

galarneau · Dec 17, 2005, 10:06 AM

It would be much easier to just buy an existing Mac.

If you add up the cost of getting a motherboard, proc, memory, hard drive video card etc on eBay, you'll be far over the cost of getting a Mini, which would be fine for HTPC use.

Mac007 · Dec 30, 2005, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by trek2008

I am aware I need an Apple motherboard. Does anyone know where I can get one, or do I need to get it directly from Apple?

You could try Ebay or these two web sites:

http://www.sunrem.com/

http://www.shrevesystems.com/

Here's a website describing instructions on how to build a Macintosh:

http://www.overclockers.com/tips1173/

The following book, which can be found at Amazon, might also be useful: Build Your Own Macintosh and Save a Bundle

SpaceMonkey · 03:31 PM

Originally Posted by Mac007

The following book, which can be found at Amazon, might also be useful: Build Your Own Macintosh and Save a Bundle

Amazon says it was published in 1992?

waffffffle · Dec 31, 2005, 04:50 PM

Building your own Mac is not really a good idea. If you want to do a custom project you're better off starting with a Mac mini and going from there.

goofticket · Jan 23, 2006, 09:49 AM

If you really want to build. Get a 9500/9600 or a Umax S900 clone
7 drive bays, 6 PCI slots, 8 DIMM slots and dual CPU slot.
that should keep you busy.
These are upgradable to G4's locking over 1Ghz, hold 2Gb of Ram and if you are really adventurous, you can setup a SCSI RAID with all the drives.

Find a PC with that much expandability...I dare you!

but good luck and have fun.

Ian_Bullock · Jan 25, 2006, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by goofticket

If you really want to build. Get a 9500/9600 or a Umax S900 clone
7 drive bays, 6 PCI slots, 8 DIMM slots and dual CPU slot.
that should keep you busy.
These are upgradable to G4's locking over 1Ghz, hold 2Gb of Ram and if you are really adventurous, you can setup a SCSI RAID with all the drives.

Find a PC with that much expandability...I dare you!

but good luck and have fun.

Are you sure about that? Is there a website with those upgrades shown? I had a look after reading your post, because I'd be interested in a 1GHz upgrade - would make my Umax useable again - but I couldn't find anything above 450mhz.

Ian

SirCastor · Jan 25, 2006, 09:46 AM

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgr...=Show+Upgrades

Ian_Bullock · Jan 25, 2006, 10:52 AM

Thanks a lot Sircastor,
I've gotten intrigued now. I bought it for £25 a year ago, just for fun. I never dreamt it would even run OS X.
So a few questions now if that's ok:
What is the largest hard drive that the S900 could take?
Are the PCI cards available to put USB2, firewire ports etc in it?
I know it can take 1.5GBram, but I don't know anything about the Ram from back then. Is it still possible to get hold of. I'll check crucial.com aswell
And finally, what are the best PCI video cards that would be compatible?

Thanks a lot, I'd appreciate it if anyone who knew this stuff would help me out - might be a fun project,
Ian

asthma · Jan 25, 2006, 11:22 AM

heres the ram you are looking for.

http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upgr...=Show+Upgrades

Asthma

leehotti · Jan 25, 2006, 12:09 PM

Best videocard would be a PCI radeon 9000 or 9200 or something like that. Stop by strangedogs if you'd be interested in making your own videocard.

Gamoe · Jan 25, 2006, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by trek2008

I am thinking of custom building a macintosh. Does anyone know what kind of motherboard I need, or know of a site that has specs. I want to make like a MediaCenter computer like HP has. Any help would be appreciated.

The Mac is a closed hardware platform. Unfortunately you can't just pick and choose all the components yourself, pick the CPU you want, assemble it the way you want to and get a case for it like you can a PC. Even with the CPU change, Macs will be a whole lot more like PCs, but you won't be able to build them either because it will still be proprietary hardware.

If you "build" a Mac you'll just be "rebuilding" one out of left over parts and it's not guaranteed to work (there are many components which are specific to models and revisions). So, I suggest you go with the Mac mini-- it has served as a pretty good media center for some people. Alternatively, forget about the Mac and get yourself a small form factor barebones PC and and use Linux.

leehotti · Jan 25, 2006, 07:01 PM

Originally Posted by Gabriel Morales

The Mac is a closed hardware platform. Unfortunately you can't just pick and choose all the components yourself, pick the CPU you want, assemble it the way you want to and get a case for it like you can a PC. Even with the CPU change, Macs will be a whole lot more like PCs, but you won't be able to build them either because it will still be proprietary hardware.

If you "build" a Mac you'll just be "rebuilding" one out of left over parts and it's not guaranteed to work (there are many components which are specific to models and revisions). So, I suggest you go with the Mac mini-- it has served as a pretty good media center for some people. Alternatively, forget about the Mac and get yourself a small form factor barebones PC and and use Linux.

Yes, but they really aren't that hard to build either. Apple CPU and motherboard. You can use PC ram, drives, fans, keyboards, mice, monitors, speakers, and with slight modifications you can use PC cases, videocards, power supplies, etc.