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Salty · Mar 4, 2009, 12:57 PM

OK so we were talking in the business workstation thread about how there's no low end tower where Apple should have one. So I'm thinking it'd be a fun forum project to discuss what off the shelf parts we could use to create a Mac Pro styled machine, or rather what we'd like in a Mac Pro. I'm gonna ask that everyone stick to hardware that we know will work with OS X. I was checking out the x86 page the other day and looking and they had a bunch of processors they listed.

So I've personally already got the case picked out, a computer shop near me has this nice black one with silver trim on the front, looks pretty classy, not quite Apple style, but it's only 150 bucks, and it's either that or a Li lian or whatever the name is case since I really don't want the case to look trashy.

So things I need feedback on are:
Mobo (I know the least about these not sure about how you even know which proc goes with which mobo etc...)
Graphics card (I know the basics, I'm thinking something moderately priced)
Fans (I want this thing to be pretty quiet, I know the OpenComputer by Psystar apparently sounds like a jet plane, so I'd heard if you get big fans that turn slowly that's your best bet?)
Hard drive, I think I'm pretty settled that I wanna get a 10 000RPM as my boot volume, and then have something like a 1TB for storing most of my stuff like music and movies on.
RAM, I'll probably start out with just a few DIMMS and add more as I need.

As far as I can think those are the major things I should be considering. What I already have his a keyboard, mouse/tablet, and a decently nice Samsung LCD.

The basic idea is first to make something that's gonna be fast for apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, perhaps some Final Cut. Also in general to up my geek cred and build some experience. Least that's the start. Eventually I'll want to add two more monitors (bringing the count to three.) and I'd like to have good parts in there so that eventually when in about four years or so when the thing is out dated and I'm jonesing for an upgrade I can use it as media center hooked up to an HD TV (that by that time shouldn't be too expensive!) I also want to make sure I have room for at 4 internal HDs since storage on this thing is gonna be important for me!

So yah, for now the big thing would be good proc, and good mobo plus a decent bit of RAM to start off with. The graphics card could actually come later if the mobo comes with integrated graphics, and the fast boot drive can also come later

So recommendations, prices, places to buy, and your reasoning for the choices are very welcome!

P · Mar 4, 2009, 01:28 PM

The best way is probably to get an EFI-X "boot processing unit", a thingy that you put on the motherboard that lets it run OS X without hacking the OS. The site is here and they list a few motherboards that it's known to work with. Not sure about NA availability, though.

If you're happy with a hacked version of the OS, knowing full well that this will mean that updates will come more slowly, I know of some who have had good success with Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L. That's a well-regarded motherboard in any case. Combine it with a Core2Duo or Quad of your choice - the Q9550 is a nice one, price/performance-wise - and enough RAM to keep you happy. Since the 4850 and 4870 are now officially supported GPUs and they're both good cards, I'd take one of them.

I have a AC 7 Pro cooler for the CPU, that's a good deal price/performance-wise. SilentPCReview is otherwise a nice place for fan reviews.

So, did you have a case PSU picked out?

Salty · Mar 4, 2009, 02:00 PM

How do you put that on the mother board? Are we sure that Apple won't come out with a way to prevent those from working? How much do they cost?

P · Mar 4, 2009, 04:44 PM

You stick it onto one of the USB headers, and of course we don't know that Apple won't come up with a way to block them. It works now, and is likely to work with all of 10.5. 10.6 is maybe.

Simon · Mar 4, 2009, 04:57 PM

Like I already said in the other thread, the Q9550 is a decent choice so I'll second P's suggestions.

Is there an advantage to using one of the EFI-X dongles over using the boot CD / USB disk like most people are doing on Hackintosh netbooks?

Big Mac · Mar 5, 2009, 08:13 PM

If Apple had the ability to block EFI-X it would also mean blocking every other Hackintosh because EFI-X is really just a hardware implementation of the existing EFI emulators. Apple hasn't even attempted to block these solutions yet, and changing things around at that low level would probably also cause problems with real Apple hardware. The benefit of using EFI-X is not having to deal with all the software issues involved in the software-based OSx86 implementation process, the least of which is having to keep a firmware CD in the drive.

Salty, you'll get better help from the insanelymac forums than you will around here, where circumventing Apple's controls and license agreement is generally frowned upon.

P · Mar 6, 2009, 06:06 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

Is there an advantage to using one of the EFI-X dongles over using the boot CD / USB disk like most people are doing on Hackintosh netbooks?

As I understand it, it means that you can install point updates from Software Update without hosing your system, while the hackier versions are sometimes toasted when updated. I don't really know - I've never used EFI-X, I'm only relating what I've heard.

Simon · Mar 6, 2009, 06:48 AM

Interesting, thanks.

What about Apple disabling EFI-X with an update? Is that considered unlikely? Is it a problem for them to do? Would it break other stuff? Or is this all entirely at their discretion so that the moment Hackintoshes become too popular Steve throws the switch and screws all EFI-X users?

P · Mar 6, 2009, 07:37 AM

I think it's safe to say that Apple can brick them at any time - at which point they can be de-bricked by an update from the hacking community. EFI-X has done all the heavy lifting in implementing EFI instead of BIOS, rather than on top of BIOS, and any extra check Apple adds should be no harder to remove than removing a CD-check from a game.

Simon · Mar 6, 2009, 09:50 AM

Originally Posted by P

I think it's safe to say that Apple can brick them at any time - at which point they can be de-bricked by an update from the hacking community.

But would that again involve software patches or would it be a permanent patch to the EFI-X like a firmware upgrade?

Salty · Mar 6, 2009, 11:28 AM

Btw if I found a Mac Pro case on Ebay and took out the guts and installed a normal mobo, think that'd classify as running on Apple Hardware?

Big Mac · 11:53 AM

I really don't think Apple can brick EFI-X without bricking its own hardware in the process. It doesn't make sense that you could fool with such low-level OS code and still have it be compatible with existing hardware. If Apple could find an identifiable flaw in the OSx86 code that differed from its EFI implementation, I suppose it could be possible, but I still think that would be unlikely. Again, if that were really possible, I'm confident Apple would have done it to thwart its Hackintosh competition long ago.

Anyway, from what I understand there are EFI-X firmware updates.

If you could do that, Salty, it would qualify as an Apple logo branded computer and would therefore qualify according to the letter but not the spirit of Apple's EULA.

EFI-X's North American distributor has a nice site featuring the dongle and full hardware builds:

http://www.expresshd.com/index.html

I'll tell you, if their hardware is reliable I won't be buying or recommending any Apple desktop, aside from possibly the mini.

mduell · Mar 9, 2009, 03:05 PM