Building a MacPro, Yes, a MacPro not a Hackintosh Options

[nagal]

So will you keep it or sell it ?

This is a keeper! The whole idea of building it is because I can not afford to buy a MacPro right out and want to go legit with OS X.

[Kane Adams]

Sounds like a plan.
So if you build it and use all mac parts it will be a Mac and not a hackingtosh.

[nagal]

I am not using 100% Apple parts. CPUs are not a spec Apple uses as they are Intel Engineering Samples. Memory is not bought direct from Apple but is Apple Certified. Optical drives are not "SuperDrives" just standard off the shelf dvd-rw and dvd-rom drives. Hard drives are not sizes Apple offered expect for one of them (250GB and two 320GB). The logic board is Apple, case is Apple, PSU is Apple, retail version of Leopard so thats Apple

So it could be argued it is not an "Apple" computer but it is not much different than someone who bought a MacPro and did their own upgrades. To me, it is an Apple.

[Kane Adams]

So can you install OS X in it and not be in trouble?
Don't get me wrong i have no problem with it just wondering out loud.

[nagal]

So can you install OS X in it and not be in trouble?

That is the idea If it install without any hacks straight from the DVD (which it should) then in my opinion that is perfectly legit. Now, I am not a lawyer nor do I play one on the internet but I do not see how it could be against the EULA in anyway.

[Kane Adams]

Well your doing and awesome job so I would not worry about it.

[Korrupted]

That logic board is a monster, probably a good 4.5 inches longer than an ATX, so I don't think it would fit in any other case + all the IO rear panel issues there would be. I got my case off ebay, but they don't come up very often.

Hack Pro

I am looking for a Mac Pro logic board that is not working as I want to cut off the rear sockets (USB/Firewire/lan/sound) and wire them into my case. If anyone knows where I can find one it would be much appreciated.

Do you happen to know the dimensions of the Mac Pro mobo? (L,W,H)

[nagal]

Do you happen to know the dimensions of the Mac Pro mobo? (L,W,H)

15" x 10.5" x 7" . L x W is approx and H is a guess as I am not sure how tall the memory riser cards are but it will not be taller than 7 ".

Picked up the processors today.



So wait, they say 2.4 GHz 1066 FSB? Yes that is correct. These are engineering samples not even OEM chips. They have a 9x clock so with the BSEL mod will bump them to 3.0 GHz 1333 FSB

Here is the dirty on these chips http://www.cpu-world.com/sspec/QQ/QQYK.html

And here is a link to how to perform the BSEL mod http://www.o0o.it/pro/. So easy, its not even funny. Hardest part is going to cutting a piece of electrical tape that thin. It will for sure be an after coffee event.Even if they do not go to 3.0 GHz with BSEL, 8 cores at 2.4 GHz is nothing to be ashamed of I will start things off without modding them and once everything looks good and stable then let the fun begin.

[Korrupted]

That's in inches, right?

[nagal]

That's in inches, right?

Yes. Sorry about forgetting that.

[nagal]

Note:

Avoid using ApplePalace.com. They state they have items in stock on their website but as I just found out from a phone call its not true as my order was going to be held until Jan 25th because Apple does not have the memory riser cards. Nice of them to inform me of this.

[skyhighmac]

Nagal, just to let you know, I think you can put up to 32gb in a mac pro. BTW, how did you get engineering samples? You shouldn't even need to hack anything because you are using base apple parts (logic board), except flashing your video card.

[nagal]

Nagal, just to let you know, I think you can pot up to 32gb in a mac pro. BTW, how did you get engineering samples? You shouldn't even need to hack anything because you are using base apple parts (logic board), except flashing your video card.

Everything I have read says the MacPros are limited to 16 GB not that is really a limit to me. Maybe they have changed that to 32 GB now?

I got the engineering samples off of eBay. They show up on occasion there. Yes, there should be no hacking involved at all which will be nice. I am curious if my PC NVidia 7300GT will work using NVinject. Its just curiosity mostly as I have a real Mac NVidia on the way.

[skyhighmac]

OWC sells up to 32gb.

[nagal]

Good to know. OWC is where I got my memory from as well. Their prices are awesome and once I have the cash will get another 4GB from them.

Now is that a screen shot of your MacPro? 32 GB is kind of overkill but at todays prices is not that expensive

[skyhighmac]

No, thats no my mac pro yet, it will be soon . Not really. Just did a google search for "mac pro 32gb." Its not overkill for somethings.

[nagal]

Did a little work last night not much as still waiting for more pieces to arrive. After reading aqua-mac's comments about the two additional SATA ports on the mobo, I dug this out of my box o crap



It slides into any free slot on the PCI cage and turns internal SATA connections into external connections. I really have no need for it right now but figured I would throw it in I had to cut some of the front fan housing away so I could plug in the SATA cables. It also became necessary as Apple uses SATA connectors to connect the front panel USB ports on the front panel board to the logic board. I found it on ApplePalace.com but it was a $30 cable. So I got my mini-hacksaw, removed a piece big enough from the fan housing so I could just use a normal SATA cable.

I will try to get some pics of it later not sure. I did not take pics before hand so now would have to remove some stuff.

My bag of a 100 M3.5 screws showed yesterday so I put in the memory cage and front fan housing. Stupid me forgot to get some LONG M3.5 screws for the memory cage but luckily I found some long 6-32 that only have about 1/8 inch of thread on the very tip. These worked well enough to secure the cage and not strip anything. The cage actually takes 2 very long M3.5 screws then 2 very short M3 screws to secure. I have plenty of M3s so that was not an issue.



There is not much space between the front fan housing and the memory cage. This may be an issue with the after market heat sinks I ordered. I could have gotten the Apple ones but at a little over $100 each, I said no thank you. Worse case scenario is I have to remove the memory cage and fan housing then create a way to mount the fans up front myself. The Apple heatsinks also have a temp probe on them. Way? I have no idea as the Xeons have built in temp sensor. Anyways, another trip to the box o crap and I returned with 2 thermal sensors from an old dual Slot 1 motherboard. I do not see why these will not work but it is a wait and see. No big deal as this is what DIY is all about

So I am waiting on the following

Heatsinks - should arrive today but I may have to wait until Monday if the package is too big to fit in large mailboxes at my apartment complex.
Memory raiser cards - probably arrive Wednesday
Power Supply - who knows, ApplePalace said they were shipping Friday so it should be Wednesday
Video Card - Maybe by Friday

Yes, video card. After doing some research it is highly unlikely my current video card will work AND do to the space requirements would not fit in the first slot which from what I can tell is the only electrical 16x PCIe on the logic board.

[aqua-mac]

Hi Nagal,

This really is coming on nicely! Everyone should have a box o crap!! Unfortunately I seem to have accumulated a lot of them and I never know which one to look in. What heat sinks did you order? You are right, Apple did not leave a load of space there.

Graphics choice is a little limited at the moment on mac pro's

[nagal]

Thanks aqua-mac, I just wish it would come along a bit quicker

I ended up getting Thermalright HR-01X mainly because you can change their mounting direction. It is going to be an interesting fit for sure.

[aqua-mac]

Well they certainly look the biz! If they are too big, maybe you can trim the grey plastic shroud and still be able to keep the fans and support.