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

[nagal]

Well I know why the fans are so noisy they are running full speed because the CPUs are reporting there temp at 126 C. Time to cook some eggs if that was true

Okay, I will probably not be posting a whole lot more for the next few days as I have a lot to get setup and researching on the water cooling. I will still check in to answer any questions as they come.

[Kane Adams]

Nice they were open.
I need a video card now. lol 32 MB just don't get it.

[Harloe]

Do you need to install a cracked version of OS X on this machine or can you use an official Apple Licensed version? If so how is that possible? Is that just by putting in what Apple would put in to a Mac Pro?

Also could you give me a rough estimate on price! =] I'm debating between this... and the G5 mod. The less tools I have to use the better.. lol

Thanks!

[nagal]

Do you need to install a cracked version of OS X on this machine or can you use an official Apple Licensed version? If so how is that possible? Is that just by putting in what Apple would put in to a Mac Pro?

Also could you give me a rough estimate on price! =] I'm debating between this... and the G5 mod. The less tools I have to use the better.. lol

Thanks!

Why would I need a cracked version of OS X on a computer built off of an Apple Logic Board?

Check the very first post, there is a total of how much I have spent so far but I got LUCKY on a few of the parts. My price list does not count anything I re-used in my build (hard drives, optical drives, various bits of hardware to bolt it together) only what I have spent.

[Harloe]

I went back and read the first post and discovered the price list, sorry! lol So overall this A LOT cheaper than just going out and buying a Mac Pro? And where the heck did you get an Apple Logic Board from =O I wasn't aware they were being sold anywhere. I'll have to check out some of the websites listed in this thread! =]

Thanks again!

[nagal]

I could not take the noise any more so I replaced all the Apple fans with some Yate Loons I had here. A LOT better now and temps seem good. I know the Apple fans are running full blast because I am missing the thermal sensors for the heat sinks.

[Harloe]

General question for you Nagal:

Where do you live and what do you do for a living? =P I'm planning on this now rather than a Hackintosh, might be more trouble than it's worth doing a Hack! And a Mac Pro would set me for life, haha, specially one that I have built myself!

Thanks =]

[~pcwiz]

Are you going to buy the thermal sensors?

[nagal]

General question for you Nagal:

Where do you live and what do you do for a living? =P I'm planning on this now rather than a Hackintosh, might be more trouble than it's worth doing a Hack! And a Mac Pro would set me for life, haha, specially one that I have built myself!

Thanks =]

I live in California and I currently work as a software engineer to pay the bills BUT I have been tinkering with anything and everything that needs a screw driver/wrench to take it apart since as long as I can remember. Computers did not entire the picture until I was about 12 a good 25 years ago.

If you can not find the processors, case and logic board for cheap you might actually end up spending MORE than what it would cost to just buy one and throw in 3rd party memory. The processors are the key to keeping costs down.

Are you going to buy the thermal sensors?

No. The sensors are part of the heat sinks Apple sells and can not be bought separately as far as I can find out. I also could not find any to buy but honestly did not look very hard. I am more than likely going to water cool it. I have to tear it apart tonight to get some info off the CPUs as the guy who sold them too me needs it to determine if he sent me the wrong ones as they are only showing up as 2.13 GHz and not 2.4 GHz. Since it will be all apart and I have everything to water cool, if it will boot with no drive in the primary slot I will go for it.

[Harloe]

I figure I can get the processors pretty cheap £115 each on Intel Core 2 Duos (I only want a Quad Core system!) The case I am still searching for and the Logic Board works out at around £200+ for me depending on where I get it! (I live in the UK!)

The graphics card (7300 GT Mac Version) I might be able to get on my Student Discount as well as Mac OS X Leopard =]

Sound is all onboard, correct?

[nagal]

I figure I can get the processors pretty cheap £115 each on Intel Core 2 Duos (I only want a Quad Core system!) The case I am still searching for and the Logic Board works out at around £200+ for me depending on where I get it! (I live in the UK!)

The graphics card (7300 GT Mac Version) I might be able to get on my Student Discount as well as Mac OS X Leopard =]

Sound is all onboard, correct?

I am afraid you are looking at LGA 775 processors. You need to be looking for LGA 771 processors for the MacPro. Logicboard for only 200 GBP sounds amazing, almost too amazing but if you can get it for that great.

Sound is onboard.

Also remember you need FB-DIMM. They are not nearly as expensive as they use to be but its not just normal RAM you get at most places.

EDIT: I put down $200 even though I meant 200 GBP

[aqua-mac]

Kemmi,

Here is a link to some reasonably priced Mac Pro ram (reasonable by UK standards anyway) for your Hackie project. Remember you cannot just sling DDR 2 in a mac pro.

[nagal]

Kemmi,

Make sure the logic board you are looking at is one of the following Apple part # 661-3919, 661-4307. These normally go for $600 - $800 new here in the States so your price of 200 GBP seems very low considering how much MORE things usually go for in the UK versus the US.

[Harloe]

I went back and looked at the board. It was about 715 US Dollars so it's roughly about £350, I must of looked at the item below it and got mixed up! And I really had no clue about the processors!! Is there a site I can take a look at the ones you got? I might be able to convert some prices! Even though, Leopard and Graphics Card should fall under Student Discount, so there is an upside lol, I'll be selling my old computer parts to help pay for this bad boy though =D

And thanks for the link Aqua Mac, I got all my first computer parts from there when I was building the PC I had =]

[aqua-mac]

Here is an idea of a few more prices $

http://www.mac-pro.com/Mac-Pro-Online-Stor...placement-Parts

[nagal]

Since I used Engineering Samples, there is not really a site to go and buy them from you just have to get lucky on eBay.

Double check on the student discount on the video card, I thought it was only towards software.

I hope you fair better in selling off your old computer than I did with mine. The money I got helped some but not a whole lot.

[Harloe]

Ah the Logic Board on Mac-Pro.com is listed at 487.77 dollars so that's not too bad! =D Looking at about £225 depending on where I can get it from, it might work out cheaper to buy some parts from the US and I think you might be right Nagal about the Graphics Card, I'll have to double check!

Thanks for all your help! =D

[nagal]

MacPro rocks for sure! They have the memory riser cards as well and you need two of them. No idea if the ship out of the US or not but they can not be cheap and then tariffs on it once you receive it. ouch

[Harloe]

Hmm I think you only have to pay an extra charge upon receiving something if it has a few problems going thru customers, etc Like weight issues, etc. I could be wrong though, I'd have to look into it!

Where did you buy like the internal casings to go over the heat sinks originally before you figured out they were a couple of beasts =P

[nagal]

The internal casings? If you mean the memory cage, front fan housing then all that came with the case I bought. I do not know if that is normal or not.

Buying on the Internet

You’ll need to pay customs and VAT on goods purchased on the Internet if they are above a certain value. If the amount of duty is £7 and over, you’ll need to pay customs duty. If the value of the goods is £18 or over, you’ll also need to pay VAT.

You won’t need to pay UK customs duty if the goods were purchased in an EU country, but you’ll need to pay the VAT on the goods in that country if applicable.

http://knowhow-now.com/Taxes-article44096-...dUKCustoms.html

If you can get the seller to mark the item as gift then there is no issue but a lot of retailers in the US will not do that.

I am just letting you know this as you *should* figuring it into your cost so you are not surprised when that mega-awesome deal in the US all of a suddens turns out to not be such a good deal.