SolidMac Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 Hello everyone, I am venturing into the world of osx86 and am really keen on building a system from scratch. The computer will be a dual-use computer: By day, a family mac that kids can watch Dora the Explorer, Thomas, etc., and will act as a backup to my wife's work iBook, and by night, a PC CAD workstation that will run Solidworks (i am an engineer by trade). Due to the excellent write-ups and tutorials on this site, the vast majority of the build seems pretty well laid out. The big question for me is the graphics card. What would you recommend as my best option for a hackintosh-compatible card that is a professional grade CAD card? Stability is very important to me for this computer. The two options that seem most likely to me are: nvidia quadro fx 1400 (is this fully supported by osx86?) nvidia geforce 6800 series that is modified to a quadro card. However, i am pretty new to all this, so i am sure i am missing many options. The PC side needs reasonably good graphics for the CAD program (primary reason for the new computer), but the mac side only needs to be able to play 1080p video for movies, etc. Nothing too serious. Any comments or pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated. This is my main stumbling block in specc'ing the computer. Thanks, -Damon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Cruickshank Posted October 28, 2008 Share Posted October 28, 2008 Hi mate, i have tried OSX86 on a pc will full comapatability, however what worries me is where you have put "Stability is very important to me for this computer" this however is a slight problem as OSX can be a real biatch to keep stable and sometimes will crash, if your looking for a stable mac the best bet would be to get a cheap second hand one. As for graphics tho Nivida eems the best option something like 8800. Regards Jamie Cruickshank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidMac Posted October 30, 2008 Author Share Posted October 30, 2008 Thanks for the reply, Jamie. It seems that, supporting your point, if you aren't doing something clearly in the mainstream of what people are doing here, there isn't much support. Not that i am complaining. My hope was that by selecting components that have a proven track record, I could get that stability. There are definitely some reports of people getting that... It just seemed that after the motherboard, the graphics card was the next critical item, so i wanted to see what was best for my application. I'm kind of torn between just getting an iMac ($$) and effectively being done with it, or still going through the process (and all the self-education) to build up a home TV/CAD/etc. kind of computer that will be sitting in the living room... If anyone has any suggestions/experience on which hackintosh compatible nvidia cards would work for Solidworks, i'd appreciate it. I'm kind of thinking just a GeForce card would do the trick for the models i do (relatively small, but heavily surfaced). Again, thanks for taking the time to reply, Jamie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts