Hi Guys,

This is my first post to the forums, although I have spent a fair amount of time lurking in the background and building up knowledge.

Incidentally (to any moderators out there), if I happen to place this post in the wrong area, please feel free to move my post to the appropriate area and swat my backside.

Thanks to the wonderful people on this forum, I now have a wonderful (fully working) Dell m1210 and I have to admit to having fallen in love with OSX, so to all those who have contributed - thank you so much for sharing your hard work and knowledge.

I have recently purchased a Mac G5 case (like several other people here on the forums) and plan to build myself a machine that I can use as a (semi) home theater PC (I don't really expect to use it for TV recording etc, but am open to the idea if someone can point me to the right hardware / software combo).

So at this point, I really have no idea what kind of hardware I'm going to install in this machine, but I would like get everyone's input before deciding on a path forward. I'm aiming for a dual boot machine with optimal OS X (10.5.5) compatibility, at a fair and reasonable price.

So, does anybody want to start by suggesting a motherboard?

(And again - thanks to all the people on this forum who absolutely rock!)

Ok, with sadly few replies thus far, I've being doing a spot of research and I'm thinking that a Skulltrail MoBo might be an option....

I've found the following links that seem quite interesting...

• Skulltrail
• ASUS Implementation

So this is going to cost around the $500 - $600AUD mark.... any other contenders?

why for a semi home theater, something like a matx gigabyte board (for compatability and ease of install into a G5 or mac pro case), and a 8800gt (again for compatability) with a processor of choice and amount of ram you want ... couple with a collection of hard drives to store all you want ...

If your looking at those dual CPU high-end boards, I bet you want something powerful!

....But I'm also wondering if you actually need the extra CPU. Why not get a high-end single CPU mobo and a high performance quad core? Other than than a home theater sysyem, what do you have planned for this hacintosh? And how much do you plan on spending (an extra CPU will cost a quite bit more)?

Indeed, you really don't need all that power... Really.
You'd better do as Bucket6 said, it will cost around 600-800$ for the whole rig.

Excuse my interrupting, but does a G4/G5 case fit a standard ATX motherboard and parts?

The G5 will absolutely fit a standard ATX, the G5 Logic Boards are essentially Extended ATX (but even longer) and the G4 case will also fit a standard ATX mobo.

Standard ATX in G5: http://www.s155158671.websitehome.co.uk/Re...eelevation.jpeg
Standard ATX in G4: http://console-hacks.com/news_pics/PC_in_G...se/G4Case14.jpg

Hi Guys,

Been traveling with work for a bit, so apologies for the delayed response.

I'm looking to build a powerhouse because this will be (apart from a semi HTPC), my core machine for the next 3-4 years. I'll be running dual boot with XP for a while (I work in IT/Telephony and do a lot of number crunching), it will also be used for gaming (both OSX & XP) when I have the chance. So essentially I'm looking for a machine that I can use for work / play, has to have a truckload of grunt, truckload of RAM and some very tidy graphics capabilities. I also want it as quiet as I can make it - so I'll probably look at water cooling (although I've never done this before).

I've been reading about core i7 processors and contemplating holding off on hardware purchases until January when Snow Leopard is released (hopefully with Core i7 support - can anyone confirm / deny this?)

Thanks for the feedback so far - please keep it coming....

apple release hardware is hard to anticipate, so your best bet is to wait out for snow, and then make choices then ... i personally think i7 isnt going to be much for most users, and a good intel quad will suffice, a Q9650 or Q9550 for example or a decent xeon.

i personally am going to be picking up a Q6600 now that the i7's have been released.

does your IT apps make use of multi cpu environments, cause if not; don't bother with skulltrail.

the nvidia 8800 series cards are supported very well, there are lots of support for the 9800GTX aswell, i personally want support for the ATI hd48** cards but that might not happen for a while, but you might wanna read in the graphics forum before buying.

water cooling is nice but do take into account the fact that the system does need maintenance and you will want to think twice about leaving it on when you are not in. A good air cooled system can be very quiet, just choose parts wisely and account for noise, especially the power supply, which cen be very noisy.