eocene Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 I am trying to build a nice and cheap hackintosh that can drive one 30" lcd + 3 other monitors (dual 20"s plus one 19" .. or maybe another 30" lcd + 19" .. still to be decided). So I have put several computers together in the past, have setup EFI on my MBP to run Vista+OSX+Linux .. etc. However I have never done a hackintosh. I dont care about video games... and just want the videocard(s) to be be able to support dual-link DVI .. at least on two out of 4 DVIs . So I don't care about SLI, I just want to be able to run all the monitors. I am thinking this PC should cost under $800 since I already have a case, optical drive, hard drives.. etc. I want a Q6600... but what I really need advice on is: 1) motherboard (to go with the quadcore cpu) 2) two video cards, if not, will something like this work? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/se...;CMP=EMC-NEXTAG So I'm willing to go with one PCI-E card + a PCI card... doesn't matter much to me to be honest.. I just want to be able to run 3-4 monitors. And I want something that has been tested and is known to work.. nothing experimental. (So with this in mind.. please let me know what you think.. also comment on the monitor setup ! : this http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2006/...el_desktop.html or this: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r17976697-...C-w-Dual-30-LCD Thanks a lot... (yeah I'm working really hard and many hours to be able to get this.. and I would rather spend a little $$ more if it will work "for sure".. so "on the cheap " is compared to a mac pro =-P ) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigPimpin Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Your request for help here is like walking into a kindergarten classroom and asking for help with your calculus problem. Good luck. You're going to need it. Serisously, if you look around I think you'll find running even a dual-monitor setup is something that gives people all kinds of problems. I don't recall anyone that was able to make it work. I could be wrong because I never researched the problem (if you can call doing anything on this site "research"), but I don't think so. Which is exactly what you should do: start reading all the threads that discuss a dual-monitor setup and see where they go. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846137 Share on other sites More sharing options...
westwaerts Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 well, sounds heavier, than it is. dual dvi for your 30" on a pci-e works. second pci should work too for the rest, though i think nobody ever tried here. intel chiped mobo, nvidia cards are a good combo. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846178 Share on other sites More sharing options...
eocene Posted August 5, 2008 Author Share Posted August 5, 2008 I did do some research and I found like three people who were just able to get their stuff working =-(... I really thought OSX86 was basically a matter of just getting it to install.. I see I was mistaken.. got the wrong impression from looking over the project a few months back. Anyway this looks like my best bet: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=101121 However, this has kinda made me want to hold back now =-( .... or I might just go back to Linux/FreeBSD. I don't even wanna think about the Snow Leopard =-/ LOL I do like the first response though =-P ... but this is the World Wide Web, I'm sure there are plenty of preschool kids out there who are already past Calculus Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846289 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korrupted Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 If memory serves, there's plenty of people who have multi-monitor setups working. Just google/search around for good graphics cards to use. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846291 Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoloBear Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 Dual 30" is no problem at all. I have a Dell 3007 and a Samsung 1600x1200 in pivot. today I received a 3008 and just plugged it in. No restart, just detect monitors with preferences. Here is a crappy Iphone picture.... Dual 30" is just too big, waste of money... you really get a sore neck moving your head. But if you use one monitor just to watch a movie and work on the other. This is my regular setup... Dell 3007 and a cheap 4X3 pivot Syncmaster. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846318 Share on other sites More sharing options...
eocene Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 Dual 30" is no problem at all. I have a Dell 3007 and a Samsung 1600x1200 in pivot. today I received a 3008 and just plugged it in. No restart, just detect monitors with preferences. Here is a crappy Iphone picture.... Dual 30" is just too big, waste of money... you really get a sore neck moving your head. But if you use one monitor just to watch a movie and work on the other. This is my regular setup... Dell 3007 and a cheap 4X3 pivot Syncmaster. That is really sweet.... so that second 22" you have ... that seems pretty expensive to be honest .. I was going to go for the Dell 2001FP 20” , however I don't get how your 22" seems to fit so well next to your 30" when I thought 20" was what fit perfectly? So far I'm leaning towards just the one 30" lcd and 3 more monitors, my only reason for wanting another 30" is that I could get a third later on and that would be the best.... because then I could drag things across each without really resizing..... but I do see how 2x30 would be annoying since you have to turn your head only to one side, hence my reason for wanting three monitors with a big center one. My concern is not being able to to drive the 30" but more being able to drive 3 or more monitors at the same time.. =-( At this point I must admit my main reason for wanting another 30" is cuz it just looks so cool, but I'm really probably going to save the money and get a nice camera instead =-P... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846428 Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiaboliK Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 four monitors are no problem with gfx strings and two video cards, just follow aqua-mac's guide on how to do it. -D- Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846448 Share on other sites More sharing options...
eocene Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 Do you mind linking me to that guide? I have read that Gigabyte motherboard with intel chipset is what i'm looking for .. but I'm not sure exactly what I should look at. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846475 Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiaboliK Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Do you mind linking me to that guide? I have read that Gigabyte motherboard with intel chipset is what i'm looking for .. but I'm not sure exactly what I should look at. http://aquamac.proboards106.com/index.cgi?...&thread=569 enjoi -D- Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846481 Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigPimpin Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Well, there you go. I guess the non-success stories just seemed to stand out in my mind. Looks like you've got a few good starting points. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846651 Share on other sites More sharing options...
eocene Posted August 6, 2008 Author Share Posted August 6, 2008 So will MSI's 8800GT work with the gfx strings ? If so what motherboard do I need.. I was looking at " GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS4" .... and at one point I would want to add another MSI 8800GT.... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/119443-four-monitors-quadcore/#findComment-846668 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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