92GTA Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 I'm going to building a desktop PC that will be running Windows, OS X, and Linux. Since OS X is the one which will pose the hardware/driver issues, I will focus my parts list around it. I read all of the hardware lists in the Wiki and what I post will be based off of that. Processor: $302.53 w/Tax & S&H - Intel Pentium D 920 Presler Motherboard: $149.79 w/Tax & S&H - D945GNTLKR Graphics: $322.62 w/Tax & S&H - ATI X1600 Pro 512MB PCIe x16 Network Connection: $28.22 w/Tax & S&H - Netgear WG311T PCI (Updated Price!) First the processor. It needed to be an Intel for 2 reasons, motherboard support for OS X and SSE3. I'm an AMD fanboy but I must bite the bullet on this one. Also the D 920 has 64-bit support for running 64-bit OS's on my Windows and Linux partitions. Maybe even it will run the 64-bit of OS X 10.5 when it comes out? Who knows... Second, the motherboard. By all accounts both in the forum and on the Wiki this board works 100% perfectly! It also has a PCIe x16 slot for a graphics card! Third, the graphics card. It would seem ATI's work the best, however reading the Wiki shows that no one has yet found a card with full QE/CI and VESA 3 without mouse tearing. Also looks like the X1600 and X1800 series cards work the best out of the box. Sure MousePose is kinda an answer but finding an ATI PCIe card that works 100% perfect would be the best. Anyone? Fourth is the network connection. Sure whatever motherboard I choose will have a working LAN but where the computer will be it needs a PCI WiFi card. It definantly looks like the Netgear WG311T PCI is the best choice. It's fully recognized as Airport by the OS, is WPA2 compatible, and is even 108G! (Although I only have a 54G router for now). Sound is not an issue as working on-board is just fine for me. Memory is standard DDR/DDR2 depending what motherboard I can find. 2GB's (2x1GB) of DDR2 PC2@-5300 667 is $235.95 w/Tax for me. Optical seems easy since all majorbrand burners appear to work just fine. I'll be installing an Samsung 16x DVD+/-RW. Lastly the HD is not an issue either since I'll most likely be using IDE however if the motherboard is fully supported, using SATA won't be a problem. So, who can suggest a graphics card for me to use so I can order these parts ASAP! ??? Thanks! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
miliuco Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Talking about graphics cards for Tiger x86, don't forget the Intel GMA900 integrated into some boards. Although the ATI cards are more powerful, the intel GMA is the best as far as easy installation and for the most part it supports good resolutions, QuartzExtreme and CoreImage. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-84669 Share on other sites More sharing options...
92GTA Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 Right you are, the board I mentioned has Intel GMA900 built in. However under Windows I want to be able to play my games and have the support for Vista so I need the X1600. If it were a non-windows machine I'd be just fine with the Intel GMA900. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-84693 Share on other sites More sharing options...
seano Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 The D915GEV looks to have 2 PCI-e and 1xPCI-e x16 slot judging from the pic? Intel® Desktop Board D915GEV Features Features Benefits Form Factor ATX (12.00 inches by 9.60 inches [304.80 mm by 243.84 mm]) Processor Supports Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor Extreme Edition (LGA775 socket with 800 MHz system bus) Supports Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor supporting Hyper-Threading Technology† (LGA775 socket with 533/800 MHz system bus) Supports Intel® Celeron® D Processor (LGA775 socket with 533 MHz system bus) View complete list of supported processors Memory Four DDR2 SDRAM DIMM sockets Support for DDR2 533 MHz or DDR2 400 MHz DIMMs Support for up to 4 GB of system memory Chipsets Intel® 915G Chipset I/O Control LPC Bus I/O controller Audio Intel® High Definition Audio subsystem using the Realtek ALC860 audio codec* Video Intel® GMA 900 onboard graphics subsystem LAN Support The board provides one of the following: Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem using the Marvel Yukon* 88E8050 PCI Express* Gigabit Ethernet Controller 10/100 Mbits/sec LAN subsystem using the Intel® 82562EZ Platform LAN Connect (PLC) device Peripheral Interfaces Eight USB 2.0 ports One serial port One parallel port Four Serial ATA interfaces One parallel ATA IDE interface with UDMA 33, ATA-66/100 support One diskette drive interface PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports Expansion Capabilities Four PCI Conventional* bus add-in card connectors (SMBus routed to PCI Conventional bus connector 2) Two PCI Express* x1 bus add-in card connectors One PCI Express* x16 bus add-in card connector Technologies Intel® Precision Cooling Technology Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-84707 Share on other sites More sharing options...
a8ne Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Processor:$302.53 w/Tax - Intel Pentium D 920 Presler Motherboard: $106.79 w/Tax - D915GEV??? Graphics: $322.62 w/Tax - ATI X1600 Pro 512MB PCIe x16 Network Connection: $62.03 w/Tax - Netgear WG311T PCI 1. There's no reason to buy all that Intel {censored}. 10.4.5 runs just fine on nforce4 boards and AMD processors. 2. Unless you love mouse tearing get an Nvidia card. You can always boot windows or linux if you want to watch a movie. 3. $60 for a net card? My $5 generic 8139 works just fine. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-84741 Share on other sites More sharing options...
92GTA Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 1. There's no reason to buy all that Intel {censored}. 10.4.5 runs just fine on nforce4 boards and AMD processors.2. Unless you love mouse tearing get an Nvidia card. You can always boot windows or linux if you want to watch a movie. 3. $60 for a net card? My $5 generic 8139 works just fine. 1. So you are running 10.4.5 on an AMD nForce4 board? From reading the 10.4.5 DVD thread, it was broken for AMD procs still??? 2. So the nVidia cards have NO tearing but won't work with the Apple DVD player? They suppport QE 2D & CI? 3. It's a 108G WiFi PCI card, not a PCI nic card. This was mentioned in my post. I sure hope you are right about the AMD procs and the nforce boards working 100%, nVidia cards too! Honestly I don't like Intel and ATI but I was feeling that in this matter I had no choice.... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-84751 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabr Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 1. So you are running 10.4.5 on an AMD nForce4 board? From reading the 10.4.5 DVD thread, it was broken for AMD procs still???2. So the nVidia cards have NO tearing but won't work with the Apple DVD player? They suppport QE 2D & CI? 3. It's a 108G WiFi PCI card, not a PCI nic card. This was mentioned in my post. I sure hope you are right about the AMD procs and the nforce boards working 100%, nVidia cards too! Honestly I don't like Intel and ATI but I was feeling that in this matter I had no choice.... Hell no! AMD's are working like a beauty!! And it'll help for those Windows XP games However, if you can't wait for an nVidia driver, I would recommend you stick with the X1600, becuase right now I have a 7800GT that performs worse than the integrated GMA900... However, as soon as there is a driver, we will be kicking ass! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-84757 Share on other sites More sharing options...
92GTA Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 Well reading the Wiki there seem to be no AMD boards listed that are 100% functional... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-84766 Share on other sites More sharing options...
92GTA Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 Well I've decided I'm definantly buying the following tomorrow: Intel Pentium D 920 Presler Intel D915GEV Motherboard Netgear WG311T WiFi PCI Card Thanks to everyone who responded to my post! (Which I now think should have been in the Hardware forum, sorry, lol) I fell VERY confident that I won't regret getting the Pentium D 920 and the D915GEV. I only wish the D915GEV supported faster 667 DDR2 instead of only 533. The WG311T just got native support with 10.4.5 so I hope it continues in future versions as well. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-84935 Share on other sites More sharing options...
manmal Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Well I've decided I'm definantly buying the following tomorrow: Intel Pentium D 920 Presler Intel D915GEV Motherboard Netgear WG311T WiFi PCI Card Thanks to everyone who responded to my post! (Which I now think should have been in the Hardware forum, sorry, lol) I fell VERY confident that I won't regret getting the Pentium D 920 and the D915GEV. I only wish the D915GEV supported faster 667 DDR2 instead of only 533. The WG311T just got native support with 10.4.5 so I hope it continues in future versions as well. Hi, do you know that your motherboard does not support pentium-d dual processors ? I guess yes ... you need a D945 motherboard (at least) to have a dual core working in your machine . I think that the little extra money D945 motherboard costs, is worth the purchase. If you want to stay with a D915 motherboard consider purchasing a cheaper (and faster) CPU with single-core . mal Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-84941 Share on other sites More sharing options...
seano Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 ^^ Hes right... Officially the mobo supports up to the 600 series processors only and celeron D... Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-85039 Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacApprentice Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 I honestly think my setup is perfect see my sig. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-85067 Share on other sites More sharing options...
marliwahoo Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 The Intel MB 945gntlkr is the way to go. Everything works includeing firewire and it has 950 graphics built in. It's about $125. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-85081 Share on other sites More sharing options...
92GTA Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 Thanks for the info! I figured all 775 9xx chipsets would support all current 775 procs! Gald I learned something! I'm going to look into the D945GNTLK, it's the D945GNTLKR WITHOUT TPM. Is TPM A.K.A. EFI? I'm kinda confused on this? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-85144 Share on other sites More sharing options...
FullMetal Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 I think that the perfect Apple PC is one that works! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-85147 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toleman Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Well I've decided I'm definantly buying the following tomorrow: Intel Pentium D 920 Presler Intel D915GEV Motherboard Netgear WG311T WiFi PCI Card Thanks to everyone who responded to my post! (Which I now think should have been in the Hardware forum, sorry, lol) I fell VERY confident that I won't regret getting the Pentium D 920 and the D915GEV. I only wish the D915GEV supported faster 667 DDR2 instead of only 533. The WG311T just got native support with 10.4.5 so I hope it continues in future versions as well. i think you should buy D945GNTLKR instead of D915GEV Motherboard, the 915G doesn't support the pentium D 920 Presler http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/...ev/index.htm.... cheers Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-85172 Share on other sites More sharing options...
marliwahoo Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Thanks for the info! I figured all 775 9xx chipsets would support all current 775 procs! Gald I learned something! I'm going to look into the D945GNTLK, it's the D945GNTLKR WITHOUT TPM. Is TPM A.K.A. EFI? I'm kinda confused on this? TPM and EFI are different things. TPM is for copy protection and efi replaces the bios as a means to start the computer. I'm not sure if EFI and TPM come standard with the 945gntlkr MB or not (I think they do). You do NOT need tpm or efi to run a patched version of OSX. If tpm and efi come with those boards - it is not a problem because others have the mb working with out the use of tpm or efi. Nothing special needs to be done. Just install the patched OSX dvd normally. There are a number of members here who use that MB - do a search. Look into getting a $25 add2 card for a second - FULLY supported - display (qe and ci supported) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-85269 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bofors Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 I'm not sure if EFI and TPM come standard with the 945gntlkr MB or not (I think they do). That's right they both are on the 945GNTLKR. A lot of Intel's boards support EFI, like all of the 945GNT's, it is a standard that Intel is pushing. TPM is a different story, it is a special option on certain board lines. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/13307-building-the-perfect-apple-pc/#findComment-85486 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts