My Mac OS X(86) Configuration?

[larathydo]

Hey folks,

 

To start off let me just jot down a few key system specs:

 

AMD Athlon 64 2800+ (1.8Ghz, Socket 754)

AMD K8V SE Deluxe

Marvell 88E8001 Gigabit LAN

Sapphire ATi Radeon X800 Pro

120GB Maxtor SATA HDD (Which would run through the VIA VT8237R South Bridge SATA Controller)

120GB Western Digital ATA133 HDD (I'd rather keep this as a storage HDD and install OSX on the SATA HDD)

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

 

Heres my thoughts in a nutshell:

 

Ideally, I am so used to using Mac OS X for managing things such as Music, Videos, Using the Internet, Email etc... Ironicly, the only thing that is holding me back from going completely to OS X is World of Warcraft and other Windows-based games.

 

Yes... I can hear it now.... "But you fool! Mac OS X is able to run WoW Natively!" and yes you are correct. I even play it on my PowerBook. However, since the OS X version of WoW uses Open GL, I'd really like to keep using Direct 3D and Windows for my other games (on my PC).

 

So heres my master plan: Get OS X running on the PC and use a program such as parallels to switch between the OSes. Use parallels to switch to Windows XP when I feel like playing a game or two (or using windows-spesific apps) and Mac OS X for everything else.

 

How plausable is this? Will my hardware be compatable with OS X? I hear OS X is very dependant on the SSE2 instruction set (which my processor supports). Ideally, I would like OS X to boot first, and then when I feel like switching into windows mode for a game, hit a keyboard shortcut to switch to Windows (I hear this is possible with the "Cube" logon effect - something like that!)

 

So what do you guys think? Is this possible? Will OS X work with my current hardware?

[Rammjet]

Parallels is a virtual environment. It reads to/from a virtual disk, not a disk partition so it takes a performance hit. Also, it runs through MacOSX and compromises on some of the environment.

 

Bottom line is that Parallels is not great for gaming - only office/business and lower performance ripping and video.

 

You are better off dual booting and when the urge to game comes on, just boot into Windows.

[larathydo]

Parallels is a virtual environment. It reads to/from a virtual disk, not a disk partition so it takes a performance hit. Also, it runs through MacOSX and compromises on some of the environment.

 

Bottom line is that Parallels is not great for gaming - only office/business and lower performance ripping and video.

 

You are better off dual booting and when the urge to game comes on, just boot into Windows.

 

What kinda "Performance Hit" am I looking at?

 

I mean, I was always under the assumption that it runs natively as opposed to emulation.

 

If I will be able to play my games at a reasonable framerate/performance level (and not bang my head against the wall) I'd be happy taking a bit of a hit.