starkruzr Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 I think this is vitally important to the project: having a short list of hardware configurations known to work well (preferably flawlessly) based on the type of machine you want. e.g.: A "cheap" laptop configuration A "power-user" laptop configuration A "cheap" desktop configuration A "power-user" desktop configuration A lot of this may hinge on whether or not the machine has integrated or discrete graphics. Any ideas? Personally, I'm looking for a cheap desktop configuration (which, because it's a desktop, might be cheap to have with discrete graphics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mohoyt Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 I built a OSX86 Mac very cheaply using a £12.50 mobo off of eBay. I've understood that generally Intel chipsets and integreated graphics work best so when I was choosing the parts, for the motherboard I wanted Intel Integrated Graphics, which is either the GMA 900 or GMA 950. These graphics chips are present in the following Intel chipsets, GMA 900 - 915G, 915GV, 915GL and GMA950 - 945G, 945GZ As the GMA 900 is older, it'll probably be cheaper and thus better if you're going for a cheap desktop. Most manufacturers of mobos make various models for each chipset. You'll have most luck looking thru the HCLs on the Wiki to find out which models work best. Once you've got the motherboard, everything else can be fairly generic (eg HDD) or specific to the motherboard (eg CPU). Good luck searching... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detosx Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 That's just it though - 'searching' - you don't associate Apple with the word 'gambling' but hand holding. Established users inwardly groan at these repeat threads Don't be a lazy bum, use the search facility. It's not that straightforward and the useful wiki carries only minimal information. What you're left with is search n' gamble: I was reading about someone who went for a raved about Asrock Conroe DVI motherboard. He went for was 1.9v memory, where the Asrock gives out 1.8v; it didn't work. An enthusiastic endorsement of the Gigabyte GA-945G-S3 sparked a lot of interest. That board is not widely available but Gigabyte boards with similar names (but different specifications) are. The Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 would seem to be okay, but much less so the GA-945PL-S3. Someone bought a Western Digital Sata2 drive for the motherboard they'd read raves about; it didn't work; it was neccessary to buy a Seagate one... Etc! Go ahead, search - you'll see more unresolved nightmares than detailed solutions! If you are new to this, I would be tempted to buy a second-hand INTEL Mac Mini and pop a Core Duo 2 processor in it and more memory. Compact, beautiful, works with DVI, no audio problems, fast as hell - and dozens of highly detailed 'how to' tutorials! That said, because Apple computers aren't very upgradeable, I am leaning toward a Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 over the Asrock Conroe DVI board, because the former overclocks well - albeit one of the people who started raving about it burnt his out while overclocking! To those helpful souls who are understandably tired of repeat threads, how about some links to carefully written tutorials using ideal hardware because, well, I do 'search', even on this slow dial-up connection, and don't seem to find them; I love reading enthusiastic endorsements but the former would save time and heartache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobNyc Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Try going with a ASUS Laptop since they make the laptops for Apple Thats what I'll be going with soon in 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prasys Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 I am not sure , but if you could get yourself a Dell Dimension 5150 or 9100 [like me]. Everything just works. Right from USB , LAN , Sound and even the display [assuming you're using X300/X600 Graphics card]. So it depends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
consolation Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Many of the ASROCK boards have a combo agp/dvi slot, thing is, it's only PCIEx4 not x16 so I'd stay away if you ever intend to move past integrated graphics. The 915 chipset will NOT let you use Pentium D or Core processors, you need the 945+ chipset for that. Add2 (~$20) cards based on sil TMDS are an easy way to add working DVI to the 950 chipset. I found the ASUS board (SE "special" edition; special as in a bit limited) in my sig. really good, everything works with little patching no messy raid systems to screw up sata etc. Very good, simple board IMHO. If you are going to get a separate vid card, I'd go for a X1600** with an external TMDS chip if you want a reasonable chance of DVI working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detosx Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Hi consolation. I did think about getting the motherboard you're using - until I read that it won't work with the Western Digital SATA hard drive I bought; a Seagate one will work apparently. At the moment I am still leaning toward Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 over the vastly popular (on these boards) and cheap Asrock Asrock ConroeXFire-eSATA2 (works with Core 2 Duo), because Gigabyte are a company I am familiar with and I will get a better overclock, albeit not nearly as good as one of the much touted (much more expensive) Asus P5W boards! Budget constraints and AMDs much better implementation of 'quad core' than Intels version mean I want a cheap-ish stopgap build at this point. I might even make a last minute switch to the Asrock. Gah! Likely system (with disclaimer that I haven't built this yet and don't know if it is all 100% compatible; the memory got rave reviews for overclocking but I need to find out if compatible. Some report problems with the new version of the ASUS EAX1600, plus I am wondering about the new 1650 cards, re a working DVI output). Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 Memory: Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C4 TwinX (2x1GB) (MY-108-CS) Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 6300 Graphics card: ASUS EAX1600Pro PCIe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aberracus Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 mine is just perfect read from my signature i would think this is a powerful desktop, with benchmarks around the ones in the Mac Pro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starkruzr Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 This was actually pretty helpful, guys, thank you. And yeah, Detosx makes a great point -- the idea is to not have to search and search, think you have something good, then right before you get ready to order you hear that such and such motherboard doesn't work with such and such video card, and you're back to square one again. This is why I think a SHORT list of "guaranteed supported hardware that works well" is ideal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detosx Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Having waded through a lot of threads, I think aberracus makes an extremely persuasive case for his setup. I have seen him pop up in a lot of threads for a number of motherboards and he has a habit of speaking common sense over and above the hysteria of system builders who are building yummy systems - without their seeming able to take on board that said systems won't actually be OS X86 friendly, so why bother in the first place unless your intention is to just run XP on it! I am told a retailer in my home town has the Asrock conroe dvi 945G board and, if so, I will go for it; the built in G950 graphics chipset isn't bad (useless for games) and it has working DVI out. This is the best thread I have come accross for newbies who are looking for an easy build. http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=24637 That said, if I could stretch my budget a little further and had greater confidence in graphics cards abilities to run OS X from DVI, I would go with aberracuses Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 setup. And you could spend still more but... maybe that money could go toward a bigger screen? And things will start to get very exciting again when AMD bring out their quad core chips (much less heat/power consumption than Intels quads) and it won't be so very long before people are trying to get Leopard working. Which might or might not require... well, a lot of reading about a lot of new hardware! And who knows, miracles do sometimes happen - perhaps Apple will bring out mid range computers that have been designed to be extensively upgraded (I'm not suggesting that Apple aim to get all hardware working (they apparently don't have enough staff and Apple's market share is still pretty small) but even just a shortlist of ten different graphics card solutions per iMac, etc. Are we having fun yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
consolation Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Hi consolation. I did think about getting the motherboard you're using - until I read that it won't work with the Western Digital SATA hard drive I bought; a Seagate one will work apparently. Where did you read about WD drives not working? I have a WD caviar hanging off it right now. http://c1com.co.nz/shop/step1.php?number=3959 is my drive A sata drive is a sata drive shouldn't make any difference what mobo you hook it up to... My one system was designed as a stopgap till macpros show up second hand for a decent price, hence I went for most bang for buck/compatibilty rather then outright performance. Although I will probably get a core duo when prices fall and a decent video card if the EFI init is ever solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detosx Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 If I recall, WD drives, by which I mean Sata2 ones, are apparently causing problems for people with a number of motherboards. Saw another case a few mins ago, will go back and get the link. http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...6858&st=220 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detosx Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Okay, today I bought my first Asrock, the Conroe DVI 945G. If I had been able to find the Gigabyte GA-945G-S3 (apparently a more versitile overclocker) I would have gone for that; its OS X friendly on-board graphics chip saving me the cost of buying a graphics card, which buying the 945P would have meant. I bought a Seagate Sata 2, just in case; I am building a cheap system at the same time, so my Western Digital purchase will find a home either way. The story so far:- Motherboard: Asrock Conroe DVI 945G (with the OS X-friendly on-board intel 950 graphics chipset) Processor: Intel Duo Core 2 6300 Hard drive: Seagate 320gig SATA2 DVD Rewriter: Pioneer, never read a case where a Pioneer didn't work; with my existing NEC writer results have apparently been variable. Cooling and memory I am still looking into; any endorsements welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
St0nehead Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 My config (see signature) i bought my Laptop for just $600 - Everything works like a charm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nargot Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 in contrary to previous posts, i'm not having any probs with WD sata2 drives. This machine i'm running is a gigabyte 8I945GZME mobo, 2 sata2 WD 320 gb hard drives. Everything apart from restart and sleep function perfectly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
consolation Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 It seems one person gets a dodgy cable/drive/mobo and jumps to a conclusion. I'd find it odd if a mobo honestly gave a toss about what HD was hooked up to it as long as it was the correct spec. But, I've been wrong in the past... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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