bigeasy Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Hi all, i have a chance to buy an apple intel prototype motherboard. this is the link: Apple prototype board on ebay I lost the main auction, but have been offered a 'second chance'. now obviously for the price ($210/£105) plus shipping, i could buy a great motherboard and use a hacked install disk to get osx working, but the prototype board has the benefit of apple' tpm so i could install using a regular intel install disk. the problem i can see is that it doesnt support core 2 duo processors straight off and it also doesn't have any pci/pci-e expansion slots apart from the graphics card slot. apparently it will work with c2d processors if you can add microcode into the firmware, but i have no idea how to do that....... does anyone here have any suggestions? Should i go for it or buy a newer board? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelhydra Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Hi all, i have a chance to buy an apple intel prototype motherboard. this is the link: Apple prototype board on ebay I lost the main auction, but have been offered a 'second chance'. now obviously for the price ($210/£105) plus shipping, i could buy a great motherboard and use a hacked install disk to get osx working, but the prototype board has the benefit of apple' tpm so i could install using a regular intel install disk. the problem i can see is that it doesnt support core 2 duo processors straight off and it also doesn't have any pci/pci-e expansion slots apart from the graphics card slot. apparently it will work with c2d processors if you can add microcode into the firmware, but i have no idea how to do that....... does anyone here have any suggestions? Should i go for it or buy a newer board? Just go through the HCL and get a new motherboard with a Core 2 Duo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahbau Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 I agree with chelhydra. Just buy a new board that works with the C2D. The board you linked to is not really like the one in a Mac Mini. He says "it's very small [a mere 8.5x10 inches]." That's much bigger than the Mac Mini (whose exterior dimensions are 6.5x6.5 inches, so the board can't be more than 6x6). What that auction looks like is a slightly modified version of the Intel D945GRW. I think the name "PicoBTX" is misleading. It makes it sound much smaller than "MicroATX," when in actuality, they are almost the same size. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a board the size of a Mac Mini that works with a Core 2 Duo, has DVI and the other features, and isn't a Mac Mini. lol Edit: Maybe not that hard-pressed. lol. I just found this - AOpen MiniPC. Same exact dimensions as the Mac Mini, and basically the same features. They're sold bare-bones without a CPU, HD, or RAM though, so you may end up paying more than you would for a real Mac Mini, but it does give you the choice of CPUs other than the 32-bit Core Duos used in the Mac Mini. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigeasy Posted April 23, 2007 Author Share Posted April 23, 2007 I've decided to go with a different board now, although the size wasn't the issue, it was going into a full size case, i just thought it would be less hassle having a genuine apple motherboard which can be used in a custom rig. but for the same price i can get a sweet asus board with one of those little touchscreens you mount on your case asus board Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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