Jump to content

Building a Mac Pro...

C.J.
 Share
25 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

C.J.
C.J.
Posted
Posted

Hey everyone! First off i got a question, and if all goes well I'll be posting my progress from this point forward. Well here goes:

 

Is it possible to make a Mac Pro if you are able to get ahold of logic board and appropriate Cpu (preferrably the Xeons that come with the retail Mac Pro)? If so this would eliminate the need to install OSx86, because the logic board has the needed clearance to install a genuine Mac OS X...correct? If so..from my research..I have found that I can make a Quad-core Mac Pro with about a terabyte (if not 2) of space, and 2-4gigs of ram for about $1,500-$2,500 (I know it sounds like a lot to some but compared to a retail Mac Pro this is nothing).. This would not only help make our activity a bit more legal when it comes to using OS X to its fullest potential, but also make it a lot easier for us to get "genuine" (...almost -_- ) high end Mac Pros.

 

If you can help me out with my questions I'd be glad to be the one to purchase these parts and give it a shot first..after the project is done I will post my resources for community use as well...

 

Chris

 

PS: forgive me if there is already a post like this! When I tried searching the forums I wasn't able to find anything similar to this topic..and by my standards I think I looked pretty hard..

Link to comment
https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/56070-building-a-mac-pro/
Share on other sites
A-ONE
A-ONE
Posted
Posted

If you are able to do this, I would build one for myself. I know exactly what you mean when you say that price is nothing. I always wondered why people are always talking about Macbooks and such, but never any desktop solution. Then i saw the price and realized its for people trying to do professional work in high income postitions. Better then a mac mini i guess

Bearcat
Bearcat
Posted
Posted

You will only be able to install OSX, if you can get Apple Mac Pro logic boards with Apple's EFI on them (There is someone actually willing to supply these?). Then you will need ATI or nVidia versions of display cards for the Mac Pro. Then Xeon procs and FB-DIMM memory.

 

Anything else and you will need the hacked version of OSX86.

ruku
ruku
Posted
Posted

both a little sarcastic and hopeful all the once. ive searched many websites for these kind of internals and i was pretty sure they were unavailable. on top of that to say that you think you could do all this for cheaper than an original mac would be great, however i find it hard to beleive that this is possible considering the nature of this website and the fact that many cluey people here have probably considered this before and yet as far as i know no-one has gone forward with the plan.

C.J.
C.J.
Posted
  • Author
Posted
Woodcrest 5150 $718.99 x2 = $1437 (price from Newegg)

mobo you said about $500

Ram + PSU + EFI gfxcard + DVD + HDD + case = $562 and your even...

 

Mac Pro "basic" $2499 (with 5150cpus)

 

Woodcrest 5130 $350 x2 = $700 (price from supplier)

mobo = $500

Ram + PSU + EFI gfxcard + DVD + HDD + case = $562

total = $1762...and thats a low end model...if I'm right you can get a much better one for a cheaper price than Apple's high-end model

Guest Ramm
Guest Ramm
Posted
Posted

I was thinking about this lately. People invest a lot of money into their Hackintoshes, which made me wonder why they don't just bye leftover Mac parts... motherboard, RAM, video cards... it would be a lot cheaper, and you could get almost the same package.

 

Newegg = your friend :)

delish
delish
Posted
Posted
I just found THIS on eBay. It looks genuine. The guy has 100% feedback, and he has around 6 of them on there. There are still 2 days left, I am sure that 400 bucks will jump up really quickly (9GB of RAM!).

100% feedback from one previous buyer :)

 

 

regarding "Ram + PSU + EFI gfxcard + DVD + HDD + case = $562 and your even..."

I would have a hardtime getting those parts for that price,

the number $562 was Mac Pro price - (2,66ghz cpus + mobo price)

 

buying a Mac Pro refurbished or 2nd hand is prob the cheapest way to get one.

C.J.
C.J.
Posted
  • Author
Posted
the nub of the rub is where to get that logic board.. if you can source those, the rest is gravy.

 

..and as I said...I already have a reseller...I just need someone to answer my questions..

 

I just found THIS on eBay. It looks genuine. The guy has 100% feedback, and he has around 6 of them on there. There are still 2 days left, I am sure that 400 bucks will jump up really quickly (9GB of RAM!).

 

I wouldn't buy it..the guys record isn't good..he lives in china so it would probably be $150+ to ship to either the US or UK and also if you click the pics, it takes you to another guys auction with THE SAME PICS that the guy in china stole! ..he probably doens't even have a mac pro..never mind 6!

 

 

100% feedback from one previous buyer ;)

 

 

regarding "Ram + PSU + EFI gfxcard + DVD + HDD + case = $562 and your even..."

I would have a hardtime getting those parts for that price,

the number $562 was Mac Pro price - (2,66ghz cpus + mobo price)

 

buying a Mac Pro refurbished or 2nd hand is prob the cheapest way to get one.

 

Not a problem..if someone can answer my questions I'll gladly explain my resources! With pics and links! Also I'll set up a blog on blogspot so you can see how it goes step by step! :D

Hagar
Hagar
Posted
Posted
..and as I said...I already have a reseller...I just need someone to answer my questions..

Not a problem..if someone can answer my questions I'll gladly explain my resources! With pics and links! Also I'll set up a blog on blogspot so you can see how it goes step by step! ;)

 

What questions? get the bits, put 'em together, enjoy!

 

whilst you're at it.. how much would you want for one of those logic boards? :D

C.J.
C.J.
Posted
  • Author
Posted
whilst you're at it.. how much would you want for one of those logic boards? :thumbsup_anim:

 

I'm not quite sure yet..depends on quite a few things..mainly how many logic boards do they have..how long it takes to ship..how much it is to ship..if the price is going to drop anytime soon..if I can get discounts by buying a lot of them at once...once I can answer these questions myself I'll either act as a reseller, he'll make a website, or I'll show you a similar logic board distributor...

  • 2 weeks later...
sarahbau
sarahbau
Posted
Posted
I was just think of going this route and was wondering if other had gone that route.. make perfectly sense to me... it's all parts right? How much does apple sell the mother(Logic Board) for?

They don't. Apple only sells non-user replaceable parts to authorized repair centers. You might be able to find a repair center willing to sell you one, but since they won't get the core charge back from Apple since they can't send a bad part back, it will be quite expensive.

BJMoose
BJMoose
Posted
Posted

Wouldn't you also need a supplier for the daughter-boards that hold the ram in the MacPro? Will a hacked rom on a graphics card work in a Mac Pro? I have both, but I'm not willing to risk my Mac Pro to find that out. And what about a case to hold all this stuff? A modded case to contain this won't be cheap...nor would an original Mac Pro case. It wouldn't seem right to spend this much for a Mac Pro clone and then have a less than decent enclosure for it all. And Chris, is the question you're asking this: "If I have all the parts I need to build a Mac Pro, can I build a Mac Pro?" :boxing:

BrazilMAC
BrazilMAC
Posted
Posted

I dont think it would make a lot of sense, and of course, I would love to build one of these!! But the fact is, even if you manage to get the board. how about the cases??? They are rare and hard to find ( I was bidding on one and lost the bid, was very upset about it)!! Also, wouldnt it make more sense to build clones with regular pc parts???

  • 3 weeks later...
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...