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No problems with Sata dvd drives down in South america :). BJ do you think would be better wait a little more for leopard or is it worth a change from tiger? I have just build 10.4.9 and it works with all my apps. Would you be kind to organize a "how to" for the Noobs here :-))?

Switched the graphics card to a BFG GeForce 7600GT with 256MB DDR3 memory. Also since SATA DVD drives work I switched the DVD drive to a Pioneer DVR-212D SATA drive. Total price w/ tax shipping and rebates is $999 EXACTLY.

 

Looking at my parts list, do you think there is any way to slim the price down without sacrificing performance? I'm willing to check out any part from http://www.ncix.com that will make my price lower.

I have to agree with microphone - the 7600gt does indeed rule. If you can, consider the XFX Fatal1ty version as it is overclocked and completely silent:

 

7600gt.jpg

 

The performance is pretty sweet for an older generation card and it is dual DVI.

 

7600gtopenmark-full.jpg

pcwiz/bjmoose, what made the two of you decide to go with a 7600gs instead of a 7900gs? i take it you guys don't do much gaming? i was thinking the 7900gs would be a decent compromise of performance/price and compatability until the 8800gt series of cards is fully supported in leopard.

 

thanks for the responses guys.

 

-rep

For me, it wasn't a matter of choosing the 7600 over the 7900. I already had the 7600 and just needed to flash its rom for OSX. I use all my computers for work (video editing and production) and don't play games on them at all. The 7600 does everything I need it do and does it well. If someone gave me a 7900, I'd take it, but for what I do, the cost difference doesn't justify switching. My 7600 is also passive cooled so there's one less noisy fan to worry about.

 

My Mac Pro has the ati 1900xt in it and to be honest, there's no noticable difference in video display or rendering between the two.

I'm about to buy the Q6600 with the Gigabyte DS3 motherboard, but I'm wondering if there's a difference between that MB and the BX2 in terms of vanilla kernel compatibility. I've heard that there are reboot/shutdown problems in some cases.

 

/blkblt

I'm sorry...I know I said that this was my last parts revision but I have updated the list of parts yet again.

Motherboard: ASUS P5W DH Deluxe WiFi AP

 

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Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Kentsfield

 

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Video Card: BFG GeForce 7600GT OC 256MB GDDR3 (PCI Express)

 

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RAM: OCZ Platinum XTC DDR2800 2GB RAM

 

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Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM

 

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Floppy Drive: Sony 1.44MB 3.5"

 

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Case + PSU: Antec Sonata III Black ATX + 500W PSU

 

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Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-112D Black DVD+/- R 18x IDE

 

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****

 

Opinions?

That's a good case I have the earlier model, and the PSU comes with the 8 pin plug you need for the newer motherboards. And its 500W which is good for the quad CPU.

 

I'd go for 4GB if I were you. If you are going to be running Windows in Parallels you really need more than 2GB. Get 2x2GB just now and then you can up to 8GB when the price comes down.

 

Cancel the floppy drive.

 

Get a passive cooled graphics card. Theres no need to get a 7xxx with a fan anymore. Bearings break too easily and WILL drive you crazy with rattling.

 

Why'd you switch from the bad axe 2? I think that was a better option.

 

Finally, I'd go for the WD5000AAKS 500GB stunning WD drive instead. I think it hardly costs anything more than your 250GB choice.

I think I'll go for 4GB later...

 

I'll keep the floppy for bootable stuff...its only like $8

 

The asus has more features and its just as compatible with OS X so thats why I switched...

 

But I am interested in the passive cooled gfx card and hard drive. I'll see about the HD and can you give me an example of a passive cooled gfx card?

The place where I am buying my parts (NCIX.com) only has one PCI Express XFX 7600GT card:

 

XFX GeForce 7600GT XXX 590MHZ 256MB 128BIT 1.6GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I TV Out RoHS Video Card

 

I don't think its the exact same one you mentioned but its the only 7600GT XFX PCIe card there is on NCIX. Will it work?

I've made a major change. I'm going to go with the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P Motherboard. Its going to save me good money and apparently it works good with OS X. Opinions?

 

Never mind. Going with Bad Axe 2. After reading tons of experiences with the P5W and the DS3P, I think the BX2 is the best bet regardless of the older chipset.

 

Still need suggestions on the video card though. Will the card I mentioned above work?

The specs of the card look identical to mine, just minus the silent cooling. I've not had a proper go at installing Leopard yet. I booted into it but had no QE/CI and couldn't change res. Pretty certain that it would be fine if I installed NVinject - just not got round to it yet.

Thanks. Yeah I saw that most people got it to work on Leo with NVinject but others had a bit of trouble. nano2d, I can't order the parts for at least a couple months so when you test it with Leo could you tell me?

 

I'll be testing the 7300GT, 7900GT, and 8800GTS in my BA2/Q6600 build in coming weeks, I'll keep you posted!

If you want to decrease cost then just build a case out of ply wood and get parts from an old case a lot of people have lying around. You can make it look cool by putting flames on the sides. Decent mid grade psu is about 30 bucks. You save yourself about 100 bucks.

 

 

 

This video card is more than haft the price.

 

http://www.jepago.com/store/view-item.php?...ku=EKV7602GT21 

 

 

 

You can use a USB flash drive as a floppy. 

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