bignumbers Posted November 30, 2007 Share Posted November 30, 2007 I'm contemplating a Hackintosh setup for a home server. I'd appreciate any input. I'm new to the Hackintosh community but a longtime Mac user (and occasional PC builder). The purpose of the system is primarily home file storage, but I have a lot of it - mostly video in DV/HDV format. I already have quite a few SATA drives and am looking to incorporate this into one system (sick of a mess of external cases). Display will be a TV with composite, s-video, and component (1080i) in. This is to replace a Core Duo Mac Mini which is otherwise fine for the job, so processing speed and GPU isn't of terrible importance. I'd like to run Leopard Server, which is what I'm doing on the Mini now. I'd go with a real Mac, but the only model that can do what I need storage-wise is an XServe RAID which is way, way out of budget... I have other real Macs for the processor-intensive stuff, and they aren't going anywhere. I already have a massive case, an Enlight EN8990. This can hold a slew of hard drives. I don't have a power supply. I have hard drives. I have a spare IDE DVD-R drive (decent Pioneer, DVR-108 I believe). System board: Looks like the Intel D975XBX2, about $200. I wish it were cheaper, but compatibility looks good and I like the 8 SATA ports. I'll probably start out JBOD, and think about RAID 5 later on. Can this boot from my IDE DVD-R drive, or do I need a new SATA DVD-R drive? I've read about RAID 5 in this board's spec list, but little on it; is this really built into this board? Any idea about getting this working under Hackintosh? How about a cheaper board that has fewer SATA ports, and something like a Mac-compatible Highpoint SATA RAID card? Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz, $130. Anything cheaper out there in the Core Duo world? My Mac Mini is a Core DUo 1.66GHz, which is fine. Not sure if they make 'em that slow anymore, or if they'd be compatible with current system boards. Power supply: Antec earthwatts EA500, $79. I don't know a thing about power supplies but this one looks energy-efficient, reasonably quiet, and has good reviews. Recommendations welcome. Video: ASUS EN7300GS/HTD/128 GeForce 7300GS 128MB, $47. Good compatibility? Any chances of getting the HDTV output working on a Hackintosh? RAM: 2GB will be fine, $87. Plus a ton of SATA data/power cables, drive rails, etc. Total price is about $550 plus the SATA cables. I'd love to shave this under $400, but not sure if there's a way to do that. Any comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/74105-recommendations-for-home-server/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
indiekiduk Posted November 30, 2007 Share Posted November 30, 2007 The E2140 is the cheapest low power dual core. Its an allendale conroe the same as the E4xxx but with less cache, perfect for a file server, works on all the latest boards. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819116037 I haven't seen any one on here with a raid set up. You know OS X can do a software raid using any disks? That saves you the pain of finding a raid compatible motherboard. I think the Bad Axe mobo you are going for is a bit over priced for just a server. I'm running Leopard Server on an ancient Compaq D510, 2Ghz P4, 512mb ram, but it does have 4 disks and gigabit and I get write speeds of 30 meg/sec. Perhaps you should go for the Asrock 945G-DVI its a very compatible board and you could connect the DVI out to your HDTV. One thing I was thinking is that if you have dual core, dedicated graphics, with more than 4 drives you might need more than 500W. Antec have a calculator on their site: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/powercalc.jsp Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/74105-recommendations-for-home-server/#findComment-523575 Share on other sites More sharing options...
bignumbers Posted November 30, 2007 Author Share Posted November 30, 2007 The E2140 is the cheapest low power dual core. Its an allendale conroe the same as the E4xxx but with less cache, perfect for a file server, works on all the latest boards. Thanks - a good tip, and a $60 savings. I haven't seen any one on here with a raid set up. You know OS X can do a software raid using any disks? That saves you the pain of finding a raid compatible motherboard. I'm not a big fan of software RAID (per bad experience). If I were to go RAID I'd go RAID 5, which is hardware-only near as I've found. Striping drives together just adds risk as far as I'm concerned; gotta have some redundancy in there. If I go RAID 5 I'll get a Mac-compatible PCI RAID card unless I know I've got a system board that does it. I think the Bad Axe mobo you are going for is a bit over priced for just a server. I'm running Leopard Server on an ancient Compaq D510, 2Ghz P4, 512mb ram, but it does have 4 disks and gigabit and I get write speeds of 30 meg/sec. Perhaps you should go for the Asrock 945G-DVI its a very compatible board and you could connect the DVI out to your HDTV. I'd rather go with a full ATX board for the slots. Although it's good to know I don't need to go Intel-branded, so I'll keep hunting. My TV doesn't have DVI input, so I'd be looking for S-Video or Composite out if I can find it (else I've got a spare VGA->S-Video converter around. One thing I was thinking is that if you have dual core, dedicated graphics, with more than 4 drives you might need more than 500W. Antec have a calculator on their site:http://www.extreme.outervision.com/powercalc.jsp Cool link - thank you. It actually came back at 408W, and that's with 12 drives and an SATA controller. So it looks like I'll be ok with the 500W PS (and they link right to the supply I was looking at, for a better price even!). Thanks again for the review and recommendations. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/74105-recommendations-for-home-server/#findComment-524376 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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