Riffamortis Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 I do a lot of video editing, sound editing, and graphic work and am in serious need of a new computer. I priced a Mac Pro at $5400 and an identical PC at $1800, so needless to say I'm giving a lot of thought to OSx86. But is it a viable option as something to rely so heavily on? It'll definitely get put through its paces and will be my only computer. I've seen lots of people building budget OSx86 systems, but not many have gone all out to build a real powerhouse. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsz0 Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 If you do frequent backups with SuperDuper you could restore a working image relatively quickly if something does go wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinseek Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 I`m a bit unsure about the question. I would wager my PC with 4gb of RAM and a core 2 duo at 3ghz is a powerhouse. If it where to be a mac, I would probably have had to pay at least twice for the same performance. The only thing that doesn`t quite work is 5.1 surround & mic in, just stereo so far, but I haven`t really bothered to tweak it much and I`m sure I could get it to work sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffamortis Posted December 15, 2007 Author Share Posted December 15, 2007 Do you run any programs like Final Cut, Pro Tools, or After Effects? I guess my original question doesn't make a ton of sense, but I'm just unsure of any program compatibility issues or hardware problems that would interfere with workflow. I'm probably just being overly cautious because I don't want to spend $2000 on a computer that won't (for whatever reason) be able to do what I need it to do when I need it to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nonick2 Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 If you chose compatible hardware the system is rock solid... On the budget thing it depends, I built a quadcore with 4 gigs of ram 320 giga sata and sata dvdr for under 1000 wich is the price of a mac mini here where I live Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ddrdark Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 perfectly solid, I'm web designer and I'm very happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kinseek Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 I think they should work. Obviously since we are not dealing with a true mac here, we might get issues, especially depending on what specific hardware we have. Since we`re not "supposed" to be able to do what we do, we should at the least be willing to take the risk that some things might not work as otherwise advertised. Those programs should probably work, but no guarantees. Sorry I can`t be more specific then that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hagar Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 as always, there is only one way to find out. (topics merged) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megamixman Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 In a production environment, I'd say you should go and buy the Mac. The support and reliability you would get from a Mac over a Hack is all the importance in a business environment, besides we don't know the legal implications of hacks in a business environment. What i would recommend you do is spec a Mac Pro, and upgrade it yourself. Apple overcharges for things like HDDs and Memory. Both of which can be had a fraction of the cost that they charge you. For instance, their option for 16GB of memory costs $4.5k, but that amount of memory can be had for less then $1k. They also charge $500 for every extra 750GB HD, when they can be had in the $150-$250 range each, even upgrading the first HD at $300 isn't worth the money. I'm pretty sure these two sets of upgrades are costing you the most, and although you won't be able to get it down to $1800, it might be a valid compromise. Also in the PC are you including OC'ing into that cost? That is are you considering lower cost procs so that you could OC them to higher speeds? It would be easier if you posted the Mac Pro or PC Spec so we could try and recommend you things to take off and get from a 3rd party dealer like newegg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westwaerts Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 I want to follow up the same question we as MacUsers just are stunned about the prices of the macs, which in europe increase due to their 1:1 exchange rate. So a mac pro in europe costs 2500 euros, what will be 3500 us$. Has anyone used his homebrewn mac as a solid working machine, i just red about graphic card + efi problems and a lot of other things. so is it a never ending workaround, or is the hussle just while setting up ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magice Posted December 15, 2007 Share Posted December 15, 2007 I think it would be great if you did a lot of research on what parts your getting for osx86 and do everything properly: efi, guid, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffamortis Posted December 15, 2007 Author Share Posted December 15, 2007 Here's are the specs I came up with (All prices are Canadian and the Mac includes an educational discount): PC - Intel Xeon 3085 Dual Core Processor 3.0GHZ LGA775 4MB 1333FSB x2 = $730 - Asus P5W64 WS Professional Socket 775 = $315 - Kingston Memory 4GB DDR2 SDRAM DIMM 240-pin 667MHz = $199 - EVGA e-GeForce 7300GT nVidia GeForce 7300GT Chipset 256MB DDR2 Dual Display PCI-Express Graphics Card x2 = $122 - Western Digital Caviar (WD7500AAKS) 750GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Buffer x2 = $340 - LG GSA-H62N(Black) SATA DVD-Writer 18x DVD+R/-R 8x DVD+RW/6x DVD-RW 10x DVD+/-R9 Dual Layer 48x CD-R 32x CD-RW x2 = $64.38 - Antec P182 Advanced Super Mid Tower Case = $133 Total: $1903.38 Mac Pro - Two 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon - 4GB (4 x 1GB) ram - 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s x2 - 2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB - Two 16x SuperDrives Total: $5437 As you can see, it's a pretty disgusting difference. I realize the mark up on Apple ram and hard drives is nothing short of insanity, but the system would still cost about twice as much if I were to buy a base Mac and upgrade it myself. P.S. How hard is it to upgrade the processor in a Mac? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westwaerts Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 Thanks for the Moderators comment, just sounds a little ignorant. We all know, trying it ourselves, will give the best results. But since Gutenberg started printing books, it is a fact, that we dont need to experience everything on our own. We can rely on experiences others had before. And Internet speeded up this way of knowledge. And i thought this forum is for knowledge exchange on this topic. To keep it simple. I am a Mac User, would need a Mac Pro ( which i cannot afford) So i would appreciate any help of this forum, if the hackintoshes operate OSX without problems. And if there are problems ( not concerning the setup procedere) what kind they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pewe Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 I am using a Hack (4 GB with Quad CPU) for my everyday work - mostly web, programming and databases. I also run XP in Parallels for some tasks. I am more than happy with the system, rock solid, runs 24/7 without crashes - apart from those I caused by playing around with the system. But if you ask me if I could recommend this to others, I would say NO - unless you know a lot about computers, BSD and the like. If you go that way, pay a lot attention to a working backup system. As a professional user you should do that anyway. I also have a Macbook I could use for my work, so I am not 100 % dependend on the Hack. And I always have a copy of my current data on ax external fiwi drive. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megamixman Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 Here's are the specs I came up with (All prices are Canadian and the Mac includes an educational discount): PC - Intel Xeon 3085 Dual Core Processor 3.0GHZ LGA775 4MB 1333FSB x2 = $730 - Asus P5W64 WS Professional Socket 775 = $315 - Kingston Memory 4GB DDR2 SDRAM DIMM 240-pin 667MHz = $199 - EVGA e-GeForce 7300GT nVidia GeForce 7300GT Chipset 256MB DDR2 Dual Display PCI-Express Graphics Card x2 = $122 - Western Digital Caviar (WD7500AAKS) 750GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB Buffer x2 = $340 - LG GSA-H62N(Black) SATA DVD-Writer 18x DVD+R/-R 8x DVD+RW/6x DVD-RW 10x DVD+/-R9 Dual Layer 48x CD-R 32x CD-RW x2 = $64.38 - Antec P182 Advanced Super Mid Tower Case = $133 Total: $1903.38 Mac Pro - Two 3.0GHz Dual-Core Intel Xeon - 4GB (4 x 1GB) ram - 750GB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s x2 - 2 x NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB - Two 16x SuperDrives Total: $5437 As you can see, it's a pretty disgusting difference. I realize the mark up on Apple ram and hard drives is nothing short of insanity, but the system would still cost about twice as much if I were to buy a base Mac and upgrade it myself. P.S. How hard is it to upgrade the processor in a Mac? Yes that is a pretty horrendous differance and I think pewe said chimes in perfectly. Do this if you know what you're doing and willing to go through the technical hooha. It's going to take some time to figure out how to do everything correctly. Also if you do build your own hack there are thigns you should change in your build, that would also reflect in your Mac setup, and might make the cost lower. For instance: Use 2 2GB sticks rather then 1 4GB, you want to shoot for the lowest even number possible in terms of number of ram sticks, which turns out to be 2. I also noticed a lack of a Power Supply. For the most part i wouldn't use any PSU that came with a case. Also, what happened to the CPU Coolers? Stock cooling is ok, but again After Market is better. In the end its up to you whether the headache is going to be worth it. IMO, if its for business, I'd rather not walk the legal line, but that is also your decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westwaerts Posted December 16, 2007 Share Posted December 16, 2007 Thanks Pewe - it sounds it is worth trying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riffamortis Posted December 16, 2007 Author Share Posted December 16, 2007 That's a good point about using the biggest individual memory sticks, I didn't think of that. I was planning on using the power supply that came with the case though because I've got an Antec one now and it's never let me down after 4 years. And I didn't think of after market cooling because I've never needed it before. I'm starting to think I may just go with the base Mac Pro and upgrade everything myself. I'd still be getting ripped off a bit, but not nearly as badly and I wouldn't have to worry about all the technical stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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