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Building a MacPro


nagal
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Ah cool. I suppose it would take some convincing for sponsors to sign on board. I am a novice in this area and I don't think they'd put the money and trust in me. I am comfortable building a computer, the only thing I am nervous about messing up is the installation of heatsinks.

 

Also you mentioned you got your MacPro case from here right or some sort of eBay page? ScrumpyMacs? Could you give me a link if it's an eBay page? Did your case come with all the inner casing parts? Like the metal casing that goes over the heatsinks?

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I got my case from a guy on here selling it. It had all the parts BUT the heat sink cover. It doesn't matter to me because it would not fit over the heatsinks I am using anyways. Now if you go with the Apple heatsinks, it will fit no problem. Installing heatsinks is not hard at all if you are going to be using the Apple ones. Just a matter of tightening 4 screws on each heatsink.

 

As I side note, I did try some generic copper passive 2U Woodcrest heatsinks. Total garbage. I easily get a 15C - 20C drop with the Thermalrights compared to the generic ones. I now have two very hefty copper paper wieghts :)

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Lol! Would you recommend the stock apple fans or the Yate Loons you were talking about? And really? 4 screws? I've seen some heatsinks with like this thermal liquid or something going on the bottom. Or I just completely misunderstood what my friend was talking about lol. I hope I can find all the right pieces. I am going to properly document it as well as film it.

 

The filming portion will be called iBuild (very original xD) or maybe something else.

 

And the documentation will almost be set out like a guide, And it'll be called: TakesOneToBuildOne

 

In cool apple font, etc =P I should be ordering the casing first of all next month, come pay day.

 

Looks like driving lessons are on hold... lol

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Thermal paste goes without saying when installing heatsinks :D Its not hard to put on either. In general just squirt some in the center of the CPU and its good. Now, there are lots of ways to apply for optimal performance and it varies a little from CPU to CPU.

 

Apple fans should work fine, mine do not because of the stupid firmware issue and so run at full speed which is very very loud.

 

Hmm. Call it uBuild :D

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inTegrate is kinda cool, thanks newtech! lol I'll think of something more unique than iBuild lol the 'i' stuff is getting pretty old lol!

 

I'm sure we have a lot of creative people flowing in and out of this thread so I'd like to publicly ask... Do you have any suggestions on how I can make a bit of extra cash to go towards this project? Overtime at work is pretty much out of the question but I need something I can do from home. I'm not too shabby in Photoshop! Anyone know any websites where people will buy designs?

 

Just need a little help =]

 

Any updates, nagal?

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No updates as the guy I am dealing with is at MacWorld, lucky {censored} :hysterical: I am sure I will hear from him next week and we will get it all worked out. Worst case scenario, I will just buy another logic board and then use the old one to build a node for Logic or something like that.

 

As for making extra money, I am a pack rat so I am constantly selling stuff to help cover costs of things. Other than that, if you find some good ideas let me know as well! :(

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15" x 10.5" x 7" . L x W is approx and H is a guess as I am not sure how tall the memory riser cards are but it will not be taller than 7 ".

 

Are there any other cases / chassis / enclosures that actually support that-sized form factor? Don't get me wrong, I still love the G5 enclosure, probably more than any other case. ;)

 

Apparently, the Mac Pro at one point used the BTX Form Factor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of...er_form_factors

 

 

I'm thinking this case might, having a dimension of 8.7'' x 23.4'' x 24.2'', seems mod-able otherwise: http://img105.imageshack.us/img105/3126/20...24114204uz9.jpg

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Well for starters we are not talking G5 cases here. While they are similar to the Intel Mac Pro case they are different beasts. As for the form factor of the Mac Pro logic board, I doubt it is a standard size. Macs have never used BTX as that is strictly a PC form-factor. it might have similarities to BTX but thats about it. I have no idea if that case will work but my inner voice says no. You need to get specs on the internal area available inside the case and not the size of the case over all.

 

If it was me, keep looking for a case. Don't forget you also need the front panel assembly which can be bought separately but is usually part of the case.

 

Also if it was me, get a real Mac Pro! With the release of the single CPU Mac Pro they are affordable now. You buy your memory else where and later on put in another CPU. That is the route I would take if doing this all over starting today. Even the standard 2.8 GHz octos are pretty affordable and not far off how much I spent.

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Well for starters we are not talking G5 cases here. While they are similar to the Intel Mac Pro case they are different beasts. As for the form factor of the Mac Pro logic board, I doubt it is a standard size. Macs have never used BTX as that is strictly a PC form-factor. it might have similarities to BTX but thats about it. I have no idea if that case will work but my inner voice says no. You need to get specs on the internal area available inside the case and not the size of the case over all.

 

If it was me, keep looking for a case. Don't forget you also need the front panel assembly which can be bought separately but is usually part of the case.

 

Also if it was me, get a real Mac Pro! With the release of the single CPU Mac Pro they are affordable now. You buy your memory else where and later on put in another CPU. That is the route I would take if doing this all over starting today. Even the standard 2.8 GHz octos are pretty affordable and not far off how much I spent.

 

Just curious to know about the Form Factor motherboard, since it's a quite foreign dimension to me.

 

I certainly agree with you. Like I've expressed in other threads, the expenses building the perfect hackintosh....really for what is spent, minus well go with a real mac pro, minus time and stress, and it's legitimate. I've always been a supporter for the real thing, and I seems to be always shut down by this with someone replying with 'oh no way, hack is better'...hey I understand the bias here, but essentially, the real thing is always better ;)

 

I've saved up for a MacBook Pro for starters...though a Mac Pro right now would be nice.

 

Again, one of the most comprehensive threads here, a personal favorite, and thanks for sharing. icon12.gif

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The Mac Pro MLB was designed by intel and is loosely based on their 5000VSX server reference board. It is an Extended ATX form factor. Be careful about rethinking cases, the board is laid out to match the air management of the Mac Pro case. Also be aware Apple uses metric fasteners vs. SAE fasteners on standard PC cases.

 

The case you link to would be great if air management was right, lots of room for drives if you wanted to use the Apple RAID card and still use on board SATA ports for internal drives.

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I just bit the bullet and ordered a OctoCore (pn 661-4307) Logic Board from ApplePalace.com. $782 with tax shipped :( I did call them first to verify stock and I will say it was a very pleasant experience unlike my previous dealing. They guy I talked to asked what happened to my original logic board so I told him I was building a Mac Pro from parts. He laughed and said gotcha. I went with the OctoCore board over the QuadCore one because it was cheaper by a whole 30 cents :D

 

Whats the difference between the OctoCore and QuadCore? I am *think* nothing but the firmware they ship with. There are specific firmwares for each board version. The PSU I bought was listed specifically for OctoCore and it works fine.

 

As soon as I get it, I will let everyone know what happens and how things go. I also will update the original posts price list to reflect then new cost.

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While I'm not 100% sure. but it sounds like the quad core board is from the old mac pro with 1333mhz bus, and the octo core board is from the new mac pro with a 1600mhz bus, and also supports the new 45nm xeons.

 

This is a guess only fwiw.

 

EDIT: After thinking about it for a bit, it could also be the board in the old high end mac pro, that was also an octo. You might be right, it may be just a revision change.

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While I'm not 100% sure. but it sounds like the quad core board is from the old mac pro with 1333mhz bus, and the octo core board is from the new mac pro with a 1600mhz bus, and also supports the new 45nm xeons.

 

This is a guess only fwiw.

 

I wish :) I'd love to have one of the new Mac Pro logic boards as it would offer some good upgradability. The new Mac Pro are using a different chipset than the older ones. The pre-2008 Octo (as well as the Quads) are using the 5000X chipset while the new Octos are using the 5400X chipset. This is why there is a jump to 1600 FSB and support for the Harpertown Xeons. Of course it is might be possible that the Harpertowns with 1333 FSB will work in the older Macs. This will give more cache and lower temps and only a slightly higher clock speed (3.16 GHz).

 

Its all kind of mute as even now running 8 cores at 2.13 GHz with a FSB 1066 has been more than enough for what I am doing in Logic. Having 8 cores @ 3.0 GHz with a FSB of 1333 should keep me happy for a long long time.

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