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Buy PC Hardware to run my first MacOs X/ Final Cut Pro


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Sorry for the double post : I've posted here here but my topic is more hardware related, here I am again. Sorry for any inconveniences.

 

My target in life at the moment is to finish 4 different video DV PAL project. I haven't found until now a decent video editing software on Windows (maybe Vegas Video) nor Linux. I would like to run Final Cut Pro for those project. Since Mac Pro are really really too expensive for me, a friend of mine show me the osx86project.org Website. I'm thinking to built a Intel based machine and run MacOs 10.5 on top of it. What do you think about it?

 

I'm planning to buy this :

  • 1 x Mobo : Bad Axe 2 Intel D975XBX2KR (Intel 975X Express) (the one you recommanded)
  • 1 x CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Socket 775 FSB1333 (Fast dual core instead of slower quad-core)
  • 4 x 1 GB RAM Kingston DDR2 PC6400 (4GB of RAM)
  • 1 x HD 250 GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 7200 RPM 16 Mo Serial ATA II WD2500KS (16Mo for video editing)
  • 1 x Video card Gigabyte NX86T256H 256 Mo PCI Express (NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT ) (Not going to play with 3D)
  • 1 x Power Supply Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 400W ATX v2.3 12V

I don't have any MacOS X experience at all but I read a lot of stuff here and in the Wiki. Can anyone tell me I will be able to install MacOS X 10.5 + Final Cut Pro on this computer without any big issue? I don't want to through my money away :(:(

 

I would like to be sure this setup will have working Network, 1680 x 1050 resolution display, Audio and SATA drives without hardcore tweaking?

 

Thanks by advance for ANY ANY ANY advices!

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If you have used linux before, the setup shouldn't be too bad of an install for you. Hackintosh installs are for experienced computer users. My only recommendation hardware wise would be a more powerful power supply, I don't know if 400 Watts would be enough power. I had what was I think only a 400 watt power supply plugged into my Pentium D mobo and it lasted maybe 3 days. I try to recommend at least 500/550 Watts.

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hi rtomek!

 

Thanks for you reply.

 

Some guys took the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P (Intel P35 Express) : it's cheaper, i could take a faster CPU or extra cores...

Just to have an idea, this is the price of the bundle I would like to buy : ~ $950

I already have a tower, DVD player, a couple of PATA drives to dedicate to the macosx swap or so.

 

I will check for a bigger PSU like the Thermaltake TR2 500W.

About my computer knowledges : I'm a full time sysadmin, mainly Linux oriented... But with this box, I would be sure I will get a powerful MacOsX running with Final Cut Pro : plug & play play and play :(

That's why I think the hardware choice is very important but I don't have any experience except by reading the topics.

 

So, GO or NO GO for this one? :(

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Sorry for the double post : I've posted here here but my topic is more hardware related, here I am again. Sorry for any inconveniences.

 

My target in life at the moment is to finish 4 different video DV PAL project. I haven't found until now a decent video editing software on Windows (maybe Vegas Video) nor Linux. I would like to run Final Cut Pro for those project. Since Mac Pro are really really too expensive for me, a friend of mine show me the osx86project.org Website. I'm thinking to built a Intel based machine and run MacOs 10.5 on top of it. What do you think about it?

 

I'm planning to buy this :

  • 1 x Mobo : Bad Axe 2 Intel D975XBX2KR (Intel 975X Express) (the one you recommanded)
  • 1 x CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Socket 775 FSB1333 (Fast dual core instead of slower quad-core)
  • 4 x 1 GB RAM Kingston DDR2 PC6400 (4GB of RAM)
  • 1 x HD 250 GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 7200 RPM 16 Mo Serial ATA II WD2500KS (16Mo for video editing)
  • 1 x Video card Gigabyte NX86T256H 256 Mo PCI Express (NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT ) (Not going to play with 3D)
  • 1 x Power Supply Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 400W ATX v2.3 12V

I don't have any MacOS X experience at all but I read a lot of stuff here and in the Wiki. Can anyone tell me I will be able to install MacOS X 10.5 + Final Cut Pro on this computer without any big issue? I don't want to through my money away :P:)

 

I would like to be sure this setup will have working Network, 1680 x 1050 resolution display, Audio and SATA drives without hardcore tweaking?

 

Thanks by advance for ANY ANY ANY advices!

 

Go with the Quad-core over the (faster) Dual-core for video work. The Q6600 at $280 fits the bill nicely. Video editing is all about number crunching, so the more cores you have available to crunch the faster your encodes are going to be. Also go with 8 gigs of RAM instead of 4 gigs if you can afford it - the more the merrier for video. You can pick this up for about $160 on Newegg, just do a search for 2-gig sticks of ddr2-800. The cheap stuff is around $40 a stick. As far as the video goes, just make sure you have the appropriate driver for it before you order and make sure that you have verified that it IS, in fact, working under Hackintosh. Video cards are a tricky area in the OSx86 world.

 

The 250gb drive is nice, but for another $25 you can have a 500gb drive for $100. The 500-gig drives are at the best bang-for-your-buck pricepoint right now. You might even want to have a smaller boot drive (say, 160gb) and a larger second drive (such as the 500gb) just so you can use that drive completely for transferring video to from tape and for editing. Also have you considered a backup drive? You will want something at least equal to the boot drive in size, if not bigger. Time Machine and SuperDuper both do automatic backups.

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Alright weaksauce12, thanks a LOT !

 

This dual core runs at 2,66Ghz, I will be able to get only a 2,33 Quad core. Is it a good idea ?

About the RAM, I will check it out how much they charge for 4x2GB instead of 4x1GB.

About the HD, I have a separate NFS server which is on RAID1. I will check out anyway for the 500Gb HD.

Sound like you have also a Nvidia too. Where did you find the driver ? Where I could check if it's compatible ?

 

You didn't talk about the Mobo whereas it's very important for me to get running the Ethernet & Sound card. Sounds like I'm going to take the same as your. Is every component I'm going to take works for sure on Hackintosh

 

Thanks you! :D

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Hey Crono S'6

I do video quite a bit of video editing myself. I actually do gigs for money. I have had great success with my PC software & hardware thus far. I have been using Adobe Premier for for my cutting & sequences. All my raw footage is handled there. I'v used versions 2.0, CS2 & now CS3. Adobe can add effects and transitions to final production but is not that user friendly. I use Pinnacle Studio 11 for that. Pinnacle has tons of effects and transisiton that are very easy to apply. Great effects can be applied with adobe but not without spending more money on additional plugins and it's not as simple as Pinnacle. Many great effects are native to Pinnacle Studio. You just need a key to unlock them (keygens help with that ;) ). DVD authoring is another story.

Anyway, my hardware rendering is superb. I have no problems with that. I can render HD projects with no problem.

All that and my hardware is not even the very fastest but still very good.

 

Your video card is important. I suggest a high-end one. I have an ATI x1800XT 512megs.

Your Nvidia choice is ok but you should get one with 512MB. Here's one at Newegg on sale: Click Here.

My CPU is only a Pentium D 925 @3.0ghz.

My ram is only running at 667mhz (PC2-5300 4GB 2x2GB sticks)

You don't need the Bad Axe MOBO. That board is good for gaming. If you are not planning on installing 2 video cards, you don't need it. I have the Intel DG965WH which serves me well. I also have OSX Leopard 10.5.1 successfully running on this board with my ATI card recognized with all 512megs of video ram and QE/CI enabled.

 

The main reason I invested A LOT of time in setting up an OSX86 machine was, like you, to run Final Cut Pro. I actually have successfully installed Final Cut Pro 4 on this machine and it seemingly runs fine. I have not yet done any test production on it yet but will soon. I also acquired DVD Studio Pro 4 and it installed and runs ok on my hackintosh as well.

 

If you are actually at the point of buying hardware to build your system, I suggest checking the HCL on osx86project.org site. Click link: osx86project.org HCL for 10.5.1. Buy a motherboard with the best compatability with it's on-board hardware.

You don't need a quad core. A fast dual core will do you just fine (Core2 family). As for ram, I would suggest you get sticks that run at 800mhz. Get 2MB sticks so that you can expand up to 8GB if you want to (4GB minimum). Leopard is 64bit so it can see all 8GB of memory. If you're still running windows, only the 64bit versions can do the same but beware of other hardware that may no longer be compatable in a 64bit OS.

Your Internal HD size is ok. Make a seperate partition for Video. I suggest getting an external HD as well for archiving your video. Your original DV tapes in AVI alone can eat up storage not to mention your various projects and all that they contain. Your external should be firewire + USB 2.0. The size should be big enough to also contain a full backup partition of your Mac OSX. For Macs, especially hackintosh systems, you definitely want to keep a full system backup.

Lastly, your PSU. I you get a video card that needs seperate power directly from the PSU, and I think the NVIDIA card does, you want al least 450w. You should go for 500+w though.

Oh... don't forget DVD burners (at least two internal preferably SATA). They must at least be capable of burning dual layers. I strongly suggest that you get an external burner or an enclosure for any burners you might already have. To get your mac going or to even use a an optical drive at all, you just might NEED it. This of course depends on the mobo you choose though. So choose wisely!

Hope this helps you out.

Good Luck!

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Here's the link directly to the Hardware Compatiblity List (HCL) for the Gigabyte motherboards.

I just recently ordered a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L. It has not come yet but I used the HCL to figure that this would be a good choice to run OSX 10.5.1. I would have gone with the GA-P35-DS3R for it's extra USB ports but figured I could save a few bucks since I already have extra USB port solutions.

I know I said that I have a Intel DG965WH board which I do but I have to ship back to intel for replacement at the moment.

I'm only going with the Gigabyte board because of it's overclocking ability. The Intel boards are very limited in that area except for the Bad Axe boards but that board also has it's limits that don't suit me well.

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Thanks you VERY much Hitlo1

Sounds like I will go for this Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L. On the mobo, I REALLY need network card working (Gb one) + SATA HD.

 

This machine is a part of my network home. I already have a Linux box with a DVD DL Burner + Firewire & a big storage aera via Giga Network on RAID1. This machine will be a dedicated Graphic box, especially Video oriented.

 

I just hope Hackintosh 10.5.1 + Final Cut Pro will run fine on config v2 :( :

  • Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (Intel P35 Express)
  • Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core ! Socket 775 FSB1066 cache L2 8 Mo 0.065 micron
  • Samsung SpinPoint T - HD501LJ - 500 Go 7200 RPM 16 Mo Serial ATA II
  • 8 Go DDR2-SDRAM PC6400
  • Gigabyte GV-NX86T256H - 256 Mo PCI Express (NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT)
  • PSU ATX 12V 2.0 - 500W

I don't see why the video card is important. I will not display any 3D with Final Cut Pro. I know it sometimes used to uncompress video flux such as mpg.

Also, I don't want to start with less then 4GB of RAM. It's only DV pal project but since I'm building a dedicated box, I would like to be good at its job.

Finally, I don't know about the CPU. I don't if Final Cut can run on several CPU, at least, when it exports the project (encoding). If it's not the case, I should take faster CPU I can. According to my budget, it will be Dual Core CPU. If FC knows how to deal with >1 core : quad-core should make the export faster. I also saw the Q6600 could be overclocked to 3Ghz...

 

That's my dilemma...

 

Between, why you left Premiere & Pinnacle Studio ?

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Your GFX card is AKA VIDEO card. Rendering will be greatly enhanced with a better video card than a not so good one. Everything you see on your screen is being handled by your video card. Being able to multitask within your video project smoothly, also video card. I personally have gone from low/mid grade video cards to a high end one and workflow definitely improved.

 

Final Cut Pro as well as many of today's Video Editing software may not yet be optimized to utilize a quad-core cpu. I know for sure they do use both cores in a dual.

 

I have not left Adobe & Pinnacle. I still consider them to be my staple software choice for video production. I don't have any real work right now to put FCP to the test. Besides, I was out of commission for awhile since I screwed up my intel board.

 

That reminds me...

I just got my Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L today, well actually Tuesday, and I'm loving it already.

Would you believe that my OSX install that was originally installed on my Intel DG965WH system, mind you - different chipset, different loaded kexts and all that, booted right up with LAN working right away. AWESOME!!

I just gotta patch for audio to work.

One important thing to know with this board is that there is no firewire. You will have to use a card. No biggie though. Make sure you get the latest revision of the board also.

 

You should be fine.

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All right, that's put me at rest! Now, I know something with a motherboard like mine and you told me everything works nicely (except audio, it's not a big deal with the patch).

 

I think I will move for a Dual faster CPU... and maybe switch back to 4GB of RAM. That's all. Gonna order before the end of the week and see ;)

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switching to the quad-core is a good idea, it can easily clock to 3 ghz, no sweat, and if you get a good heatsink, tunic tower maybe, you could go even further

 

the graphic card however, i would not go for a gaming card, go for a workstation card such as the Nvidia Quatro or the ATI FireGL, i do graphic design and video editing and i find it does a much better job at rendering.

 

 

btw.. those graphic cards are not that great at videogames :P

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Hello mikeyjj!

 

Well, Quadro & FireGL is quite more expensive then regular gamer video card :) This is will explode my budget for sure.

You are right, I will keep this Quad core and overclock it later. I took a big extra heatsink who will do the trick.

 

Thanks you!

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  • 3 weeks later...

A guy named "Aquamac" (try a search on Google) offers you the possibility to flash a MSI 7900 GTO 512 PICIe into a Quadrofx 5500... Sounds good, no..? I'm working on building a "FCP machine", and this Mod will definitely be my choice...

Sorry for my english...

A thanks for everybody makes this Board so rich !

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  • 1 month later...

I hope you havent bought your stuff yet. But i registered just so i can warn you. FINAL CUT RENDERS THROUGH THE GPU! That means that although the extra cores and ram are excellent, you need a super graphics card. I hope to god u know that!

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I'm an editor. At home I have a hackintosh system set up which works great. (At work I have a few 8 core Mac Pro's)

 

The 8600 graphics card works perfectly and is very cheap. I bought it with plans to upgrade later, but it works so well I dont see upgrading for a while.The 8800 GT card is faster, but more for gaming. The 2600 HD card is fastest of the three as far as FinalCut & Motion is concerned, though I havent seen many hackintosh's use it.

 

All 4 cores of the Q6600 will be used, especially with Compressor, and increasingly, more apps will use all the cores better. The price of the Q6700 just dropped - I would get that if prices are similar.

 

I use the badaxe motherboard you were first looking at. It works very reliably with OSX vanilla, but so does the Gigayte board you switched to which is cheaper.

 

Don't think you need 2 optical drives. But I guess if you are selling dvd's? Get SATA drives, and a USB sound card if you need Mic input.

 

Get good RAM if you are going to overclock.

 

Goodluck.

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Hey, I just built a system for the same purpose - it flies, and I only spent about $1100 bux, including shipping. The realtime rendering this beast does is well worth it. Heed the advice for a secondary drive for media. Wise it is. Also consider your secondary monitoring capabilities. You'll want a calibrated monitor for color correction.

 

good luck.

 

-K

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thanks for the reply Chrismo. I did my choice now (check my signature), it's time now to install & run Final Cut Pro and start to play.

What tools are you using in complement of FCP ? (Color Correction, sound editing, etc...)

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