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Making a $750 XP/OSX box for home


frankbo
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Hi. I'm in the process of figuring out a DIY machine for myself that costs somewhere around $750 (not incl. monitor and cost of copies of OSX and XP Pro). I've been looking into OSx86 closely over the past week, and I've decided that I'd like to go ahead with it. This is my first DiY computer, though, so I'm looking for any help I can get. I've got 3 proposed builds right now, developed in part through a lot of searching on this forum and the OSx86 wiki. Prices include rebates and are taken from newegg.

 

Basics on all builds

ANTEC Sonata III (w/ 500W Power Supply) $109.95

SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R w/ LightScribe SATA $29.95

KOUTECH IO-RCM620 USB 2.0 3.5"/5.25" Card Reader $14.99

SAMSUNG SpinPoint 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $54.99

SAMSUNG SpinPoint 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $74.99

G.SKILL 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin SDRAM DDR2 800 $89.98

 

Choice 1. AMD w/ HD3850

GIGABYTE GA-MA770-DS3 AMD Motherboard $99.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.8 GHz (w/o Stock Cooling) $94.50

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler $19.99

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 $169.99

Total (incl. basics above) $759.36

 

Choice 2. Intel w/ 8600GT

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L Intel Motherboard $89.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz $189.99

XFX GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 $89.99

Total (incl. basics above) $744.86

 

Choice 3. AMD w/ 8800GTS

GIGABYTE GA-MA770-DS3 AMD Motherboard $99.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.8 GHz (w/o Stock Cooling) $94.50

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler $19.99

EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 $189.99

Total (incl. basics above) $779.36

 

I'm including the HD3850 even though I know most people haven't got it working well for OSx86 (just because it seems like such a good deal, even though the deal on the 8800GTS is no slouch). Again, I'm a newb and I know I've made at least one stupid or highly questionable decision in all of this. I'm ignorant. So any help you can give is appreciated. I couldn't find good info on an AMD mobo that played nice with OSx86, so any suggestions there are a big help. Thanks!

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for build #2 don't get the E6750 go for the E6400 conroe it goes for $90 on ebay and it overclocks to 3.2 on stock cooler. you will get a .6 faster chip for half the price. i don't have any other advice for or against these builds.

 

 

<br />Hi. I'm in the process of figuring out a DIY machine for myself that costs somewhere around $750 (not incl. monitor and cost of copies of OSX and XP Pro). I've been looking into OSx86 closely over the past week, and I've decided that I'd like to go ahead with it. This is my first DiY computer, though, so I'm looking for any help I can get. I've got 3 proposed builds right now, developed in part through a lot of searching on this forum and the OSx86 wiki. Prices include rebates and are taken from newegg.<br /><br /><b>Basics on all builds</b><br /><i>ANTEC Sonata III (w/ 500W Power Supply) $109.95<br />SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R w/ LightScribe SATA $29.95<br />KOUTECH IO-RCM620 USB 2.0 3.5"/5.25" Card Reader $14.99<br />SAMSUNG SpinPoint 200GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $54.99<br />SAMSUNG SpinPoint 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s $74.99<br />G.SKILL 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin SDRAM DDR2 800 $89.98</i><br /><br /><b>Choice 1. AMD w/ HD3850</b><br /><i>GIGABYTE GA-MA770-DS3 AMD Motherboard $99.99<br />AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.8 GHz (w/o Stock Cooling) $94.50<br />ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler $19.99<br />SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 $169.99</i><br />Total (incl. basics above) $759.36<br /><br /><b>Choice 2. Intel w/ 8600GT</b><br /><i>GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L Intel Motherboard $89.99<br />Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz $189.99<br />XFX GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 $89.99</i><br />Total (incl. basics above) $744.86<br /><br /><b>Choice 3. AMD w/ 8800GTS</b><br /><i>GIGABYTE GA-MA770-DS3 AMD Motherboard $99.99<br />AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.8 GHz (w/o Stock Cooling) $94.50<br />ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler $19.99<br />EVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 $189.99</i><br />Total (incl. basics above) $779.36<br /><br />I'm including the HD3850 even though I know most people haven't got it working well for OSx86 (just because it seems like such a good deal, even though the deal on the 8800GTS is no slouch). Again, I'm a newb and I know I've made at least one stupid or highly questionable decision in all of this. I'm ignorant. So any help you can give is appreciated. I couldn't find good info on an AMD mobo that played nice with OSx86, so any suggestions there are a big help. Thanks!<br />
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G.Skill 1000 4gb x 2 ram is only $25 more. I would buy 2x2 rams for OSX builds, if you buy four 1gb rams then all your slots are filled out and you can't add more later on, if you do some VMware and video editing, 4gb is not enough.

 

Don't know about Samsung brand hard drives. I would definatly backup critial data if you use those hard drives. Cheap is always not better.

 

 

Cheaper price for #1 board

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MB-MA77DS...27c193ca132647c

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