Λύκος Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 'lo. Brief intro: Currently owner of a MacBook, also have an iBook 1.42ghz floating around, and our main desktop decided to die fairly recently after about six years of loyal service, so I decided it was time to replace ol' Anubis (the computer's name) and upgrade. Initially, I was just going to get an AMD with a generic mobo, etc., install either Linux Mint or Ubuntu on it, but after some convincing by Dax|iHack in #osx86 on moofspeak.net, I decided to go with this instead: Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail Proc: Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E2180 - Retail Videocard: MSI NX8400GS-TD256E GeForce 8400GS Support up to 512M (256MB onboard) 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA-300 Hard Drive - OEM Also have generic case/psu/optical drive. Initially starting with 1gb DDR2 800 RAM, probably get another in 2 weeks, then another, and another, for a total of 4gb within 2months. The processor can overclock up to 2.8ghz according to reviews with just standard sync/fan, 3.1ghz with better ones... I know that I'll need to upgrade to 10.5.2 for full videocard support for the GeForce, but not a problem... Anyone have any comments/suggestions? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/89975-my-box-to-be/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaporATX Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 'lo. Brief intro: Currently owner of a MacBook, also have an iBook 1.42ghz floating around, and our main desktop decided to die fairly recently after about six years of loyal service, so I decided it was time to replace ol' Anubis (the computer's name) and upgrade. Initially, I was just going to get an AMD with a generic mobo, etc., install either Linux Mint or Ubuntu on it, but after some convincing by Dax|iHack in #osx86 on moofspeak.net, I decided to go with this instead: Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail Proc: Intel Pentium E2180 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E2180 - Retail Videocard: MSI NX8400GS-TD256E GeForce 8400GS Support up to 512M (256MB onboard) 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3160815AS 160GB 7200 RPM SATA-300 Hard Drive - OEM Also have generic case/psu/optical drive. Initially starting with 1gb DDR2 800 RAM, probably get another in 2 weeks, then another, and another, for a total of 4gb within 2months. The processor can overclock up to 2.8ghz according to reviews with just standard sync/fan, 3.1ghz with better ones... I know that I'll need to upgrade to 10.5.2 for full videocard support for the GeForce, but not a problem... Anyone have any comments/suggestions? Know nothing about that video card, but the rest seems good. I had E2180 for a while. I had it clocked at 3.4 stable with liquid cooling. It's a no brainer to o/c it to 3.0. It'll do that with stock cooling and hardly any bios tweaking. Great little chip. Conroe will smoke it performance wise. Easily 20% faster clock for clock. I can't help but suggest Q6600 to people. It's a beast of a chip for $250. The speed and overclockability are breathtaking... but that may be getting beyond your budget build a bit. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/89975-my-box-to-be/#findComment-641992 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtotho Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 i would reccomend going for the cheapest "core 2" and stay away from pentiums that video card is the {censored}test piece of {censored} ive ever seen. check this one out, easily twice as good, probably more leopard compatible http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130025 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/89975-my-box-to-be/#findComment-642013 Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaporATX Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 How about a used 7900gs for $60 http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00...2484&sr=8-1 I'd be all over that if I didn't already have one. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/89975-my-box-to-be/#findComment-642022 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Λύκος Posted February 25, 2008 Author Share Posted February 25, 2008 Thanks for the feedback guys - this was intended to be a budget system, tho. I originally didn't want to go past $250, but I spent a bit more and busted $300, had to draw the line somewhere. System is upgradeable for the foreseeable future, might replace the CPU whenever the Q6600 dips below $200 - I'm not in a rush. Going from a single core 1.4ghz desktop with SDRAM to a dual core OC'd 2.8ghz chip with 4gb of DDR2 800 RAM will be a nice enough jump. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/89975-my-box-to-be/#findComment-642043 Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaporATX Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Yes, very nice jump indeed. Good luck with your build! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/89975-my-box-to-be/#findComment-642048 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtotho Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 if at all in ur budget, i would reccomend a nicer 7000 series (only about 10 bucks more thant he card you have picked out) a cheap core 2 processor (i dont think it will cost much more at all) and also 1 stick of 2gb of ram rather than 1gb of ram (future upgradeability to 8gb). Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/89975-my-box-to-be/#findComment-642050 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korrupted Posted February 27, 2008 Share Posted February 27, 2008 i would reccomend going for the cheapest "core 2" and stay away from pentiums that video card is the {censored}test piece of {censored} ive ever seen. check this one out, easily twice as good, probably more leopard compatible http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130025 His pentium IS a core 2. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/89975-my-box-to-be/#findComment-645392 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts