Build Your Own Mac for $199

okay - who cares. We have 10.4.1 right now and this thread should be used to talk about the 200$ mac.

EDIT: typo

Im about to recieve my cpu tomorrow then i should be set. Cant wait!!!

Is there someone who can post xbench results for the 200$ Mac ?

well, i built my own 250 dollar mac...

80gb hd

asrock mobo

478 celeron D 2.2ghz

512mb ddr400 ram

and it kicks ASS!

at first it ran slowly but as per a suggestion from 360hacker.net i deleted a tpm file and it runs FAST! you should also get rid of the intel830 graphics kext so you get QE support...

only thing: this asrock mobo is weird when it comes to allocating ram for video usage...

it starts out with 8mb and you can't change that...it claims (from asrock website) that it expands the gfx ram as needed... any ideas?

one more prob is that the deadmoo image doens't come with sse3 files and when i patched em itunes would start but hang. i fixed this by applying the sse2 patch and now it works like a charm...

I replaced the deadmoo CoreGraphics w/the normal SSE3 one, and iTunes runs just fine for me (2.8ghz P4 w/SSE3).

GMA900 works a bit dynamically for memory, it says 8MB during bootup too, but since QE and CI work great, I'd say the dynamic memory allocation is working fine.

why would anyone wanna make a PC only for this when you already got a PC that can run OS X? of course, the idea of making a $200 Mac is funny, mostly when you compare its power to the one of a 10 times more expensive PowerMac. Well, the price difference is due to what makes the obvious appearant difference between a $200 PC and a PowerMac...

i would HIGHLY HIGHLY reccomend againstt getting that case...if you notice where the power supply is positioned it is right in from of the CPU and CPU HSF(heatsink anf fan) and the cpu would be drowned out with absolutley no air supply....and the new Celreon D's or Pentium 4's with Prescott cores DO NOT RUN VERY COOL as it is...i am idling a 50(celsuis) right now as i type this..so i wold reccomend getting a case where the powersupply is ABOVE the motherboaard and CPU

trust me on this one....there is a reason that case is $9.95

THNX

Duggy

hehe, Apple is soon going to run out of animals in the wild cat family That's when they'll be out of business. Apple has run its course, being the first user friendly computer available, I think they will die in about 4-5 years however.

IMHO it is a waste of money to build your own mac. First off you aren't supporting apple while doing it. Second of all you are not garunteed future compatiblity. Third of all, you have to maintain the system. For me at least it is hard to justify a $200 investment that might not work in a year.

hehe, Apple is soon going to run out of animals in the wild cat family   That's when they'll be out of business.  Apple has run its course, being the first user friendly computer available, I think they will die in about 4-5 years however.

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Please, the day Apple goes out of bussiness, will be the day a Iraqi is president of the USA.

hehe, Apple is soon going to run out of animals in the wild cat family   That's when they'll be out of business.  Apple has run its course, being the first user friendly computer available, I think they will die in about 4-5 years however.

You know, it's guys like you that make this fun -- you may not be aware of it, but 'analysts' have been predicting the death of Apple for the past 25 years, pretty regularly.

...and look where we are now.

Anyway, I think it'll take a bit more than a snot-nosed know-nothing to predict the death of Apple.

Thanks for the laugh.

Does anyone have the rebates for that mobo/processor combo on tigerdirect? The pdf's of them. If anyone does, I would appreciate a pm or something, cause tigerdirect(being themselves) have taken it down. Thanks.

I have read the posts before this and didnt find what I was looking for.

Basically the ram suggested to run in this $199 mac is DDR266.. However, upon closer inspection of the motherboard it clearly states that it is 333 and 400 DDR compatible.

Now, I have 1gb of ram already and DO NOT want to buy more ram tbh (my ram is 266DDR) and thus I am very worried about ordering a CPU and board if it wont work with my ram.

Has anyone actually tried this board with 266 ram in it? and if they have does it work?

Thanks

Andy

infact I just ran a search on crucials site and they do not list it to work with 266 DDR at all, only 333 and 400...

Has anyone actually used 266 in this and got it working?

Thanks

Motherboard $51.99: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16813157075

If you don't mind the $50 rebate you can get a $50 Cel D 340 478 pin (2.9GHz) untill the end of the month at:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...09132&CatId=261

Would go great with this board.

Has anyone actually purchased this board to test if all the chipsets are supported? GMA,Sound,Lan?

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Yes, I have one. Sound, LAN, etc.. works

hehe, Apple is soon going to run out of animals in the wild cat family   That's when they'll be out of business.  Apple has run its course, being the first user friendly computer available, I think they will die in about 4-5 years however.

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Personally, I'd be more worried about Microsoft going out of business in the next 7-10 years.

Look at Apple, they already have the Mp3 Player market almost completely dominated by the iPod, they also have a strong foothold in the movie/graphic design industry, and now their opperating system works on x86 machines?

Microsoft seems to be terribly worried about Google, maybe they should be looking over Steve Jobs' direction more often...

Just food for thought

~Reiab~

PS: That system works great

I'm not usually very vocal on these kinds of subjects but there's a few things I wanted to say.

Micro$oft isnt going anywhere.

I dont say that because Im happy about it I say it because they will always have the dumb audience to play to.

By dumb I dont mean that people who use windows are dumb, I mean that most of them are.

Most of them don't even know what a right click does (youd be amazed how many people Ive had to show that to) and thus will always believe Billy Boy when he says that windows is easy to use.

There's a huge market for that "dumb and play" philosophy.

Sure, programmers and techs like you or I dont believe a damn word of it, but we're few and far between in the bigger picture.

Ok, so that's m$ sorted, how about Apple?

Well I dont like to see Apple trashed, it's not on.

Apple make the most beautiful and well put together machines you will ever use.

If you have never used one then hey, thats up to you, but dont trash them for being expensive when you clearly have no idea what you're talking about.

Recently I ripped my blue and white G3 apart and am currently in the process of converting the whole thing into a PC that runs several operating systems.

And, by crimminy folks I can tell you that my olde truste G3 (there was nothing wrong with it btw and I have had it from new) is built like a nuclear coal bunker.

Now, bear in mind that most of the case is high quality plastic (not a cheap commodity) and Aluminum (not cheap either) and that the thing took me 4 hours to strip down (I can do a whole pc in about 20 minutes, an average one) and you can quite easily see what you are paying for.

You get what you pay for, it's as simple as that.

Please consider building a PC to the same standards and quality grades as a Macintosh.

First of all we would need a case that could make par with Apple's, so that leaves Lian Li or Cooler Master.

Both of those manu's top cases (and by top I mean up to Apple quality) will cost you over $150.

To keep the quality high you would need to continue in the same vein, and by the time you're done you'd actually realise Apple computers are cheap, function VERY well, last and last AND look drop dead gorgeous.

Ill stick up some pics of the flourescant 'RadioMactive' as soon as it is nearing completion.

PS: That system works great 

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So does that mean you bought the exact parts listed and the Asrock accepts pc2100 ram (266ddr)?

Ive ordered a board, chip and a couple of external USB drive cases, but mines going into my old blue and white (after its been painted in radioactive colors and a few blacklights and mods have been done )

Im still waiting to know if the Asrock supports DDR266....

I'm not usually very vocal on these kinds of subjects but there's a few things I wanted to say.

 

Micro$oft isnt going anywhere.

 

 

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Meh, this is true. I don't actually think Microsoft's going down, they're just going to take a hit.

I can run Final Cut Pro whit this motherboard and CPU?

Meh, this is true. I don't actually think Microsoft's going down, they're just going to take  a hit. 

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A hit is always nice

I can run Final Cut Pro whit this motherboard and CPU?

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From what I can gather if you can run rosetta you can run anything but I suppose in a weeks time I will be able to answer that for sure.

From what I can gather if you can run rosetta you can run anything but I suppose in a weeks time I will be able to answer that for sure.

Rosetta doesn't work for any code that requires Altivec. It only runs G3 processor code.

Rosetta doesn't work for any code that requires Altivec.  It only runs G3 processor code.

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Ah I see..

Does photoshop CS run per chance?