build your own mac pro ?

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:18

Hi.

a quick question:
If I would put my hands on mac pro case, mobo with Xeon processor, ram and other bits...would I be able to build a mac pro ?

easiest bit can be mobo with Xeon (my IT dept is getting rid of DELL servers with Xeons

but am not sure if mobos would take 'normal' RAM and GPU...so then Xeon would be easiest part to get...
thoughts?

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:37

ng93 said:
I doubt a dell mobo would fit a mac pro case. And even if you hacked the case to fit it it'd technicaly be a pc so would be a hackintosh. IIRC it is possible to build a mac pro, but you need all apple parts except for cpus, ram, hdds and optical drives.

hmmmm ok...
will look if there are any mobos around...
thanks

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:38

pingwing said:
Its possible to do but quite expensive as the motherboards are about £250 odd...

lol

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:54

are those mobos so expensive as they come with cpu's?

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:57

rogan said:
Nope cheapest ive seen is £400 for non second hand anyway

I think i will leave those xenons alone then ;D

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:02

just found on auction site that you can get mobo with 2x xeon for £200.

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:07

rogan said:
irrelivant that u can get a mobo with 2 xeons or not doesnt mean itll just run os x

its a mac logic board

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:08

ng93 said:
What spec are the xeons?

2.0 ghz socket 771 Intel Xeon 5130

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:13

pingwing said:
Does it work?!?!? The 250 board was a real gem of a find as working ones don't just appear given they are always just service parts or out of a Mac with another failure.

Still quite a cool idea to do it you have a cheap pair of proc's for it as they tend to be the next big thing on the list

it is not certain

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:22

after seeing this henge docks promo video, I think I could sell my PC and use macpro as a main pc and laptop....

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 21:50

Hades said:
I think he means macbook pro rather than mac pro.

this

bastic · 1 Nov 2011 at 08:34

paradigm said:
So long as you can find a working board cheap enough, and a case (with PSU), then it's do-able using pretty easy to find components.

My two quad-core xeons in my Mac Pro were only £62. The memory has set me back less than £100 (and I have 22GB of it), and you can use any SATA drives you fancy.

So mobo would be hardest to find, and maybe case with PSU...most GPU's can be flashed to be used in a mac ? or only ones that were used in mac's ?

bastic · 1 Nov 2011 at 15:51

paradigm said:
Depends on which generation of Mac Pro motherboard you obtain.

If its a 1,1 or 2,1 then a GeForce 8800 or Radeon 5770 are your best bet, you can also use the 4870 without hassle.

Flashing the ATI cards depends on which you obtain, if its a 5770 then you need to create your own by following guides out there on the internet (i'll link them when I get home). The 4870 is easier, as the Zeus Flashing Tool will do that for you.

As for the 8800, I'm not 100% sure, as I went down the 5770 route in the end (most powerful card I could get to work for little outlay).

If you get anything newer than a 2,1 then you'll have 64-bit EFI, which opens up a whole load more options for GPU.

sounds complicated....
as for now, I will have to postpone this idea as I would need to sell my PC...it may not be too easy ...