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?

ng93 · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:34

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.

pingwing · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:37

There's a thread on the insanely mac forums of someone who did that where he got hold of an official motherboard and build in the rest of the mac pro parts.

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

Hacking the case is simpler but still hard (as I found out with it half done)

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

rogan · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:52

£250 for the motherboards? most sites charge a fair bit more than that as far as i've seen

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:54

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

rogan · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:56

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

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

ng93 · 31 Oct 2011 at 17:58

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

Nope, mac pro components are just really expensive (although considering they're basically using server parts its not surprising).

bastic · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:02

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

ng93 · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:03

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

What spec are the xeons?

rogan · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:04

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

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

pingwing · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:11

bastic said:
its a mac logic board

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

ng93 · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:12

bastic said:
2.0 ghz socket 771 Intel Xeon 5130

Ah that explains why its so cheap. That said it does sound like a cool project, you going to make a log?

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

pingwing · 31 Oct 2011 at 18:15

bastic said:
it is not certain

Wouldnt touch it with a ten foot clown poll then

There must be a few places on the web that sell the boards working probably

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....