mac os for 200€?

Hi all!

I've read through all your recommendations and ended up with this typical setup:
http://www.google.de/shoppinglist?a=SWL ... 5574830659
RAM & HDD still missing
Can you go cheaper than 400€?
Some netbooks or stuff?
I don't mind performance, but I need 100% compatibility.

Thx for any advice!
Chris

ceegee said:

Hi all!

I've read through all your recommendations and ended up with this typical setup:
http://www.google.de/shoppinglist?a=SWL ... 5574830659
RAM & HDD still missing
Can you go cheaper than 400€?
Some netbooks or stuff?
I don't mind performance, but I need 100% compatibility.

Thx for any advice!
Chris

Click to expand...

9500GT video cards are terrible. I have one I use as a tester and I hate it for several reasons. Try to find a used 8800GT, 8800GTS, or a new 9400 or 9600.

BFG 8800GT with an ETC of 4/5/10 for $51.97
Click notify and hope they come in!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143118&cm_re=8800gt-_-14-143-118-_-Product

Edit: My bad You're in Europe.

FatShenanigans said:

9500GT video cards are terrible. I have one I use as a tester and I hate it for several reasons. Try to find a used 8800GT, 8800GTS, or a new 9400 or 9600.

Click to expand...

Please elaborate. I have a 9500GT. I am having no issues. I paid $39 for a 512meg DDR3. It isn't the best for FPS and the like but as I'm not a gamer, I am not concerned with that.

lectrcman said:

FatShenanigans said:

9500GT video cards are terrible. I have one I use as a tester and I hate it for several reasons. Try to find a used 8800GT, 8800GTS, or a new 9400 or 9600.

Click to expand...

Please elaborate. I have a 9500GT. I am having no issues. I paid $39 for a 512meg DDR3. It isn't the best for FPS and the like but as I'm not a gamer, I am not concerned with that.

Click to expand...

I suppose the bootloader must have improved recently since they were not supported well in the past. There is a very long thread on the 9500GT in insanelymac that goes over most of the issues people have had with it. I'm a photographer also so my concern isn't as much as games as it is multiple monitor support. Even with Hackintoshing I cannot function without multiple monitors when reading a codec map (that actually needs 2 monitors by itself not counting your notes and other documents on the main screen). Back in even as recently as November I had to hard code the DSDT to get two monitors to have full support for a 9500.

My point is to not risk it if there is a choice leaving open the possibility to upgrade. Seeing as how it's possible to get fully supported cards at a similar price I say that should be the primary motivation rather than cards that are very limited.

got 2 1080p's running off of each of our 9500GT based boxes. One via HDMI other via DVI->HDMI (though any two from three output permutations work)

nothing fancy required these days for them - Tonys mid January boot CD, retail 10.6.0 and 10.6.2 combo update and all was fine

well, thanks a lot!
and @FatShenanigans,
I've read you don't like Gigaboards neither?
I think I can go with the 9500GT.

Here and there are tuts on how to use netbooks etc. to hackint0sh,
or MSI Wind PC from Uselessninjas.com.
I asked whether Snow Leopard is supported, but no answer yet..
AFAIK these are about 300€ or cheaper, and no obvious drawbacks?!
So where's the point in individual components other than performance?

thx again,
Chris

ceegee said:

well, thanks a lot!
and @FatShenanigans,
I've read you don't like Gigaboards neither?
I think I can go with the 9500GT.

Here and there are tuts on how to use netbooks etc. to hackint0sh,
or MSI Wind PC from Uselessninjas.com.
I asked whether Snow Leopard is supported, but no answer yet..
AFAIK these are about 300€ or cheaper, and no obvious drawbacks?!
So where's the point in individual components other than performance?

thx again,
Chris

Click to expand...

Well, Chris you may be happy with a hackintosh netbook, but the performance is what we're pretty much about on this forum. Our ~$500 Desktops are WAY WAY WAY more powerful than any netbook. Not to mention you have your choice of compatible components such as nice graphics card, etc...

For example, the average Geekbench score on an MSI Wind: 500-800
Average Geekbench score for my Core i5 750 P55M-UD2- 6800-7500

ok,ok, I'm convinced
Found a very good offer for an MSI P55-GD65.
I checked that and seems to work with snow leo.
So I'm currently at this build:

MSI P55-GD65
Intel i7-860
Kingston 3GB 1333MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM..
and well either
Gigabyte Radeon HD 4550 510mb
or still the 9500GT,
but Radeon has 512mb ddr3 for 40,99€
and Palit GeForce 9500GT only 512MB GDDR2 for 48,99 €.

ceegee said:

ok,ok, I'm convinced
Found a very good offer for an MSI P55-GD65.
I checked that and seems to work with snow leo.
So I'm currently at this build:

MSI P55-GD65
Intel i7-860
Kingston 3GB 1333MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM..
and well either
Gigabyte Radeon HD 4550 510mb
or still the 9500GT,
but Radeon has 512mb ddr3 for 40,99€
and Palit GeForce 9500GT only 512MB GDDR2 for 48,99 €.

Click to expand...

Ok- looks good, and it's really up to you but I would recommend an nVidia card, and a Gigabyte Mobo- there is a lot of support here for Gigabyte motherboards. Although MSI's do the trick as well, and we have full support there too, although many less users have MSI. As far as ATI, it's just trickier- there are more steps to get them fully working than with the nVidia cards.