Hello,
I am considering the same ( $300) Used 2008 Mac Pro or a Hackintosh.
Purpose will be to use this as a Multi-media computer for Video and Audio content creation.
I was considering buying a 8 core, dual quad core xeon 2008 Mac Pro because they are inexpensive right now. ( about $300 used ).
What do you recommend a 2008 Mac pro or an Intel-i5 Haswell Hackintosh or an Intel-Xeon Haswell Hackintosh? They all sell for under $400
(
Lenovo TS140 Xeon Haswell ).
(
HP Z210 Intel-i5 )
(
HP Z800 Intel-Xeon )
(
Dell XPS 8700 Intel-i5 )
The problem with hackintosh is getting past Apple security and getting iMessage to work which I have not figured out how to do yet.
Below is some research I have done on hackintosh
From my experience. An Intel-i3 works fine for everyday computer. Intel-i5 would be better.
A Samsung evo 850 is a good choice. With a 500gb SSD you can make two partitions and dual boot OS-X and Windows. OS-X only uses about 15gb of disk space. And you can always move your application to a second disk to save space on your boot disk.
Memory: 8gb minimum, 16gb better.
Samsung Evo 850....
Buy it here
1tb. Seagate barracuda has worked fine for me as a second disk. ( Storage Disk ).
Might as well buy the Corsair 750 watt PSU. You may need the Wattage in the future if you decide to add a powerful graphics card. Most graphics cards require a minimum of 500 watt PSU. But, make sure the PSU is rated Haswell "ready" or "certified."
Power Supply options. Plug and Play for Mac and Windows.
Corsair 750 watt.
There is a NEW WiFi card now. The TP-Link Archer. which is WIFI-ac
TP-LINK Archer T9E AC1900 Dual Band 802.11AC Wireless PCI Express Adapter, 5Ghz 1300Mbps + 2.4Ghz 600Mbps, Beamforming, 3T3R
Works Vanilla with OS-X Yosemite and MS-Windows.
Buy it here
I also have an
Apple BCM94360CD Bluetooth 4.0 802.11AC Apple Mac Desktop Wireless 1000Mbp Card. PCIe. Which I bought on ebay.com. Uses Native Vanilla kexts from OS-X. Plug and play for OS-X.
MS Windows Drivers can be found here:
Apple BCM94360CD
Apple BCM94360CD WiFi-ac PCIe Card = $57
Bluetooth USB Dongle
IOgear - $12
Kext - Vanilla with OS-X and Plug in play for Windows.
Memory Card Reader
Sabrent 74-In-1 3.5-Inch Internal Flash Media Card Reader/writer with USB Port
Buy it at Amazon = $7
Sound Blaster Omni USB 5.1 Dolby Digital with Tos-link Optical
Plug and play for OS-X and Windows
Buy it here:
Amazon.com
These Budget USB Audio devices are plug and play and require no software to install
Sometimes they work better than the MultiBeast audio kexts.
And they are very inexpensive.
Link: Buy them at Amazon.com
Mac USB Audio devices
IMG]http://www.tonymacx86.com/attachments/user-builds/134801d1429632478t-199-intel-i3-haswell-4gb-ram-lenovo-ts-140-server-hackintosh-yosemite-91w-naqwdll._sl1500_.jpg[/IMG]
CPU Benchmarks
Dell XPS 8700 Intel-i7-4790.........................................(4823 single core)and ( 19381 multicore).
Mac Pro 2014 - 4-core Xeon, $3000 Base model.............(3274 single core)and ( 13027 multicore).
Hackintosh -
Intel Xeon E3-1225,4gb Ram,120gb SSD......(3220 single core) and (11952 multicore).
iMac-27, 2014 -Intel i5-4690 (4cores), 1tb Fusion Drive..(3541 single core) and (11350 multicore).
Hackintosh -
Intel i3, 4gb Ram, 120gb SSD...................(2911 single core) and (6334 multicore).
Mac Mini 2014 - Intel i5, 4gb ram, 500gb hard drive.......(2418 single core) and (5142 multicore).
Hard Drive Benchmarks
DELL XPS 8700 with Intel 750 PCIe SSD..................(write -1243mb/s) and (read -1506mb/s)
Hackintosh with Intel 750 PCIe SSD.......................(write -1243mb/s) and (read -1506mb/s)
Mac Pro 2014 - Xeon, $3000 Base model , PCIe SSD ..(write - 783mb/s) and (read - 915mb/s).
Hackintosh with Kinston Predator PCie .................(write - 663mb/s) and ( read -1189mb/s)
Dell XPS 8700, Samsung Evo 850 mSata SSD............(write - 525mb/s) and (write - 550mb/s)
Hackintosh with Samsung Evo 850 120gb..............(write - 489mb/s) and (read - 505mb/s).
Hackintosh with OCZ SSD blackmagic benchmarks.....(write - 368mb/s) and (read - 436mb/s).
iMac 27, 2014 Fusion Drive blackmagic benchmarks...(write - 292mb/s) and (read - 629mb/s).
Mac Mini 2014 500gb. hard drive benchmarks..........( write - 90mb/s) and (read - 103mb/s).
Graphics card benchmarks
Observed Cinebench scores ( Higher is better ).
Nvidia Geforce GTX 980...................................( OpenGL 149fps ) ( CPU 824cb )
Nvidia Geforce GTX Titan.................................( OpenGL 126fps ) ( CPU 811cb )
Nvidia Geforce GTX 780...................................( OpenGL 122fps ) ( CPU 802cb )
Nvidia Geforce GTX 970...................................( OpenGL 114fps ) ( CPU 573cb )
AMD Radeon R9 290x......................................( OpenGL 112fps ) ( CPU 812cb )
iMac 2014 5K AMD Radeon R9 M295x................( OpenGL 105fps ) ( CPU 781cb )
AMD Radeon R9 280........................................( OpenGL 94fps ) ( CPU 560cb )
Nvidia Geforce GTX 650ti……….........................…( OpenGL 89fps ) (CPU 1056cb )
Nvidia Geforce GTX 750ti..................................( OpenGL 85fps ) ( CPU 637cb )
Nvidia Geforce GTX 760....................................( OpenGL 82fps ) ( CPU 581cb )
Nvidia Geforce GT 740......................................( OpenGL 79fps ) ( CPU 206cb )
AMD Radeon R9 270.........................................( OpenGL 78fps ) ( CPU 240cb )
Nvidia Geforce GTX 960....................................( OpenGL 73fps ) ( CPU 914cb )
Mac Pro 2014 Dual AMD FirePro D300 ................( OpenGL 73fps ) ( CPU 736cb )
AMD Radeon R7 260x….................................……( OpenGL 73fps ) ( CPU 337cb )
DELL XPS 8700 , Nvidia Geforce GTX 745.............( OpenGL 72fps ) ( CPU 463cb )
Mac mini 2014 Intel HD 5000 graphics.................( OpenGL 23fps ) ( CPU 228cb )
Lenovo TS140 , Intel Haswell HD 4600 graphics....( OpenGL 22fps ) ( CPU 213cb )
Nvidia Geforce GT 610 ( Lenovo Hackintosh )........( OpenGL 16fps ) ( CPU 338cb )