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$295 "PovoMac" — The Cheapest "Hackintosh" Ever!

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potemkin said:
In addition unless you go up considerably in price they lack support for PCI Express 3.0.
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Well, the performance difference between PCIE2 and PCIE3 with current hardware is essentially zero. PCIE3 can have up to a 10% performance increase compared to PCIE2 in certain situations (i.e. triple or quad GPU configurations), but that's about it. PCIE3 isn't a make or break feature inclusion, especially not for "PovoMac" purposes.

potemkin said:
Price estimates seem to be between $70-$100
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For the Intel Celeron G1610, $70 should be the maximum price, as the Intel Pentium G2120 already occupies the $90-100 segment, and the Intel Celeron G1620 will need to slot in between them. Speaking of which, if the Intel Pentium G2120 works for "Hackintosh" purposes, so should the Intel Celeron G1610/G1620. Unfortunately, the Intel Pentium G2120 isn't available in Australia (where as, it has been available in the U.S since September 2012), so I can't test it myself.
 
I would like to check out 1610/1620 some more.
I did some searches but they had little info.
This was a few days ago.
Is this cpu close to a release date?
Intel site did not have it. Just checked.

As far as video with PCI Express my card varies wildly in results at Nova Bench.
( I do not think Nova Bench is very reliable)
I have seen I7 post low scores for my GT 640 as well.
Of course you can not tell which driver or motherboard they are using.

I have been looking at 3350p as replacement.
So I would like to compare with 1610/1620.

Since I posted a few minutes ago Passmark Benchmark has listed score of 2768 for 1610.
Links to buy do not work yet.
No score for G1620 yet. Guess it is 3000 (ceiling)
 
potemkin said:
I did some searches but they had little info.
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Well, the Intel Celeron G1610 will be a direct replacement for the Intel Celeron G550. It should have a 5-10% IPC performance increase (which seems to be typical when comparing "Sandy Bridge" to "Ivy Bridge" at the same clock frequencies), slightly lower TDP (55W), and increased RAM frequency (1333MHz) support. The IGP itself should be similar to that of the Intel Pentium G2120, but may have a slightly decreased maximum dynamic frequency (i.e. IGP turbo mode). Obviously, the IGP (apart from Intel HD 3000/4000) isn't currently supported in OS X anyway, so it is of little interest.

potemkin said:
Is this cpu close to a release date? Intel site did not have it. Just checked.
Click to expand...
Intel will not feature the processor on their website until it is officially released. All we know at this point is that it is scheduled for January 2013.

potemkin said:
I have been looking at 3350p as replacement.
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Where are you purchasing your parts from? If it's from a retailer such as Amazon, I would opt for the Intel Core I5 3470 for $184 USD (as compared to $180 USD for the Intel Core I5 3350P).

potemkin said:
So I would like to compare with 1610/1620.
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Essentially, take the Intel Celeron G550 and add 10%. That would be the best estimation until benchmarks are released.

Anyway, I have purchased parts for the third model "PovoMac" 2.0, so I should be able to test the compatibility of the Gigabyte GA-B75M-D2V and Samsung SH224BB within the next week.
 
On pricing I was bouncing back and forth between Amazon and New Egg.
Their price for 3470 was $ 20 dollars more.
Thanks to you checked Amazon again.

Everything you said about new Celeron makes sense.
This will help me make my decision.

You mentioned only 10% plus for PC Express 3.0.
What about compatibility with Open GL?
I am guessing it doesn't make much difference as this is dependent on drivers from Apple.
Apple is still at 3.2/3.3.

I will check out the motherboard you mentioned also.
Good luck with your build !
 
potemkin said:
You mentioned only 10% plus for PC Express 3.0.
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With current generation hardware (i.e. Nvidia GTX 680 and AMD HD 7970) in a single GPU configuration, there is a 1% performance advantage for PCIE3 x16 when compared to PCIE2 x16. Hell, even PCIE1.1 x16 (which is equivalent to PCIE2 x8 or PCIE3 x4) can achieve 95-97% of the maximum performance. Once again, PCIE3 can have up to a 10% performance increase compared to PCIE2 in triple or quad GPU configurations, but I don't even know if OS X would support such a configuration anyway.

potemkin said:
What about compatibility with Open GL?
Click to expand...
I'm unsure what you mean? The scaling would perform the same with DirectX and OpenGL.
 
Pricing confirmed:

The desktop lineup begins with the Celeron G1610 (2.60 GHz, dual-core, 55W TDP), priced at US $42; Celeron G1610T (2.30 GHz, dual-core, 35W TDP) at $42; followed by Celeron G1620 (2.70 GHz), priced significantly higher at $52; Pentium G2010 (2.80 GHz, dual-core, 55W TDP) and G2020 (2.90 GHz), and G2020T (2.50 GHz, 35W TDP) at $64; and Pentium G2130 (3.20 GHz, dual-core, 55W TDP) at $86.
Click to expand...
 
Just ordered the G1610 for $49.99 on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116889

It's a bit higher than ark's listed $42, but for this early I'm cool with that. Along with that I got the parts for this build to replace my early 2008 macbook pro as a web design machine: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ACFO - hopefully the h61 motherboard with come with an ivy-compatible bios, but if not, i can borrow a sandy bridge chip from an office machine. Wish me luck on my first hackintosh build. :D
 
Hey Guys! So I just started getting into this whole PovoMac idea, and it is really awesome! Thank you very much, Domo! Anyways, I was messing around a little bit on Newegg, and I pieced together a computer that seems to be better then the original PovoMac, and for a price of couple dollars more. 297 CAD. I want you guys to let me know what you think.

These are the links-

----------------------------------

Case: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168111

ODD: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

GPU: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121475

CPU: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116405

RAM: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231394

Mobo: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128527

PSU: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817553013
 
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