CustoMac G6 Build - GA-X58A-UD3R - Core i7 970 - HD 5770

[4ndr3wn2]

CustoMac G6 Build - GA-X58A-UD3R - Core i7 970 - HD 5770

ANTEC P183 Chassis
http://www.amazon.com/Antec-High-End-Pe ... 769&sr=1-1

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R rev 2 Motherboard
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-LGA1366- ... 808&sr=1-1

Intel Core i7 970 6 core 3.2Ghz Processor
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-i7-970 ... 847&sr=1-1

Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB Graphics PCI-Express Graphics card
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-Vapor-X- ... 874&sr=1-2

LG GH22LS50 DVD Drive
http://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-Li ... 909&sr=1-1

Corsair Dominator 6GB DDR3 1600Mhz Triple Channel Ram
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Dominator ... 962&sr=1-2

Crucial C300 256GB SATA3 SSD
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Technolog ... 001&sr=1-2

ANTEC TruePower TP-550 PSU (550w)
http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Truepower-T ... 026&sr=1-1

IOGear USB 2.1 Bluetooth Micro Adapter GBU421
http://www.amazon.com/IOGEAR-Bluetooth- ... 056&sr=1-1

Apple Snow Leopard 10.6.3 retail
http://www.amazon.com/APPLE-Snow-Leopar ... 096&sr=1-4

Already Owned:
WD 1TB SATA Drive
Seagate 1TB SATA Drive
Apple Cinema HD 23" monitor x 2
Apple Extended Keyboard
Apple Magic Trackpad

Comments:

After running out of lifetime on my old dual 2.0Ghz processor G5, I looked around for a way to reuse the chassis and build an updated mac inside. This proved to be near impossible, and the cost of a new 8 core Mac Pro was prohibitive. So I built this for under half the price and more importantly got to reuse many of the components.

I used these guides to get me there . . .
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/04/ ... -x-on.html
viewtopic.php?f=81&t=11465

and iBoot 2.6.3 and MultiBeast 3.2.0

The system runs perfectly. It's very fast and I have now overclocked it a smidge, just because I could. It's also very quiet, even overclocked. Runs at around 70 degrees.

Geekbench 64bit - 16,716 (a bit faster than an 8 core MacPro)

I am very happy I did this, it was a lot of fun to research and build.

Thanks so much to TonyMac, MacMan and all the people on the forum for enabling this to happen.

 

[cyantist]

Congratulations.. Looks like a very good setup.. I've had my eye on the 970 for a while now.. It's finally getting to a price where mere mortals can own one.. It's probably going to be my next upgrade..

 

[pahoran]

oh maan thats a sweet build!!
i got a few questions if u dont mind,
im building an almost exact set up, around the same mobo but using the i7 930 & and im considering the same 5770.

i got 3 X 23" cinema displays! ACDs FTW
u think ill be able to hook up all 3 to the 5770 with out nay issues? im also gonna install win7 on another partition and wanna do some decent gaming. u think i should get 2 X 5770s or maybe 2 5870s?
i would love to run my 3 ACDs plus my 42" hdtv all at once even if its spread out onto the two cards.

any help would be appreciated, also if u can post a vid or some pics of ur set up be awesome!

btw i just noticed u had a G5, u should have used that as the case! i will!


P0w

 

[VideoCruncher]

This looks like the build I was looking for, and it's by a fellow Kiwi Can't get better than that. Question though, how much RAM can this board take, and are you aware if it will affect stability at all? I want to use it for FinalCut Pro mostly, and so I want more than 6GB of RAM. I am thinking 12GB. Any thoughts?