Hey guys. Quick question...

[Choopi]

Hey everyone.. Long time lurker, finally need to ask something that is more specific than the search function...

I've got a 2008 MacPro (2.8 Quad Xeon, Radeon 2600 XT etc...) that is starting to feel a bit sluggish to me. It doesn't help I picked up a new MacMini i7 for my wife's machine... I did a RAM/SSD upgrade to it, and it seems to run circles around my baby...

I have been on the fence about making the jump to the Hackintosh world, and I think it is finally time for me to just do it.

I saw this one on Kijiji, and I was wondering what you guy's thoughts were on the system. I am looking to keep it around the $1000 (CAD) mark, and this one is fairly below that number.

Any insight would be appreciated! (Apologies if this is the wrong forum.)

Thanks!!!!

***EDIT*** To be fair, I should say what I use it for. Mostly webdesign including a fair bit of graphic editing. Very little video/audio editing.

Thanks again

 

[Kraken]

I would follow the information on this website and build my own system if I were you. You should definitely use an SSD instead of a HDD for the boot drive. If you built a system like that yourself it would be cheaper.

 

[Choopi]

I would follow the information on this website and build my own system if I were you. You should definitely use an SSD instead of a HDD for the boot drive. If you built a system like that yourself it would be cheaper.

First off, thanks for the response.

I had originally planned on building my own, but I came across that one listed and I have to rethink my plan. Adding up the prices of those exact parts at my local Tiger Direct, I arrive at $797. I hesitate to go through Amazon as I am looking at shipping costs that would most likely put the project higher than buying it locally.

I was more questioning if that was going to be a good, solid system. But, again, thanks for your info!

 

[samisnake]

thats a good build, and it would be solid.

however, i wouldnt buy a premade hackintosh. you dont know how competent the seller was building the machine, or installing osx.

the msi board is fine, but with msi boards you have to either use a patched bios, patched power management kext, or nullcpu (in order of which is best). for all you know the seller could have used nullcpu which will mean sleep and speedstep wont work.
read more about it here http://biosrepo.wordpress.com/faq/

if you have a problem, itll be longer to sort out as youll have to go through him, or start afresh, in which case you might as well have done that from the start.

 

[Choopi]

thats a good build, and it would be solid.

however, i wouldnt buy a premade hackintosh. you dont know how competent the seller was building the machine, or installing osx.

the msi board is fine, but with msi boards you have to either use a patched bios, patched power management kext, or nullcpu (in order of which is best). for all you know the seller could have used nullcpu which will mean sleep and speedstep wont work.
read more about it here http://biosrepo.wordpress.com/faq/

if you have a problem, itll be longer to sort out as youll have to go through him, or start afresh, in which case you might as well have done that from the start.

Great to know about the MSI boards. I've never been a fan of them if I'm honest.

I have decided to grab the components and do this one myself. I cannot believe how much info this site has. I have been unregistered for the last 6-8 months and I have finally brought myself to make an account.

Thanks again for all of your help, guys!

 

[YWO]

Choopi: it sounds as if you don't have an SSD in your Mac Pro yet. If this is the case, try installing an SSD first before embarking on a building project. If your Mac Pro now feels fine, you've only spent money on one SSD rather than a whole system; if your Mac Pro still feels slow, you can reuse the SSD in your new machine. Normally, a complementary suggestion would be to increase your RAM as well, but I suspect that if you don't have sufficient RAM in your Mac Pro, you're probably better off building a new machine at this stage.

 

[Choopi]

Choopi: it sounds as if you don't have an SSD in your Mac Pro yet. If this is the case, try installing an SSD first before embarking on a building project. If your Mac Pro now feels fine, you've only spent money on one SSD rather than a whole system; if your Mac Pro still feels slow, you can reuse the SSD in your new machine. Normally, a complementary suggestion would be to increase your RAM as well, but I suspect that if you don't have sufficient RAM in your Mac Pro, you're probably better off building a new machine at this stage.

Thanks for the response.

I had not installed an SSD up until you mentioned that, so I went and grabbed one and reinstalled OSX. While it certainly feels snappier, I think I am going to pursue the Hackintosh project anyway. (After looking at the price of RAM, I may as well go to a new system. LOL)

Thanks guys. I'm sure I'll be leaning on all of you to get this done!

 

[YWO]

Good to hear my suggestion helped with your decision-making, and all the best with preparations for the build.