OS version and graphics card help

[Andreas]

Hi.

I ordered upgrade parts for my computer, and want to run OS X on it.

I don't know which OS X to buy. They sell both 10.6 and 10.6.3. The 10.6.3 version is a TINY bit cheaper, but since all the guides are for 10.6, am I better of just going with that and upgrading it afterwards like in the guides? (The difference in price is seriously insignificant).

I also have a pretty old graphics card, a Radeon HD 2600 Pro. Will this work, or do I need a new one? I don't play very many games so I don't need super performance, but I do need dual screen to work.

This is the specs for my build:
Motherboard: GA-H55M-UD2H
CPU: Intel Quad Core i5 760
Ram: Patriot 8GB DDR 1333Mhz (2x4GB)
HDD: WD 1TB SATA

Salvaged from my current computer:
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro 512MB
My old case with 400w PSU
500GB WD SATA HDD
Old DVD+-R IDE drive

 

[DoctorWho]

Go with the 10.6.3 DVD. I tried using the 10.6 DVD and I kept getting kernel panics during the installation. I don't know if your GPU is supported or not, but I would lean more towards it not being supported. It is a pretty old GPU. Also go with a SATA Sony DVD-RW drive. IDE can be rather iffy, plus with Sony and Pioneer drives you won't have any problems with sleep/wake issues. Depending on which GPU you go with you may need a higher PSU. I wouldn't go with anything less than 500W, and if you get a new PSU then go with modular one.

 

[Andreas]

I added a GT 240 card to my order, because it's way harder to find post from people having trouble with nvidia cards, than it is from people having problems with ATI cards, and there were multiple posts about successfull installs in the compatability list. Seems strange when all the new Macs come with ATI cards, you would think those would be better supported. I also added 10.6.3.

I didn't bother with a new optical drive or a new PSU. I have a 430 watt laying around that I'm going to use instead. It's only 30 watt more, but it's significantly less used (so it still has most of it's watts), and my computer is not going to be very power hungry.

The DVD player I really only need for installing the OS, and that's it. It actually belongs to my HTPC, so I'm putting it back after the install.

Thanks for your help. It's going to be fun trying to put this together. The last Mac I owned for personal use was a PowerPC 603e... I got that one about 14-15 years ago. Still have to wait another week for them to get all the parts in stock.

 

[Going Bald]

I added a GT 240 card to my order, because it's way harder to find post from people having trouble with nvidia cards, than it is from people having problems with ATI cards, and there were multiple posts about successfull installs in the compatability list. Seems strange when all the new Macs come with ATI cards, you would think those would be better supported. I also added 10.6.3.

I didn't bother with a new optical drive or a new PSU. I have a 430 watt laying around that I'm going to use instead. It's only 30 watt more, but it's significantly less used (so it still has most of it's watts), and my computer is not going to be very power hungry.

The DVD player I really only need for installing the OS, and that's it. It actually belongs to my HTPC, so I'm putting it back after the install.

Thanks for your help. It's going to be fun trying to put this together. The last Mac I owned for personal use was a PowerPC 603e... I got that one about 14-15 years ago. Still have to wait another week for them to get all the parts in stock.

You will need a SATA drive to install with - IDE PATA drives won't work.

 

[MacMan]

The GA-H55M-UD2H uses the JMicron ATA controller and is supported.

 

[adamsmasher]

for your help. It's going to be fun trying to put this together. The last Mac I owned for personal use was a PowerPC 603e... I got that one about 14-15 years ago. Still have to wait another week for them to get all the parts in stock.

Welcome back to the fold.

 

[Andreas]

A little update on my build. They pushed back the date for when they would get the RAM in stock, so I canceled it today, and asked them to just ship the rest of the parts. Kinda pissed that they never notified me about this. They were suppose to ship everything Monday, and I noticed today when I logged into their site to track the shipment, that they had pushed back the delivery until 21st. I've been looking forward to building this so long now, that I got really sad I ordered two of these instead: "Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 4GB CL9" (from another store, and had the shippment tracking number and confirmation 2 hours later).

The new PSU I said I wasn't going to buy is installed in my cabinet already. I got it and the GT240 a few days ago. My current computer is starting to act up, and feeze for about 1 second every 15-20 seconds or so. And every now and then the screen goes completely black for 1 second and when it comes back I get a notice from windows that the graphics driver stopped working, but is now restarted or something like that. I thought it was the graphics card, but I guess not. And when it's not that, I would have guessed maybe it's the PSU failing, and not delivering enough power, but since that is also replaced I guess it's the MB or the installation.

Since I was ordering new stuff I also ordered a "Sony Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-5260S", they are so cheap I figured why not, I MIGHT have use for it some day. I also got some new fans for the cabinet, since whe ones that came with it are old and noisy.

I was in an apple store today, and looked at the 27" monitors they have, man they look nice. Then my fiance dragged me to the store next door and I spent what those monitors cost, on a baby stroller for our first kid.

Currently 50% above original budget. Could have been a lot worse if my fiance had agreed that we could just teach our kid to walk really early and buy one of those 27" instead..

I'm really looking forward to getting the parts now. I suspect it's the installation of windows that is acting up on my computer, but when I know I'm getting a new one soon, I have absolutely no motivation to even attempt to fix it.

Ok, that will have to do</rambling>