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Things I should know before building a MacPro.

Rustin

Rustin

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 10, 2013
6
0
Redding Ca.
Hi I have already posted my introductory tread Mac User from Redding CA!

This thread is about building a new "MacPro," and not buying it new from "Apple."

  1. Is it possible to do it right?
  2. Can I install The latest MacOSX on it and recieve updates from Apple?
  3. Is finding a 2011 or new mother board difficult?
  4. Is there any savings in building one?

I'm hear to learn and I want to be sent to the right direction for parts and the process.
 
Not worth it

Hi,

By the time you purchase all the parts you will have exceeded the price of a new Mac Pro from Apple. Remember, Apple parts are NOT cheap.. You are best served by buying either a refurbished Mac Pro or a new one, refurb is the way to go if you want somewhat less expensive.

The only Mac Pro which will cost you under 1000 is the 1,1 or possibly 2,1 Mac Pro, but those are over 6 years old and the newer ones 3,1 4,1 and 5,1 all run the latest OS Mountain Lion.
 
PowerPCMacMan said:
Hi,

By the time you purchase all the parts you will have exceeded the price of a new Mac Pro from Apple. Remember, Apple parts are NOT cheap.. You are best served by buying either a refurbished Mac Pro or a new one, refurb is the way to go if you want somewhat less expensive.

The only Mac Pro which will cost you under 1000 is the 1,1 or possibly 2,1 Mac Pro, but those are over 6 years old and the newer ones 3,1 4,1 and 5,1 all run the latest OS Mountain Lion.
Click to expand...

Ah, OK, Thank you!

justperry said:
You don't built a MacPro, you buy them, or do you mean a Hackintosh, if so the wrong thread.:p
Click to expand...

No, I'm in the right thread,:D But thanks to "PPCMacMan" I might be headed in the Hackintosh area. I just don't want to spend a few hours searching!:rolleyes:
 
Wow!

Thanks for the wealth of information everyone! I will look into this.

----------
scottrichardson said:
Surely there'd be 2nd-hand parts on eBay etc for putting together a Mac Pro? Surely? A chassis from a 2009+ model, power supply (or a bigger one?)? Just need a working logic board and CPU daughter card.
Click to expand...

I thought there was, but I have yet to find anything of value. Chassis yes I can find them, Logic boards that are not considered obsolete, the findings are very slim.
 
Do a search for Tonymacosx86 - There you will find out how to build your franken mac :)

Snow Leopard runs really great on my Gateway P-7805U FX, and so does Lion with the exception of a few things which I already have alternatives for.. but for some reason ML won't run.

But for my purposes, Snow runs great.

Rustin said:
How about a link to the Hackintosh area? For some reason I can't find it.
Click to expand...
 
scottrichardson said:
Surely there'd be 2nd-hand parts on eBay etc for putting together a Mac Pro? Surely? A chassis from a 2009+ model, power supply (or a bigger one?)? Just need a working logic board and CPU daughter card.
Click to expand...

What would be the point? It wouldn't necessarily be cheaper than buying one outright. I don't think you would find a chassis only. You might find one that is not working and sold for parts. A logic board would set you back quite a lot. It's probably a better idea just purchasing a working unit and making upgrades if they are required.
 
If you are looking for a Mac Pro at a budget, a good option is to buy a used Mac Pro 4,1. They are virtually identical to the latest 5,1 models, and can be upgraded to 5,1 firmware (see netkas forum), after which you can also upgrade its CPU(s) to W36* or X56* models.

By buying a 4,1 model and possibly upgrading its CPU, you could get a single sixe core Xeon W3680 machine for about 1500$, a dual quad for 1500-2000$ depending on the speed.

You will have a hard time building a better or faster hackintosh for less money (a very high-end case alone can cost a lot of money), but of course the above machine is a second hand one, without warranty.

Note that you can not currently build a Xeon-based hackintosh that is fully compatible with Mac OS X. The highest-end hackintoshs that are fully compatible, including power management, are based on a Core i7 3770k, a quad core desktop CPU. It is overclockable, which means that you can get a lot of power for your money, but it won't match the 12 cores Mac Pro or the 16 cores workstations that would theretically be possible with the latest Xeon CPUs.
 
As PowerPCMacMan pointed out it is actually more expensive to buy parts and assemble a MacPro then it is to buy used (and even new where applicable) units. I price this out myself every 18 months or so when I'm bored.

Then of course you may end up like the guy here about a year or so ago who bought all the parts to spec, assembled everything, and it didn't work. I think he spent a whole month racking his brain and asking questions here before he gave up and put the parts back up on e-bay one by one. LOL
 
I once wanted to build my own Mac Pro, with original parts sourced from various places. What a loony idea that was, looking back...
 
I want to thank everybody for their input to this thread! I have learned quite a bit. Right now I need to work on my lead foot at the traffic light. My California turns are getting me into trouble with those "d@*&" traffic Cameras!
 
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