possible to build and O/C a mac?

No, I'm not talking about illegally loading OS X on a PC.

I'm just wondering if there are any aftermarket motherboards that you can purchase to build a new INTEL mac setup?

Now that Mac's run windows and all I need windows for is games, I'm done with PC's. Problem is I can't fight my addiction to build, customize, overclock. So I'm wondering if I make the switch to MAC is there anyway to go that doesn't involve purchasing a pre-made system from the company?

A desire for a one-of-a-kind look, with personalized choice hardware.

I'm patenting this idea before I say it, but has anyone ripped the guts out of the new INTEL Macs and put them in a custom/other case? I guess that would be a good alternative as long as the mobo isn't soldered to the case?

hmm ideas? thoughts? comments? flames? help? thanks!

No you cannot build a Mac. They are a company that produces propietary machines with proprietary BIOS images that do not allow you to do any of the things you just asked.

And the motherboard mounting holes for all of their machines are propietary and will now match up with other cses. But there's really no point in doing so anyways unless you simply must disguise the fact that you're using a Mac. People have put Apple hardware in new shells, but only for theatrical reasons.

And aftermarket or replacement parts are going to end up costing you an arm and a leg. A whole machine of replacement parts will cost more than a new complete unit.

If you want your choice of hardware and case Apple is not where you should focus your attention.

You can usually get mac parts off of places like ebay, so it is possible to build one. I'm not sure if you can find the new intel stuff yet, though. You'll have some issues with EFI probably, remember MAC intel boards don't have the BIOS we're used to, it's replaced by EFI.

just trying to have my cake and eat it too (options + mac)...

I love PC hardware I hate windows (beyond words), seemed like a good solution.

Guess I'll just have to keep my eye out for Linux distro's and hope they keep getting more and more hardware compatable and easy to use (for the others using my comps in the house) or settle for a run-of-the-mill new setup from apple.

thanks for the replies, just thinking out loud

I've heard of linux based Mac OS emulators. Maybe that could be the answer you're looking for.

Well from what I can see the solution you are looking for may just be in the near future. The new Apple desktop line will feature Intel chips and motherboards. While these will be EFI and will more than likely be more expensive than a build your own solution, they will have the option to run Windows, Mac OS X and several Linux distros.

No final word on the cost or definite specs of the units but all indications are that they are ahead of schedule. (Release date within 6 month's to a year). More information about them may be reveled at a Mac event in August when the next major update to Mac OS X is going to be shown. To give you a ball park on pricing you can look at the current offerings at the Apple store. Prices will be very similar.

As for being able to build your own, the likelihood of that will be 'slim' to 'none'. Apple is primarily a hardware company. Their business model and revenue streams are all hardware based, so people being able to build machines themselves and install Mac OS on them is not in their best interests. (In fact, quite the opposite).

However, like all computers the new and old Mac's have the options to put in third party devices and upgrades (PCI cards, video cards, Hard Drives, Ram, Media Burners, and possible even CPU's etc) yourself. Several Intel Mac's have already have tested swapping out the processors with success.

- Blackstar

iirc the only macs you could overclock were the G3 models, specifically i remember the blue&white G3 had a jumper block labeled "speed control" that would let you set between 300-500mhz, the jumper block was of course covered by a "warranty void if removed" sticker.

from what i've read all intel mac boards use socketed processors, so when a new core duo (or core quad?) comes out you could be adventurous and open your mac to replace the processor. should work

THere have been a lot of macs that were overclcokable, with difficulty going from moving jumpers to soldering surface mount resistors to changing oscillaors on the mobo.

Bogus! you can overclock a mac mini! Can't remember wether it was a G4 or a intel mac mini, but I do remember it involved jumper blocks the size of the tip of a needle.

I'm gonna go over to GS and show you how wonderful the macs with windows play games

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6147437/index.html

change your mind?

It's a good article except it doesn't talk about whether they successfully implemented the correct video drivers...

"A quick scan of the Device Manager showed that we were a few drivers short of a full deck."

I couldn't find any specific mention of which video driver they used. Many of the other articles I googled about these benchmarks mentioned that there ARE NOT any decient xp driver support on these MAC systems?

If this is true and they were using sub-par drivers and STILL kept up with sub-optimal driver support that's pretty impressive in my eyes.

I'm not able financially hop out right this second and scoup one of these up to play games on, but I'm thinking in the extreme near future with a little more support these machines WILL keep up with the PC's...

Only time will tell. I wonder if anyone around here has a macbook pro with winxp could post some passmark/futuremark scores?

have to get to work now, will read this later but here it is:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,125325,00.asp

for every article that says it can't do games I'm sure there is one arguing the opposite which is why I'm curious if anyone around these forums has played around.

ewww maks why not just get a linux/unix distro? they'll give you the stability you crave

twoeyes said:

ewww maks why not just get a linux/unix distro? they'll give you the stability you crave

Click to expand...

I agree 10,000% Linux is my best option for all practical purposes, it's stable, gui's are becoming easier to use, driver support is growing by leaps and bounds, dual boot is easy to setup however...

Two large reasons I haven't gone LINUX.

1.) My wife is completely computer illiterate and needs point-and-click ease of use with EVERYTHING she does on the computer. My desktop is our multimedia center for our apartment, it's our TV, DVD, music, everything. If she has a hard time doing even one thing (TV, DVD, etc) that "used to be easy when we had windows" boy I'm never going to hear the end of it.

2.) I would need my desktop to be able to communicate with our two laptops seamlessly for printer and file sharing on our home wireless network. THAT impresses me as being nightmare-ish to setup. I'm not saying it's impossible but I'm a medical student so my computer time these days is limited to checking e-mail and making sure we haven't gone and nuked any country on the news websites (i.e. painfully limited).

Mac's are pretty looking (for the wife) and stable (for me) and I would expect only very slightly easier to communicate over a local network for file sharing.

Can't go Linux on our laptop's because there does not exist any wireless card drivers in linux for what we have.

Basically just thinking out loud where I want to make my move with med school being done in a year the money will start flowing back in again instead of out and it'll be time for a much needed upgrade of some sort.

EDIT: you can basically date when I started medical school by looking at my current setup = all upgrades/ing stopped my first year <sigh> so depressing