Legit Reviews

I recently got an HD vid cam and want to do a fair amount HD video editing. I much prefer Apple's video editing software but my MacBook pro lacks the horsepower to do the heavy lifting. A Mac Pro costs ~ $2500-$8000 and although I love Apple products, that's a bit absurd. So, I'm going to use "pc" parts running mac OS X Lion from info gathered here.

My planned build:
Intel i7 2600k
Zalman CNPS9900 MAX Cooler
Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 mobo
G.Skill 16GB Ripjaws F3-8500CL7Q-16GBRL
PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III PPCMK3S500 500W
XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870
LG 12X BD-ROM 12X Super Multi Blue Rewriter WH12LS38
Corsair Carbide 500R (white)

All of this will be a little under $1000 after buying Lion, Apple KB and a few minor things and I haven't decided what SSD to use. Compared to the Mac Pro cost of $5,274.00 (configured to match the above or equivalent), I'd say I'm coming out ahead, plus the fact that I can OC it which AFAIK you can't do on a Mac Pro.

EDIT - pics:

I thought Final Cut Pro took a huge nosedive in quality with the last release, or are you using something else. Otherwise looks good. Though with Jobs passed on I wonder how long till they just start selling OSX for any x86-64 machine.

People complained about FCP X mostly because projects from older versions wouldn't import. There's also a few high-end features missing (I.e. multicam support) but it's not stuff I would use anyway. On the upside, it's now 64 bit and is $700 cheaper than the previous version.

I have been trying to make this point for years with Apple people. Apple is outrageously overpriced.

I played with Mac in a VM environment but never went ahead and built a complete hackintosh as either a dual boot or a stand alone OS. I will be curious how it works out for you.

Most of my video work I can do with Pinnacle Studio and Wirecast so I have never even bothered looking at an Apple (until I make a full length video production of Nate's life in 3D and ANIMATED! LOL).

That's going to be a beast!

I ran OSX for a while, but it was back when it was still in development; OSx86project.org had just started.
I was missing kext for wifi and some other stuff.

I'm looking forward to seeing how this works out as im interested in dual booting with linux at some stage; ive always been interested in how osx works under the hood. (it's bsd afterall)

Earlier this year I built a Hackintosh out of old hardware I had laying around. Everything I used down to the exact motherboard was in the recommended list. I got it installed without any issues. But I couldn't get any of my WiFi adapters to work, even the OSX certified ones. Since I couldn't connect wirelessly I abandoned the project. Good luck getting it all to work. I have very little patience and the whole ordeal (installing OSX, updating software, etc...) was wearing it very thin.

Major_A wrote:Earlier this year I built a Hackintosh out of old hardware I had laying around. Everything I used down to the exact motherboard was in the recommended list. I got it installed without any issues. But I couldn't get any of my WiFi adapters to work, even the OSX certified ones. Since I couldn't connect wirelessly I abandoned the project. Good luck getting it all to work. I have very little patience and the whole ordeal (installing OSX, updating software, etc...) was wearing it very thin.

I don't want to muck around either...that's why I was very deliberate on the parts used. From what I've read, a lot of the wi-fi issues have been solved but either way, I don't much care because it will be in the room with my router so being wired is not an issue and I won't be doing anything that requires online access other than maybe software updates, etc. This will be purely for video editing.

This has been a on-going dream of mine, but I just don't have the time or energy to do something like this. I'm curious to see how it runs on the heavy load stuff, should be awesome!

Got everything built out the other night using the parts in the OP. With a minor issue (ID10T error) I was able to get OS X Lion installed and booted up no problem. Installed the drivers with multibeast and everything seems ok. I did have 2 kernel panic events prior to the multibeast installs but hopefully the drivers took care of that. I haven't had time to even turn it on since. I still need to test that all components fully work properly (i.e. - ethernet, USB ports, DVD drive, audio, etc, etc.). I'll out up some pics maybe later today depending on how early I can scoot from work today.

Can't wait

I'm looking into building an actual pc again. (currently run an eeepc or rig in my sig)
While I'm going to run Arch Linux (I love it); I would like to run OSX on another drive.
If this works well, I'll be replicating most of your hardware / setup.



I might even overclock it

DVD player works (haven't tried blu ray yet), Audio works, ethernet works....looks like all is a go!

kenc51 wrote: I might even overclock it

I'll do that eventually once I'm sure all is stable.

Looks better than the custom Lian Li a Mac Pro comes in. Glad you got it working with minimal frustration. You have previous Mac user experiences, I went in feet first. Probably why I also got so aggravated. Since then I've been playing with Snow Leopard in a VM and I wish I didn't scrap it.

Updates...got some decals to finish off the case...



Based on the guide HERE, I built a working wi-fi card. I couldn't find the exact parts referenced in the guide (it's a bit dated) so I improvised a bit and the parts I bought work perfectly.The links are to the exact pieces I bought on ebay. Cost me all of $30 (prices for these have changed...I paid $21 & $9 respectively...I'm sure they can be found for less from others).

I had to reboot once after the install to get it functioning properly. Otherwise, I did no other OS or kext/software mods.

Broadcom BCM94322MC 802.11n dual band a/b/g PCI Express

Mini PCI-E to PCI-E Wireless Adapter w/ 3 Antenna WiFi

I didn't get fancy with the cables but I had a leftover decal I got for free when I got my hackintosh decals so I put it to good use

Inspired by your build I decided to piece together a computer again. Went and got Unibeast only to realize I need an OSX environment to create the bootable drive. Now I have to remember where I put that virtual machine I had of Snow Leopard...

Yeah, it made things easier since I have a MBP here. Do you have parts already or are you getting new ones?

Just throwing together old parts. I'm wanting to play with the software where the hardware isn't crippled (i.e. a virtual machine).

Very impressed with your build! Would not be surprised if Dell or another PC maker gives you a call to patent it. You can build my next rig anytime.