Building a mac pro

Comments

• Reply 1 of 4

  nccyr Posts: 12member

  August 12, 2009 4:11AM

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by wizard1183
  
  
  I was wondering if I could buy all the components separately to build a mac pro? Is it possible to buy the apple components from different sites and would it be cheaper to build myself rather than buy one already made?
  
  How easy is it to upgrade components in a mac pro? I mean do you have to upgrade the entire computer or can you change out processors,RAM, ect? Also in an imac can you do upgrades in that system as well? I mean If I bought the 20" and then bought the graphics card, 8gigs of RAM, and 1tb hd, could I insert it into the computer myself for cheaper than customizing one on apple.com?
  
  I appreciate any assistance.
  

  
  

  
  
  I'm not saying you CAN'T build yourself a FrankenMacPro, but I would say that you (according to Apple) MAY not, according to the OS X end-user license. (Note the ongoing legal battle with Psystar about exactly this subject...)
  
  
  
  As far as upgrading a Mac Pro, it's probably the easiest one of the Macs to upgrade, considering it's actually built to be opened up by mere mortals, like a PC case. You can definitely upgrade components, but I would say you're limited to "consumables" like RAM, hard disks, (video cards, maybe), etc. -- the CPU and other motherboard components are very tightly integrated with the OS X system and firmware and would probably die horribly if messed with. But I do not speak from personal experience on this... except for 25 years of Mac experience.
  
  
  
  iMacs in the same situation would most likely need parts that exactly match the specs of OEM parts, due to the space and heat constraints. And on an iMac if I recall correctly, you can't replace the video card (without major surgery). Someone please correct me on that if I'm mistaken...
• Reply 2 of 4

  rokcet scientist Posts: 962member

  August 18, 2009 9:48PM

  As another MacHead of 25 years: I concur with nccyr.
  
  
  
  Mac users do wonders with their software. Not with their hardware. They consider the hardware an amply adequate given and focus on using their computer, not building it. It's another mindset, wizard1183. With OSX you're in another realm with new rules...
  
  
  
  At least as much fun as soldering, tinkering, and generally screwing around! :-)
• Reply 3 of 4

  mlinde Posts: 7member

  September 3, 2009 1:11PM

  Apple makes almost all components to build a machine available to authorized service providers, however it seems that usually one or two components are not available at all, or only available at a significant cost. The good news is (in general) that for the Mac Pro many components are standardized - such as the Intel Xeon/Nehalem processors and the standard SATA drives. However, because of kernel drivers and application support (as well as firmware differences between BIOS-based systems and EFI-based systems) you can't usually go out and buy a Windows PCIe card (graphics or other) and just plug it in to work. This is a very complicated process sometimes, and frankly it's easier to just build and buy a hackintosh, or buy/build a PC and purchase the USB EFI module to enable cleaner OS X installation and use.
  
  
  
  The important thing to note if you are a legal type is that Apple's EULA explicitly forbids use of Mac OS X on non-apple hardware.
• Reply 4 of 4

  rokcet scientist Posts: 962member

  September 3, 2009 9:31PM

  You can install and run OSX on a standard PC, but it will be clunky and a lot of stuff won't work as it lacks the tight integration between hardware and software that makes Macs Macs.