Choosing the right Hardware: Barebone and Components

The configuration we present here is only meant as an example, showing a Mac system can be assembled using inexpensive standard components. If you’re looking for discussions about the best components to use for this project, take a look at this forum.

In our experience, motherboards based on Intel’s 965P or 975X chipsets are the most suited for this project. Intel’s newer P35 chipset (with ICH 9 southbridge) works as well, although not in all configurations. In most cases, any problems you may encounter will already manifest themselves when you start the (patched) installation DVD, causing the setup routine to exit. Thus, a little patience is required until you’ve found the right mix of components and, possibly, BIOS settings. If you want to be on the safe side, you should choose the Intel D975XBX or its successor, the D975XBX2. These two motherboards gave us the least trouble during the Mac OS X installation – regardless of the image we used. We also achieved good results with Foxconn’s G9657MC, which incidentally also forms the basis for this article’s system. Don’t forget to disable the integrated graphics before you begin the installation, though.

Next we have to decide which processor should power our DIY Mac. In this test, we used a variety of Intel CPUs, ranging from the ageing Pentium D 805 and a Pentium EE 840 to the current line of Core 2 CPUs. In the end, we settled on an affordable Core 2 Duo E6750, which offers more than enough power at stock speeds and also makes for a good overclocking candidate. You can find more information on how to overclock this processor in our recent article “Sibling Rivalry – Intel E6750 and Q6600 Overclocking Duel”. The two Intel motherboards mentioned above were especially picky when it came to testing out CPUs, often forcing us to perform a hard (BIOS) reset including removing the CMOS battery to get the boards to even POST again. Such behaviour is old news to us, though – we’ve encountered numerous similar situations in previous tests.

The graphics card also plays a central role. The modified versions of OS X offer basic driver support for older ATI and Nvidia hardware. For this experiment we used an ATI X1600 and an X1650 card, choosing X1000 series driver support during the installation. An X1950 card should work as well, since Apple sells this card as an upgrade for its Mac Pro systems. Newer cards may prove to be more problematic, though, especially since Apple’s OS X does not offer the same kind of game support as Windows with its DirectX API. Newer Nvidia models belonging to the Geforce 8000 series should enjoy better support, though. Then again, how many games that really push current hardware to its limit really exist for OS X?

If you enjoy digital TV and don’t want to do without it in OS X, then we have some good news for you. Terratec’s line of USB receivers, such as the Cinergy T2, works flawlessly with the Elgato eyeTV software. Terratec even offers official drivers for Mac OS X that can be installed in a matter of seconds.

We also recommend using only SATA components, even though some OS X images such as that by JaS now promise support for IDE hardware. Also, if you’re planning to create a dual-boot system, as we are in this configuration, you should also plan on using at least two separate hard drives – one each for Windows and Mac OS X. A third drive could serve as shared storage space, if the right file system is used. Both Windows XP and Mac OS X (as of v10.4 “Tiger”) can read and write to FAT32 partitions, making this a good choice. NTFS, on the other hand, remains a read-only file system for OS X. Using SATA hardware also reduces cable clutter inside the case, which is not an unimportant factor, since we’re using a micro-ATX case.

The following list details the components we chose for our DIY Mac experiment.