Building my Mac?

bumcheekcity

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I knwo I cant use the x86 hardware to install Mac OSx, but is there anywhere I can buy the correct hardware so I can sutomise and build my own Macintosh Computer? I can find loads of AMD and Intal x86 processors avaliable at many online stores, but the PPC Processors are few and far between.

And do I need different RAM, or will SDRAM work?
 
There have been some people that have taken components for certain Macs (like logic boards, processors, and stuff from other systems) and have built their own "FrankenMac", if you will. However, most of these are hacks. Like most Tier 1 computer manufacturers (Dell, HP, Apple, etc), brand-name computers usually are designed to fit into a specific case design and not meant to be put in "white box" cases.

There are companies that make PPC motherboards, but they aren't as prevalent as the x86 component manufacturers are. For instance, Genesi makes PowerPC based computers for use with their MorphOS operating system as well as various Linux/PPC distributions. Take a look at their prices though, and you'll see why they aren't found as often. They are cheap considering you are getting everything in one shot (motherboard, CPU, operating system, etc.), but still this is one of the few companies that is doing this.

As for the components that work with current Macs and such non-Apple PPC systems, check out the specs for the Pegasos on Genesi's page and the specs on the Apple machines on Apple's page and on Low End Mac. You'll notice that they use standard PC parts as well.
 
riccbhard said:
I've wished for a long time that Macs could be built from scratch like PCs. :(

Yeah, that's one of the fun aspects of owning a PC (that's if you get your kicks from that sort of thing, of course).
 
There's a guy on e-bay selling b&w 300mhz g3 mini-towers for $25.00 US !
Sounds like a good starting point for a frankenmac.
 
cyclyst1964 said:
There's a guy on e-bay selling b&w 300mhz g3 mini-towers for $25.00 US !
Sounds like a good starting point for a frankenmac.
Link to those G3s? I searched and could not find anyone selling G3 towers that low... I found a few stripped-down motherboards without processors, and a few empty cases, but no complete towers! I'll buy a couple if they're that low!

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Mac OS X for Intel hasn't been released yet, so no one knows for sure how Apple intends to "protect" it from running on generic, non-Apple hardware. To build an x86 "Macintosh" for an operating system that doesn't even exist to the public yet would be silly -- wait and see what happens when we actually have a product.

Building a PowerPC-based Frankenmac is a snap, and cheap ($<1200) to boot. Of course, it's not as cheap as building a cheap-o Intel/AMD-based box, but cheap for what you get.
 
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