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Spend $2499 on a Mac Pro, or build a computer with the same parts for $1274

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oxguy3

An earlier thread about hating Apple got me to finally do something I've been meaning to try for a long time. I found the detailed specs for the basic Mac Pro (i.e. the cheapest version without any addons), and hunted down all the computer's individual components (or the closest equivalents) that one would need to assemble their own homemade version of the Mac Pro.

In the end, my Mac Pro copycat computer ended up costing $1274 to the Mac Pro's $2499. Here's my computer's part list:

Notes: The computer could be set up to run OS X as a Hackintosh machine, and I included the cost of both Windows 7 Professional and Mac OS X Mountain Lion in my pricing (in reality, you would have to pirate OS X to use it with a Hackintosh; I just included the prices for sake of making a fair comparison). The 5770 graphics card that I listed is no longer available, but nowadays you can buy superior cards for the same price, so I'll just leave it at the same price it used to be. The disc drive I used seems to be a slight speed improvement over the Mac Pro's 18x SuperDrive, though I'm not sure if the SuperDrive specs I found were current or not. I couldn't find much specific information about the wireless adapter or power supply in the Mac Pro, but the replacements I found should be more than sufficient. The Logitech keyboard/mouse combo I found is arguably a slight downgrade from the Apple keyboard/magic mouse; if you want, you can add $98 to my total to buy the real overpriced Apple components.

Update: Price dropped from $1373 to $1274 after discovering that the old 5770 card used to be sold by Newegg for $100 less. They stopped carrying the card because it's so old, but the $150 price still makes more sense to use because you can get a better card than the 5770 for that same price. Thanks for the heads-up, MDuh and Skylarz!

11 years ago*

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297 Comments
Dooleh

First thing's first... what's a Mac?

2nd. If you love playing video games and don't absolutely hate yourself, build a nice pc with 2/3 of the money, spend the other third on steam.

11 years ago
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Ri0Rdian

Is this a real question or some kind of joke I didn't get? O.o

11 years ago
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FrankieSpankie

Holy shit, that's the kind of specs you get out of $2500 for a Mac? XD

I plan on building a new computer on Labor Day weekend running 2-way SLI 770 video cards, i7 ivy bridge processor, 2 SSDs, 16GB ram, and it'll STILL be cheaper than that Mac... (Granted, I'll be recycling all my peripherals from my current machine, but still...)

11 years ago
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Anirn

"(Mac OS X Mountain Lion) - $20"
Mountain Lion is like and expansion but its upgrade. You cant buy it and just install it, you need previous versions and at the end of the day the OS will cost much more, might be more than even Windows.

11 years ago
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sviat

if you have one Mac OS X expansion installed, you don't have to buy others, you can just download them for free, they don't care, you will have all updates too, because Apple don't asks you for a serial key like Microshit does.

11 years ago
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m1ck3ykn0x

"in reality, you would have to pirate OS X to use it with a Hackintosh" -OP

This is COMPLETELY false. I'm currently on a Hackintosh machine which I built. I bought my copy of Mountain Lion directly from the app store 100% legitimately. (pirated my windows though lol)

Also, if you are ACTUALLY thinking about building this, then you'd be retarded to go spec for spec with a Mac Pro. there are tons of better options for equivalent (or cheaper) prices.

11 years ago
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tohico

Of course, the current gen Mac Pro is at the end of its life. The prices of those components went down so hard since its release. So I'd wait for the new gen or build a hackintosh instead.

11 years ago
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GotDayum

Two people have been going toe-to-toe for over a day all across the first page.

11 years ago
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DSG3002

This shouldn't even be a question... Just build it yourself, screw Apple.

11 years ago
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m4xc4v413r4

"in reality, you would have to pirate OS X to use it with a Hackintosh" in reality you don't have to pirate OSX, you buy an original copy (if you want obviously), which is the opposite of pirating it.

11 years ago
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hhai93

I think this link is useful for u

11 years ago
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RexDraco

Apple computers are like designer clothes. They are kinda cool, but most people like it because of the little label they put on. The label is exactly what you're paying for, too.

11 years ago
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beastt

apple suxs, and no you don't have to pirate the osx to run hackitosh //// its liek 5- 10 dollar's to buy and you use a bootloader to install it... no need for hackitosh any more

11 years ago
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Dunther

Just go with a normal PC and then decide what OS install on it (avoid Mac OS, it's awful).

11 years ago
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Iliuthenin

Mac Pro obviously!

11 years ago
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Closed 11 years ago by oxguy3.