PC or Mac ?

[armann]

Hello.

I'm running a G5 PowerPc Dual Core, it's getting slow and I want to upgrade.

Since a new Mac Pro is going to cost me 3500$ here in Iceland I'm thinking about putting together a PC and running Leopard on that
since it's much cheaper for me.

How does Leopard run on PC's that are not Mac's, never tried it, I have heard about issues with grapich cards and network adapters on some motherboards.

One more thing, how does Digital Performer 6 run on PC's that are not Mac's ?
Do you think the performance will be the same or worse ?

Thanks.

[bkshepard]

Neither OSX (any cat) nor DP run on a PC. They are strictly for the Macintosh.

[armann]

I'm talking about running Leopoard on a PC wich it can do, maybe it's not officialy supported I don't know but I know people running leopard 10.5.4 on Dell's and Hp's.

Maybe it's a bad idea

[armann]

I just read that installing Leopard on a PC is a hack so that's what my friends have been doing.

Better start saving up then.... Thanks for the reply m8.

[bkshepard]

Yeah, I've heard those PCs referred to as a Hackintosh.

[gibsonl6s]

Hi

Try with this:


http://www.efi-x.com/

[carrythebanner]

It's not that it can't be done — I know people who run Hackintoshes — but if you're seriously considering going the Hackintosh route, I would advise spending a lot of time doing your homework. If you can't be nearly certain that it's going to work as well as a Mac Pro, you have to ask yourself if the money saved is worth the problems and/or uncertainty. It's also going to be tough to get any help from anybody's tech support if they find out you're not running a proper Mac, so I would factor a possible lack of first-party tech support into the overall value equation.

[newrigel]

Clock cycles for clock cycles... the Mac Pros beat out the PC's for shear power per $$! A PC with the same specs is MORE!
The hackintosh has many, many problems from what I have read... IMHO, isn't your music worth the extra few $$ of owning a genuine Mac and having the elegance of making music instead of being a computer tech? I don't know... I have tried to create music on Windowz PC's and they just get in the way of my inspiration... If PC's were the only computer my tools for music creation would be PURE analog!

[mikehalloran]

What is the limitation that you are running into? I run DP 5 and 6 on my ancient 1st generation 1.8gHz Dual G5 - it's the slowest version built - without problems. Maybe it takes a little longer to bounce to disk but that's all.

I have just started exploring Logic and know that later hardware could boos its performance but I don't feel that way about DP.

[xevious]

Hello, everyone... My first post!

In my personal studio, I run a 2408mk3 and a 24I/O with Cubase 4.5.2, Logic 8, Komplete, Melodyne, a UAD-1, a UAD-1e, and a UAD-2 all running on a Core i7 PC running Leopard 10.5.7 that I installed from a retail Leopard disc I bought at an Apple Store. It cost me about $1200 to build the PC itself (not including the UAD cards) and, FYI newrigel, the system benchmarks 15% faster than a comparably configured Mac Pro. That comparably configured Mac Pro is approximately $3250. I also have a quasi-MacMini on my bedside table, and I've built several other PCs that run OS X for my friends, one of whom uses his with three monitors and an HDTV for video editing with Final Cut Pro.

Using a retail Leopard disc means that when OS X boots, it's 100% Apple code that is running - I do not have any hacks or modified drivers installed.

However, as carrythebanner said, if you plan on going the OSX86 route then you must do extensive amounts of research. One of the things that turns most people away from building a PC to run OS X is compatibility with audio chips built into motherboards - a lot of people give up when they can't get their built-in sound to work. While I was able to get the on-board sound working just fine on my system, it was only out of curiosity: I always go into the BIOS and disable the on-board sound on my recording workstations. Since most people on this forum are probably interested in their MOTU interface being the only sound card in the system, one of the most common difficulties with building an OSX86 system really doesn't matter to us.

I've had two issues with my system so far, one with a fix, one with a workaround. The first was that my system's on-board FireWire didn't work with OS X 10.5.0-10.5.6, so I installed a PCI FireWire card which works fine. I actually think that the on-board FireWire may work fine with 10.5.7 - I have to do some testing with that.

The other issue is that if I have any USB or FireWire storage hooked up to the system and I put it to sleep: when I wake the system I get a message about the device being improperly removed. So far I've been just ejecting any external storage before I sleep the system, but I've read posts about people fixing the issue with a script that automatically ejects all USB/FireWire hard drives and thumb drives when you tell the system to sleep. This is something that OS X does automatically but there's a minor incompatibility with the USB on standard PC motherboards that prevents it for some reason.

Those two issues definitely pale in comparison to the more than $2000 that I saved compared to buying an Apple computer, however I want to state that I have a pretty extensive knowledge of computers and operating systems - I've been poking around computers since I was 7. When I was 9, Linux 0.9.5 was released and I compiled and installed it from scratch myself - I submitted my first patch to the Linux kernel a few months later. I've been building computers since around that time, too. Building a PC running OS X was far easier than that, and I really don't mean to sound like I'm fluffing my own geek-ego, but what I'm getting at is that I have no fear of partitioning, bootloaders, or going into the internals of the operating system in order to track down a problem. In fact, I needed to learn how to reprogram portions of the BIOS code in order to get OS X to sleep at all, so this is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Some links:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index. ... pic=166266
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index. ... pic=168603
http://forum.netkas.org/index.php?topic=222.0

Browse the forums that those posts are from. IRC support is available on irc.osx86.hu and irc.voodooprojects.org. Word of warning for IRC, don't ask if you can ask a question... people will be at your throat. Just ask your question with as much detail as possible and wait for someone to respond. A lot of people (me included) just idle in the chat rooms and occasionally walk past the computer and see a question we know the answer to, so it could be several hours before your question gets answered.

Good luck!

[mikehalloran]

>In fact, I needed to learn how to reprogram portions of the BIOS code in order to get OS X to sleep at all, so this is definitely not for the faint of heart.<

In other words, unless someone is you - or has access to someone like you - a person is much better off with a Mac. But if you were my next door neighbor and we were good buds (no reason to believe we wouldn't be), yea, I'd consider a PC.

BTW, used G5s are getting pretty cheap. Even G4s will run DP6 if they are fast enough You are limited on the track count but, otherwise, it runs well. Much better than on a PC that was never designed for the job.

[newrigel]

Hello, everyone... My first post! FYI newrigel, the system benchmarks 15% faster than a comparably configured Mac Pro. That comparably configured Mac Pro is approximately $3250. I also have a quasi-MacMini on my bedside table, and I've built several other PCs that run OS X for my friends, one of whom uses his with three monitors and an HDTV for video editing with Final Cut Pro.

Good luck!

OK.
The original poster asked if DIGITAL PERFORMER would run well on a hackintosh! Just give MOTU a call and see if your problems get answered he he! But answer me this. Which computer will yield a greater ROI (return on investment)? It's INEVITABLE that users will update and good luck getting even 1/3 of your investment for your custom hardware!

So where are you really saving $$???

[enigmatunes]

FWIW, a new top-spec iMac (way cheaper than a MacProc) will give you much more power than your old G5, so if you don't absolutely need MacPro power (which, let's face it, is a LOT of frickin power) and can handle the all-in-one-edness of the iMac, consider the option...