And its water-cooled. Sweet.
My friend Dale and I built this computer for less than $150 in 2007 using an assortment of parts from a broken
Dell and things we could find at Bimart or in his garage. It recently sprung a leak and I ALMOST got rid of it. After replacing all the wet components, I took on the challenge of making my own Mac.
Here is what I have (and a guide to install OSX to your PC!)
Hardware:
-Pentium 4 HT 3.0 GHz (was running @ 3.66GHz)
-2 GB DDR
-Nvidia GeForce4 6600GT
-500GB HDD for Windows, 160GB for Mac.
-MSI motherboard…nothing fancy
Water cooling:
-Waterblock by Danger Den
-Tupperware container as a reservoir
-Radiator is a transmission cooler from a Jeep Cherokee
-Various badges from old Jeeps for flare!
-Standard hose and fasteners from Home Depot.
-A fish tank pump stolen from Dale
-Various Jeep labels on the case. Just because.
Software:
Running Windows XP Crystal
MacOS X 10.5.1 Kalyway
How to install:
-BIOS settings need to be changed. This is a common source for continual reboots. I changed my power options to AHCI S3 because I used SATA. Different if you use IDE.
-You can use boot loaders, but since I had 2 hard drives, I use the BIOS boot menu to choose which to boot off. OS X will recognize my Windows drives and files no problem.
-Some single core CPU systems will need boot options here after installing. Make sure the install includes writing to the MBR. This is where I had to experiment with several command lines to get it to boot right. I chose “TOHKERNEL” and it worked without issues.
-Many Nvidia cards are supported, as are onboard AC97 sound cards. My USB wifi card needed a different driver, but works just fine. Anything with a Realtek chip in it should work.
-Comment if you want advice! My system works pretty well. Running Hulu or videos through iTunes are jumpy. Otherwise, my computer thinks it’s a really slow MacPro!
