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Building a PC

simie

simie

macrumors 65816
Aug 26, 2004
1,192
71
Sitting
Why not use an Intel Mac Mini with Bootcamp and then their choice of Microsoft Windows, and get the best of both worlds.
 
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papadopolis1024

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 14, 2007
373
0
I talked to my local computer store owner and he said he can sell me a XP media edition for 150. Is this a good deal? I think I have read somewhere that it needs a GPU (I think I heard that it requires a RADION 9) to work is this true?
 
C

ChrisA

macrumors G5
Jan 5, 2006
12,601
1,737
Redondo Beach, California
papadopolis1024 said:
Yes is know a PC but just for fun...
Click to expand...

Go get a copy of VMware Fusion. Then you can set up any number of PCs all running different OSes. Fusion suports Linux, Windows and Solaris. I actually use all three of those.

If you must have a real hardware system and money is an issue and you already have a mac running OS X you can save a bundle. Get just the CPU, RAM and M/B and skip the cdrom, hard disk and graphic card. Have the new PC boot off the network. It's not hard to set up your mac as a boot server. Then after booting, the linux system NFS mounts disk space off the Mac. You can set it up so your home directory is (mostly) shared on both systems. You don't need a monitor or keyboard/muse for the Linux system. Use either X11 or VNC from the Mac. Both are very fast on a gigabit Ethernet.

What I need is a machine that uses less power so I can leave it on 24x7. I'm doing this now with a Linux powered Pentium 4 and I figure it costs me 5 cents per hour to run or $1.20 per day which is almost $40 per month. I plan to replace it with a G4 mini. Maybe even let the G4 sleep with "wake on LAN" enabled.
 
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contoursvt

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2005
832
0
I thought the fans wont work right in XP and that you have to set them in OSX with SMC fan control... seems like it would be a pain if everytime the machine went into XP after a reboot, the fans didnt work right until you go into OSX and set it.... or maybe I'm wrong about this?


simie said:
Why not use an Intel Mac Mini with Bootcamp and then their choice of Microsoft Windows, and get the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...
 
Eidorian

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
contoursvt said:
I thought the fans wont work right in XP and that you have to set them in OSX with SMC fan control... seems like it would be a pain if everytime the machine went into XP after a reboot, the fans didnt work right until you go into OSX and set it.... or maybe I'm wrong about this?
Click to expand...
The fans work properly in XP.
 
RichP

RichP

macrumors 68000
Jun 30, 2003
1,579
33
Motor City
If you can, definitely be in the "core" series of processors, and dual-or quad core chip. Yes, it cost more, but the amount of processing power you get, per dollar, is dramatically more.

I would go integrated graphics as well, if you arent gaming, the money is better spent on the processor. Also should use a little less energy by not powering a vid card and a possible fan on that card.
 
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papadopolis1024

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 14, 2007
373
0
Well thanks for the advice everyone I have built the computer and here are the specs

2.2 GHz Core 2 Duo
2 GBs of RAM
intel 950 GMA GPU
160 GB HDD 7200 RPM
 
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