[boymonkey]

Cool, thanks for the input guys! And thanks for finding some links for me. I'll have to see what's the best route, but probably end up buying a real mac because I need it to be legit and trouble-free when I use it for work. Maybe I should just get a gaming PC and a new macbook pro separately, might be cheaper than getting a high-end mac pro.

Originally Posted by 1º

well for 3grand you could just buy a quad core mac pro with the ATI 5xxx series cards and just run windows off of that

or

you could save about half the money you'd be spending on a mac pro from apple and put together your own mac pro, the only real problem you could have would be compatibility issues with the components you choose on osx (drivers)

luckily there are many people who have gone this route. search 'hackintosh' on google, you'll find a lot of info about the process and guides on how to put it together, all you have to do is set aside some free time to do some research

i had a good day today so i figured i'd get you started if you want learn more about it....

pretty good guide on how to do it:
http://ca.lifehacker.com/5672051/how...ght-easy-steps

i'd stick with the parts list on this guide...
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/...-pro-2010.html

if you dont feel like spending that much:
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2011/...dated-lga.html

good sites for more info:
http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
http://www.hackintosh.com/

something you might need to know how to do, if you dont already:
http://ca.lifehacker.com/5702815/the...rating-systems

keep in mind some of this stuff was written a few months ago so you may want to find more recent articles

Originally Posted by .:bHd:.

I would strongly advice against hackintosh. You can get a refurbished macpro for like 20% off the original price. Comes with warranty and everything. http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC...co=MTkyMTM2MDQ

As for as desert combat. I have yet to have that much fun playing a game.

Originally Posted by .:bHd:.

Let me just say this, you get what you pay for. The mac pro case itself is worth $500 to me. 8DIMM slots, 4 hard drive bays that take less than a minute to change. Incredible silence even when all 8 CPUs are running at peak. Never over heats. Any problems you have Apple will take care of.

With a custom built rig you're gonna throw all that peace of mind out. If something goes wrong, you can't contact anyone about it because the OS you're running is made by hackers. I'm not sure about this but I don't think you can update the system automatically. You gotta download each build and install it over your OS because of incompatibility with drivers.

The only benefit is price. If a couple of hundred bucks is worth the headache, then go for it. I guess if you're not gonna do any pro work on it, then its ok, but if you are don't even think about it.