Alright, so I've wanted to start this project for a while, but I know I will need some big time help. No better place to get it right, right?

Alright, so here is the idea:

A Mac in a Home Theater PC style case (to be placed with my Home Theater Equipment) that will be upgradeable (PCI slots, 2 5.25" slots, and lots of hard drive space.) I want to be able to start small (case, hard drive and board/processor,) and inexpensive. Eventually I want it to be a monster. High Performance audio/video, tuner/dvr capability, dual boot (maybe), with tons of storage space.

Crazy? Impossible? I don't know, I've never done anything like this before.

I have a <a href="http://www.pcalchemy.com/product_info.php/pName/silverstone-lascala-sstlc17-htpc-case-black/cName/htpc-cases">case</a> in mind which meets my expansion needs. However this presents a couple questions.

1. If I use an Intel, do I have to buy a "mac" intel chip and board?
2. If I do, then will that fit in this case?
3. If not, are there only some boards/chips that mac os will run on?

If anyone can help me out on those I would be very grateful.

As far as processors go I want better than average but not the best. Sad to say, I don't even really know what that is these days. Suggestions?

Hardware:
I already have a few HD's lying around that I can use.
For audio I am thinking of a <a href="http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution71-main.html">Revolution 7.1 PCI Card</a>
Video I will probably need to do thing basic and cheep at first. (I don't want to worry about tuner/dvr at all at the beginning.
I will have my router right there, so I won't need wireless for a while.

Alright, thats the basics I guess.

Comments, questions, suggestions PLEASE! This will be a long project, but I am ready to get started. Thanks in advance.

_Matthew

Hai. Just to start off, I am a complete and total n00b when it comes to mac mods. The most I've ever done is repaired my macbook pro's superdrive.

But I can tell you that pretty much any Intel chip will work with Tiger, it just has to be a cracked version, which is not hard to find. I have a Dell under my desk running OSX.

Sweet.

Forgive my ignorance, but does that meant that there are cracks out there for some processors, and not others?

_matthew

Yup! check out osx86 on wikipedia... You can get a complete list of compatible systems.

Ahh. Ok. I think I get it.

Thanks.

_matthew

Sound like a great project !  :compute:
Keep us posted on your progress. And don't hesitate to ask for help! There is a lot of talent here in the forums, ranging from maestro, who has been here forever, to mxlews who did that great mod for Macworld.
And I have a little experience building a media center PC, but mine runs Linux. Good Luck!

I always thought it was the chipset/motherboard which was the trickiest part to pick for hacked x86 box.

Pretty much now and X86 compatible system will run OSx86 but needs a hacked kernel with the proper drivers and to disable SSE3.

Awesome. I've started looking at some mobos and chips. It is a little more difficult to find what I am looing for that I thought. hehe. Anyone have any brands that they feel are better than others? ASUS Seems to have a few that have what I am looking for. Thanks for all the advise so far.

_matthew

i looked into that 7.1 and even the 5.1 card, and you have to have atleast a 733mhz Quicksilver g4 to use either card. when i called up m-audio to find out if processor upgrades were supported they said officially they are not... so you might buy it and try it. personally i'm uesing the griffin firewave, which uses firewire for 5.1 separation. http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/firewave/