How can I build/buy an OSX system that will render SL as nicely as my Nvidia GTX570 system?

[Ehrman Digfoot]

How can I build/buy an OSX system that will render SL as nicely as my Nvidia GTX570 system?  

I need shadows, ambient occlusion and solid 30-50fps.  I've had these things for about a year now running without a hitch on Windows and Ubuntu.  I refuse to go back to an underpowered system, but I want OS X.  Cost doesn't matter.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

Things may have changed in the recent years but, as far as I know, you can't home build a Mac........Steve Jobs made that pretty much impossible for his computers.  You might contact Apple (or MacIntosh) and discribe your needs and maybe they can put one together for you......especially since money in no object (boy, do I wish I could say that!! :matte-motes-big-grin: ).  One thing you got to remember though.  Even though Windows has given up some of the lead the OS is still on about 80% of the computers in use in the world......no software developer is ever going ot ignore that fact of life (including Linden Lab and the developers of video cards/software).

[Ceera Murakami]

If cost is really no object, here's the specs from the Apple website for the absolute top of the line Mac Pro tower, with all options pretty much maxxed out, prepared as an on-line order and being able to be shipped by Apple in something like 4 business days from placing the order. :

Mac Pro tower
Two 2.93GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon “Westmere” (12 cores) CPUs
64GB (8x8GB) memory
2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
2TB 7200-rpm Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive
ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of GDDR5 memory, PCI Express 2.0, two Mini DisplayPort outputs, and one dual-link DVI port
One 18x SuperDrive (CD/DVD with read and write capability)
Apple LED Cinema Display (27" flat panel, 2560-by-1440 resolution, built-in iSight camera, microphone and 49-watt speaker system)
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) & User's Guide
Mac OS X Lion operating system

$11,998.00, with free shipping

I didn't cite multiple monitors, but that video card will support up to three monitors.

One issue you might have is that it would be running Mac OS X Lion, and the current Viewers for Second Life have problems with that version of the Mac OS.

Another issue is you seem to only have the ATI option for video - no Nvidia cards to choose from. Might not be a problem, but I don't know. My much older Mac Pro tower has an ATI video card and runs SL just fine, though it's old enough that it doesn't support shadows and the like. The newer ones should.

[Peggy Paperdoll]

8 terrabytes of storage!! How many DVD's is that?. I got 1 TB on two hard drives and it's more space than I can ever use. I wonder why the Radeon HD 5870 only has 1 gig of VRAM........but I suppose with 64 gigs of system RAM there's a little to spare if the graphics need it. I like that free shipping.....a deal sealer for sure.

 

Got to start saving my pennies.............wonder if that price is guaranteed!!

[Ehrman Digfoot]

See, this is my entire point! It doesn't matter how much money you spend, you're still stuck with that lousy Radeon HD 5870, or better yet two lousy Radeon HD 5870's!

 

I think I'm going to build a hackintosh. tonymac86.com has been able to get the Nvidia GTX 5... series up and running in OSX. All I'll need to buy is a new motherboard and follow the instructions I found on lifehacker. It'll be a challenge, but I'm up for it. Thanks for the comments!