The case has 2x USB 3.0 and 1x eSATA ports on the front of the case. I already have a copy of Windows 7 that I am not using, so not completely apples to apples with a Dell, but even if I had to buy the OS this is a lot more machine that I would get with a Dell box at the same price point. Intel Core i5-3570 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz Quad-CoreĪSRock Z77 Extreme w/ G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2x4GB) RAMĮVGA GeForce GTX 650 Ti 2GB 128-bit w/ free copy of Assassin’s Creed 3 Ended up pulling the trigger with, here is what I ended up with: Rosewill Challenger-U3 Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower A Windows 7 Dell with a decent graphics card is something a little under $700, but Thanksgiving week I noticed some PC kit sales at and, and decided to try rolling my own, figuring I could get a much better computer for the same, or even less, money.
#COMPUTRAINER AND MAC UPGRADE#
Upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7 seems questionable, so I decided to pull the trigger on a new PC that will pretty much only be used with the CompuTrainer (and maybe also to drive a TV for watching videos, if I can manage to do that without causing crashes). Tried upgrading the graphics card and maxing out memory, but that didn’t help. The Dell Inspiron 530 I have hooked up to my CompuTrainer has been crashing a lot, very frustrating as you lose data.
#COMPUTRAINER AND MAC INSTALL#
PS – Might be that Toast would work from Mac OS, but Toast is expensive and I don’t really like it, the install puts files all over the place.
#COMPUTRAINER AND MAC MAC OS#
And once the disc has been burned I can also access/use the files from the Mac OS (after quitting Parallels, which when running ties up the BD drive). Drag the files to the disc, right mouse click on the drive icon to select burn, and off to the races! I am using Phillips 6x BD-R discs and I set the burn speed to the lowest setting, 2x (based on my experience burning DVD DLs I get no coasters when I use low burn speeds). My Parallels setup defaults to the upper/factory optical drive, but it was simple to point it at the BD drive by changing the CD/DVD 1 setting in the device configuration window. I was about to give up, but then figured I might see if I could burn a BD disc from Windows 7 running in Parallels. I had no problem burning CDs and DVDs with the new drive, but recently I tried to burn some files to a BD-R and I do not appear to be able to do this from the Mac OS (running the latest version of Mountain Lion now, 10.8.2), I get a message along the lines of not enough room on the disc, even though there is plenty of room.
Take the faceplate off the drive, put it in the bay, hook up power and SATA cables, and the drive shows right up.
You need to pull some fans out to get at things, and the drive hooks up to one of the two spare SATA ports on the motherboard. I found some instructions online and the install is pretty simple. Some time ago I installed a Blue-ray burner in my Mac Pro (early 2008 model, MacPro3,1), did the homework at the time and selected and installed a LG WH12LS38 in the bay below the factory installed drive (a Pioneer DVR-112D hooked up to to the ATA bus).