To build a top-end DIY PC that has almost equivalent specs to the $9,600 Mac Pro, you would need the following hardware: 12-core Intel Xeon E5-2697 V2 CPU ($2750), two AMD FirePro W9000 graphics cards ($3,400 each), Asus Rampage IV Gene micro ATX motherboard ($280), Silverstone FT03 and Strider 850W PSU ($360), 32GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM ($360), and two 512GB Samsung 840 Pro SSDs ($450 each). According to Futurelooks, which has priced out each of the components in the Mac Pro, it would cost at least $11,500 (including a Windows 8 license) to build a Windows PC that is almost equivalent. Some parts cannot be matched like-for-like, as the Mac Pro features proprietary, custom-made logic boards, rather than off-the-shelf components.
