Hey guys I am fairly new to the hackintosh world, however not new to computers, hardware etc. I have been doing some research over the past weeks and have come up with a build I would like to get feedback on. For this rig I'm looking to do some moderate video editing, and normal day to day programing, etc.

Essentially I am interested in having final cut pro work, wireless, sound, video etc.. Oh the dreamm!!

This is the build I have come up with, I will be ordering soon, so anything you think I may be forgetting cable wise to changing out a processor or video card due to incompatibility would greatly be appreciated... I'm looking to keep this system under 1200, since I'm a broke college kid living in Nyc


If you think that some of this is overkill for what i'm trying to do please tell me. A


Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
288.00

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5 LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
288.00

RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
90.00

Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16
90.00

DOES THIS WORK WLELL FOR DUAL DISPLAYS?

Western Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
69.00

LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM
25.00

XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case
90.00

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
85.00



Thanks in advance, I appreciate the advice and critiques.

hi nyufilm88,

everything you listed looks compatible, there shouldn't be any problems.
but those new i7 processors are so damn expensive, as well as the motherboards that accompany them - if you need your machine to do DV editing, then you don't need i7. You can find a Q-series intel quad-core and a p45 mobo for a fraction of that money - no need for pricey ddr3 memory as well. i am an editor, so i know what i'm saying.

my machine runs on q6600 @ 3ghz with 4gb ram and i can comfortably work with either final cut, avid media composer, or premiere cs4.

i have a radeon HD 3870 with 512mb ram and i am very happy with it. dual displays work as they should.
my radeon is made by Gigabyte - you should check the situation here on IM with Sapphire radeons, cause not all 3870 work with same drivers.

welcome to the osx86 world

Hey I was going to post a very similar topic.

It's funny cause, if you think about it a designer/movie editor using a windows machine now has the following options:

1 - use vista or windows 7 for 64bit support and more than 4gb ram ( vista is horrible, useless)
2 - use linux with no support for adobe's suite (useless again)
3 - change components for osx compatibility to run full 64bit mode with brilliant OS that's better than windows xp & vista by far. (seems like a logical reason)

What motherboard do you have Zarac? I'm a graphic designer myself and so I'm interested in buying the q660 like you said, however I do hope it's faster than my amd 4200 with 2gb ram.

What ram do you have and/or suggest to go with this intel setup?


Thanks.

Mine is Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L, which is a bit old now, so i would recommend any of the GA-(E)P45 ones (Gigabyte, of course.)
They are completely osx86 compatible and lots of people already use them for Mac OS X, so it's easy to get "support."

I'm using 4 Kingston Mars 1066MHz 1GB sticks. I had to give them just a bit more power in BIOS because they wouldn't work @1066 SPD (even the manufacturer noted this and suggested a minimal power boost).
Now its perfect.

The system is incredibly responsive.
I have overclocked q6600 from 2.4 to 3.0 GHz (from 266MHz to 333MHz FSB) - no stability issues.

My system is on a GPT formated drive, booting Chameleon 2.0RC1 from EFI partition, and using Voodoo 9.5.0 kernel (it gives me full S3 sleep when combined with OpenHaltRestart.kext)

I hope that covers it.

Right, I'm fairly new too so just to cover a few things..

Are we really talking full 64bit native support for osx? If so, then any 64bit processor from windows xp will be much faster using this osx as it supports 64bit, right?

Does OSX use their own motherboards in their machines then? Or are they based on gigabyte motherboards due to their appearingly good compatibility?

I don't really want to have to hack into much to get osx working so I'm presuming there are now some mature setup dvd images which install osx hassle-free if you have the right components? (I was here in the old days and it was a doddle back then)

What's this "S3 sleep" & "OpenHaltRestart.kext" (I'm being lazy now)


Thanks again.

Actually, Leopard itself isn't fully 64-bit os. Though the kernel support some 64bit instructions, basically it is 32bit. You can use more than 4GB ram, but no math calculations in 64bit space.


Apple uses Intel motherboards with server chipsets: 5000x and 5500x (different than regular nonApple models because they support EFI and do not have BIOS.)
Gigabyte motherboards use consumer type chipsets and they are indeed very compatible.


My suggestion is first to install one of the modified distribustions (IPC would be my choice), and learn what hacks you need to get it all working. Then, do a retail EFI install (munky way), because that way you can install all system updates from Apple and not worry about something breaking your install.


S3 (suspend-to-RAM) is one of the standby modes. Check THIS link to learn about standby modes.
OpenHaltRestart.kext is a kernel extension made by Psystar Co. (at least they say so) and it deals with problems turning off, restarting and standing by the OSX86 machine.

Hope I helped.

Thanks a lot for your reply, that has cleared up a lot.

However, I don't quite understand why osx would not be full 64bit? This is a great shame as still an operating system is unable to fully develop their OS for hardware capable of quicker speeds.

The adobe suite cs4 I have read is 64bit supported on windows and not mac. What a downer! Looks like I'll have to be using vista to get the quickest speeds for photoshop and whatnot.

I wonder when osx is going to be made into fully supporting 64bit processors.

Zarc thanks for all the input,

I switched some items out since I got some really good feedback..
I would like to have 8gb of ram for this system,(whatever kind is best for overclocking) what do you recommend will work with my setup? I would like to Oc the processor like you did to around 3.0 did you have to use any aftermarket processor coolers or cpu coolers for that? Do you think my setup will need one?

I'm thinking that I would like to have my applications saved on a separate hd like the

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive
100.00 Then use the 640 for storing files, music, film footage etc. What do you think about doing it this way or do you recommend something diff?
I'm looking in to the video card I selected today, if anyone sees any compatibility issues b4 I post please let me know. .Thanks


Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Retail
215.00

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
135.00

RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
90.00

Graphics Card: sAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
90.00

Western Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
69.00

LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM
25.00

XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case
90.00

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
85.00

Almost any DDR2 memory will do, but you might want to check Gigabyte's Memory Support List for this mobo.


To overclock q6600 at 3Ghz you don't have to raise voltage to the processor, only raise the FSB speed. That way it doesn't get much hotter than usual.
I'm using stock cooler that came with my q6600.


I would recommend a Raptor for your system and applications, and another (bigger) for your documents and media,


Be very careful not to order wrong type of RAM. GA-EP45-UD3P runs DDR2, not DDR3.


Great choice - it is in performance range of nVidia 8800 GTS, no problems in OSX86 since Megadolon framebuffer came out.

Other components you listed are supported as they don't need separate drivers in OSX.

I posted a while ago, basically i want to build a core i7 build using mATX DFI Lan party X58 Mobo. I have read some where that some one used this for their hackintosh using Digital-dreamers build. If any of the experts out there can give some comments on this build and let me know wether there are any red lights before i order my parts. This is going to be overclocked to maybe 3.5Ghz in a small Thermaltake Lanbox!! That's gotta be a pretty good build right? The PSU has to be taken out and the fan direction has to be reversed so that it is blowing down to the MOBO so that i won't fight the air flow of the heatsink fan. I'm using a Modular PSU so wiring will be a little easier in this small Box. The wireless card according to this forum works OOB.I also want to ask which is the easiest high performance graphic card to install gfore 9600 gt or ati 3870? any other suggestions? I plan to install using bootloader 132 method. here are the parts.

CASE:Thermaltake Lanbox
CPU:Intel Core i7 Nehalem 2.66Ghz
MOBO:Dfi Lanparty Jr x58-t3h6 lga 1366 mATX
RAM:2xCorsair XMS3 (3x2Gb) 240 Pin ddr3 sdram
HeatSInk:Thermaltake Axp 140
HeatSinkFan:Aerocool Silver Lightning 140mm Silent Fan
PSU:ENERMAX INFINITY EIN720AWT 720W ATX12V
ThermalCompound:Artic Silver Thermal Compound
LCD Touchscreen embedded:Thermaltake A2413 Lcd Monitor 7 Inch
HD:2XSeagate Baracuda 7200Rpm 32Mb Cache 3Gb/s 1TB SATA
Wireless:Asus WL-138g V2 IEEE 802.11b/g PCI
GFXMSI RX3870X2-T2D1G OC Radeon HD 3870 X2 1GB 512-bit (256-bit x 2) GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

PLs Let me know for better suggestions if any. For musicians out there, with the embedded touch screen and the handle bar on the CPU u wouldn't need to bring a monitor. Actually i have figured out a way to use my iphone as a screen for the computer and u can change ur keyboard patches with ur iphone touchscreen while on a live gig!! email or pm me if you want more info about that. I know sound card doesn't work but i plan to use a external firewire apogee duet sound card for live gigs and RME fireface 400 for studio work at home. Total cost for this build came up to $1672. Same specs on Apple store for a mac pro is $5-6k!!! Also let me know wether 720 watts will be enough. thanks

Thanks Zarac,

I'm planning on ordering all of this tonight, after I select a wireless lan card that will work.


I went with all your suggestions except the second Raptor drive, since I can't afford it. I found some ddr2 (800) ram which had good reviews on New Egg, and is supposed to be compatible with my mob, also good for hitting a 3.0 or 3.2 oc. I'm just hoping that I am not forgetting anything minor, which I will need for the build.. Thanks for all the help Zarac, and let me know if you think I'm forgetting anything.

Woohoo


Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor - Retail
215.00

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
135.00

GeIL Black Dragon 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Quad Channel Kit Desktop Memory
90.00

Graphics Card: sAPPHIRE 100225L Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR4 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
90.00

Western Digital Raptor WD740ADFD 74GB 10000 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s Hard Drive
100.00

Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
75.00

LG Black 22X (CAV) DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X (CAV) DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM
25.00

XCLIO Windtunnel Fully Black Finish 1.0 mm SECC Chassis ATX Full Tower Computer Case
90.00

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
85.00


PROB go with this unless i can find something cheaper
Linksys WMP300N Wireless Adapters

65.00

Everything look nice, and probably is much cheaper than the original configuration.
Concerning the Raptor, i wasn't clear - i would get only one and use it as a system drive w/apps. Another drive would be something like your 640.

I just realized that one of the most productive developers here (weaksauce) has the identical configuration.
His blog has an entry on Sapphire 3870. Check it out.

EDIT: here's a link to weaksauce's topic here on IM about retail install on that board

hi i could use a hand with installing hackint0sh too
im using a sager 9280, with

intel i975 extreme 3.33 ghz

raid 0 dual 500 gig 7200 hdds

nvidia 280m

intel wifi link 5300 agn

6 gig ddr3 1333 mhz RAM

and a bluray disk drive (cant find name atm)

if possible i would like to dual boot and not have to erase my vista (yeah i know right...) partition and leave some room for Back|Track 4 when it comes out (pre release has given me hell)

which distrobution would be best? (iATKOS iDeneb Kalyway iPC)

I know this is probably a dumb question that will make me sound like i have no idea what im doing but its the only thing i cant figure out. I am into video editing, as far as the motherboard fitting the casing, how did u manage getting the usb in the right area to where it fit the casing did you have to get a certain case to match a certain board or what? and can you get 6pin firewire on one of those boards or just 4 pin? I am seeking a core i7 like the first poster as i work with HDV. Please let me know the answer to my very stupid question. Thanks.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this, but generic motherboards come in a certain number of set sizes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_form_factor

ATX being the most common. So as long as it is a type that fits the case and it should say what form factors the case will take, it shouldn't be an issue. Typically they come with a little metal board that has holes for the external connectors, that goes in a "window" in the back of the case where the mother board is mounted.



You can get firewire on the MB, but it isn't as common with PCs, so you'll need to look for one that has it. However, the built in Firewire on the MB are not always usable. So you may need to get a PCI or PCIe expansion card with Firewire. Fortunately AFAIK, most of them will work just fine and quite possibly without an additional drivers.

The Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 is a very compatable MB and almost pain free to get running SL, using this guide. It has one FW connector, but I'm not sure if it's 4 or 6 pin.

It's one drawback is that it isn't cheap, but I think that's outweighed by it's ease of setup.

Hi

I'm glad I came across this thread as I'm thinking of building a new PC to run OS X SL. Initially I wanted to get a MBP but since there is no support in the area I live I decided that it's not worth it. In addition I was a bit disappointed that there is no MBP with Core i7.

Well basically I'd like to build a Core i7 920 machine and I guess I could get my hands on the gigabyte mobo. Is there a website where i can find the other piece of hardware to go along? I've been reading up a bit on hackintosh lately and it seems I'll need a real macbook to run a terminal session during installation of OS X. I don't have this option. Can anybody advise me?

T