Hey guys, I need some help designing my first hackintosh

I figured I'd go for a Core i7 system and this guide looks fairly concrete:
http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=149505
(The first method)

So far I have the following bits and I need advice as to whether they're going to work properly or not


Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
£205.99

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
£203.99

Samsung EcoGreen F2 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 32MB Cache - OEM
£58.99 (x2)

Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM
£39.90

Pioneer DVR-217FBK 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM
£17.99

Corsair 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz XMS3 Memory CL9(9-9-9-24) for i7 motherboards
£78.95

Well, I need some opinions on:

Graphics card (thinking Nvidia?)
Case (I was thinking maybe an Antec P183?)
Power Supply
Cooling fans

I was thinking 1TB for OS X, 1TB for Time Machine and 500GB for Windows. Can I use Time Machine using an internal disk?

Also, will the 5.1 optical out on the mobo work? If not can you suggest an audio card which will work with OS X and 5.1 optical output?

I need confirmation that the above parts are going to work with the guide I posted

Cheers!!

-Rich-

I can't comment on the i7 hardware (haven't built one myself) but as for the above, yes, TM works great with internal drives.

Brilliant, that clears that one up

-Rich-

building an i7 920 hackintosh here too...
I haven't decided on graphic card too, thinking either ATI HD 4890 or the GeForce 275, so will be checking your post to see what suggestions there are.
Case: I am going for Antec 1200, but thats just because I need good air flow for overclocking.
Power Supply: Corsair's PSU are highly recommended by everyone. I am getting Corsair 850TX
Cooling fans: Check this great xbit labs 120/140 mm fans roundup.

Well I had my eye on the GTX 260 as it seems a better price for the performance. All the reviews say it's about 10-15% slower than the 280 but 40% cheaper

-Rich-

Those CL9 Corsair Memories would bottleneck your computer.
Take the OCZ Platinum CL7 for £85:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/164786

For the same reason, you should either:
• get an SSD if you can afford OCZ Vertex/Summit or a G.Skill Falcon for your OS and apps.
• buy a Velociraptor
• or set a Raid 0 of two Seagate 500Go 7200.12 (1 fast platter vs. 2 slower for any other 500Go HDD).

Thanks for the RAM tip, would you say it's better to go for 1600mhz or 1333? I heard 1333 because it's the same as the CPU?

I will get an SSD someday

-Rich-

Ok so I've made my order

2 x Samsung EcoGreen F2 1TB Hard Drive SATAII 32MB Cache - OEM

1 x Antec 300 Three Hundred Black Case - No PSU

1 x OCZ 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz/PC3-12800 Platinum Triple Channel Memory Kit CL7 1.65V

1 x ZOTAC GTX260 192 Core SYNERGY EDITION 896MB DDR3 Dual DVI HDTV PhysX and Cuda ready PCI-E Graphics Card With Free Terminator Salvation Game Download While Stocks Last

3 x Hiper 120mm Case Fan - Clear HiperFlow Frame & Blades - 3pin with Adaptor/Screws Included

1 x All in 1 Internal Card Reader Plus One USB2.0 Port (Black)

4 x Plexus Serial ATA 2.0 (SATA) 7-pin Cable (Red) 46cm / 18"

1 x Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping (SLBEJ) 2.66Ghz (Nehalem) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail + World In Conflict PC Game

1 x Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 Intel X58 (Socket 1366) PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard

1 x OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Modular Power Supply

1 x Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (WD5001AALS)

1 x Scythe Mugen 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775/LGA1366)

1 x Pioneer DVR-217FBK 22x DVD±RW SATA Dual Layer LabelFlash ReWriter (Black) - OEM

1 x Belkin F8T016NG 10m Mini Bluetooth Adapter

Did I make a huge mistake?

-Rich-

2 little ones:
• 4 or maybe 6 SATA cables are already bundled with the mobo, plus 2 eSATA ports on a PCI slot.
• I bet those Hiper fans are super crap!
You should have bought Scythe Slipstreams.

Yeah I noticed that after reading the mobo manual online, gutted! I can just RMA them, and probably will do along with the case fans if they're that bad but to be honest the reviews looked good so whatever

-Rich-

Small update



-Rich-

Rich,

Is everything working? Sleep?

Thanks,

Herb

Hmm, not sure about sleep, but I don't really want to try because Leopard went funny when I did that.. and I had to delete something to get it working again, not sure..

-Rich-

EDIT: Sleep definitely doesn't work :\

The hard drive, mouse keyboard and mointor turned off but the PC was still going :S

Are you running 10.5.7 or 10.5.8? 10.5.7 has better support for sleep, that's the only reason I'm sticking with 10.5.7 and did'nt upgrade to 10.5.8.

I used Digital Dreamers vanila install guide for my hack.

If you're running 10.5.7 try to set S3 sleep in your bios + System Preferences-> Energy Saver -> uncheck "Put the HD to sleep when possible"

I'm running 10.6.1 now

-Rich-

Does sleep work in 10.6.1?

Nope!

-Rich-

Wonder if there is a fix or what is causing the issue?