DaveGee Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Please HBMH! (help build my hackintosh) First time poster but a long time Mac user. I've been using Mac's since the SE30 days (not 'the beginning' but pretty dern close) and I've purchased a kings ransom worth of machines over the years and will continue to do so - since nobody matched Apple Design (imho). With all that being said I also love to tinker and the idea of building my own Hackintosh has a HUGE appeal to me - with my experience I'm not afraid to jump right into the deep end. Now the help I'm looking for might not be what most of you are accustom to reading. I've done a fair bit of homework and have pretty much settled on: CPU: Intel e6400 (Should I go with a Woodcrest aka Xeon Conroe for potentially better overclocking?) MB: ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe RAM: BUFFALO Firestix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit DVD: 18x burner (already have) HD: 400GB Seagate SATA/300 / QTY 2 - (already have) So far this comes to $750 (CPU/270 MB/230 RAM/250 DVD/0 HD/0) Hows that so far? Oh and are you an ASUS P5W owner (running OS X)? I've seen comments about SATA being slow with that mobo - is that still an issue and is it just an 'OS X Issue' (potentially correctable) or a mobo issue? Now here's where I want some experienced input: VIDEO CARD: ?? (already have an Apple 20" Flat panel display - DVI) CASE: ? CPU COOLER: ? POWER SUPPLY: ? WHAT ELSE: ?? Now here is what I'm looking for... Video Card: - Leaning towards the X1600XT (still a good choice?) Case: - A (fairly) well designed case - Better than average ventilation (so I can over-clock - if I want) - Room for 4 (or more) internal SATA drives. - Room for 2 (or more) optical drives - Reasonable price CPU Cooler / Heatsync: - I'm open to suggestions - Cool the CPU and a fair price Power Supply: - Proved enough power for the above items and a some room for growth/change. - Reasonable price but I'd pay a premium for more peace and quiet So if I had to sum things up in a simple sentence... I'm looking for quiet, cool & reliable operation at a fair price. I've totaled up apx 750 (above) plus a 150ish video card comes to 900 I'd like to keep the total under 1400 with 1300 being better - so case + cooler + ps should total apx 400-500 Or, am I over doing the case and power supply budget and just go el cheapo.... Looks are not an issue (otherwise I'd get a Mac Pro lol) but functionality is. So, in short (too late) I'm looking for ideas (great and small)! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rparker Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 I've got that mobo, and the sata slow down is common to all hackintoshes. Although, I've heard that the Seagate 7200.10, the new perpendicular recording drives have problems with mac, real or fake. As for the video card, I've got an XFX 7600gt, works great with natit. For case, I'd recommend the Cooler Master Centurion 5, affordable along with great cooling: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16811119077 For power supply, I've heard good things about the Corsair 520hx http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817139001 I've got the Silverstone ST50EF, not the quietest, but it performs great. http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=23 For cpu cooler, I'm using the stock cooler so I can't say much. Although, everywhere I turn I find that people recommend Zalman coolers. Lastly, I would ensure that your dvd burner works with OSX, for maximum compatibility you might want to consider a pioneer drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveGee Posted January 4, 2007 Author Share Posted January 4, 2007 rparker, Thanks for the info! Couple of follow up questions (for anyone really)... You say SATA on the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe does indeed have some issues... It's really hard to tell what information is current in the hardware foum especially WRT motherboards... I've seen comments from more than a few people (when talking about mobos) that seem to echo 'hey everything work great with this board' or 'this runs without a hitch' etc etc etc... and it's not just with the ASUS P5W-DH Deluxe And then I read things like (IIRC): IDE has and/or had issues SATA has issues Other Seagate 7200.10 issues (I heard 750GB drives had issues but not the other 7200.10s) I dunno what's what anymore... Should I assume a fully working system... and when I say fulling working I mean not just with 'things running without crashing' but with things running at expected speeds and functionality. Please don't get me wrong... I don't mean for this to sound negative (and as I read it.. it does sound that way) but I really don't mean for it too... I really do respect everyone here! People giving up their time to contribute to these projects for the benefit of us all... It's quite astounding and I just wish I had half the abilities of these folks. I'm just trying to put everything into the proper perspective... I'm still all for building my Hackintosh but if thing really to work FANTASTIC as in proper features supported and correct speeds etc then I would truly 'invest' in my Hackintosh (as in buy quality parts and do things 1st class) If however this is still very much a 'some things work' some things don't well then I'd rather not spend 'quality bucks' and instead put together a more basic machine just for 'playin around with' and then revist building a better machine later. Thanks for any/all insights! Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bofors Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 (Should I go with a Woodcrest aka Xeon Conroe for potentially better overclocking?) Yes, get the Xeon 3050 instead of the E6400 (and it is Conroe not Woodcrest). - Leaning towards the X1600XT (still a good choice?)Try an Nvidia 7600 GS or GT instead (don't get one with 512 MB). Case: - A (fairly) well designed case - Better than average ventilation (so I can over-clock - if I want) - Room for 4 (or more) internal SATA drives. - Room for 2 (or more) optical drives - Reasonable price See, this thread for some ideas: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=24145 CPU Cooler / Heatsync:Umm... "heatsync"? That a new one for me... ThermalTake BigTyphoon VX should be your first choice. If you want some cheaper, and it is not expensive, look at the ArticCooling Freezer Pro. Power Supply: - Proved enough power for the above items and a some room for growth/change. - Reasonable price but I'd pay a premium for more peace and quiet I sounds like you want about 500W, if you really want a quiet PSU than you should probably look at some of the Seasonic PSU's. You might want to check this Enhance out, which is the same thing Silverstone sells for more: http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=PS-E5150GH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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