Jump to content

Building custom Hackintosh: hardware recommendations

Racher

By Racher,
in OSx86 10.4 (Tiger)

 Share
60 posts in this topic

Recommended Posts

Racher
Racher
Posted
Posted (edited)

Hey OSX86 gurus,

 

After confirming that none of my PCs are compatible with OSX86, I'm considering building my own Hackintosh from the ground up. I've seen a couple of recommendations on motherboards, but would like to know what hardware folks would currently suggest.

 

Basically, I'd like to support Ethernet (1000 gbps, if possible), USB and Firewire from the motherboard. Graphics card suggestions would be helpful too, especially ones that support Open GL within OSX86 (if that's even possible). CPU recommendations are welcome too, as well as hard drive considerations (PATA vs. SATA). And while my goal is to save money, I'm not opposed to spending a little extra to make such a beast really sing.

 

Eventually, I would like to run the latest version of Final Cut Studio with some decent horsepower. Thanks in advance for your comments!

 

-Racher

Edited by Racher
Link to comment
Share on other sites
hudahelru
hudahelru
Posted
Posted (edited)

I've been lucky enough to get it right the first time. I've built a handful of PCs and own a crapload of Macs, but I still consider myself a complete n00b in things Hackintosh. It took about two weeks of research (thanks to this site and the wiki) and shopping around for the perfect parts. Here's what I ended up assembling:

  • Gigabyte GA-945GM-S2 mobo (built-in Ethernet enabled using RealtekR1000.kext driver)
  • Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 2.13
  • Innodata PCI-X GeForce 7600GS 256 mb (enabled using Titan in the JaS 10.4.8 install)
  • Lite On LH-20A1H DVD+-RW Lightscribe (worked out of the box, downloaded software to enable Lightscribe function)
  • Seagate 250Gb SATA HD x 2
  • Netgear WG311T wireless PCI card (enabled using this method)
  • PCI Firewire card (worked out of the box)
  • Mushkin 1Gb RAM x 2

Basically the choices for the components all boiled down to the most compatible to the iMac and Mac mini. The current-gen mini and iMacs sport 945G chipset-enabled mobos (the Gigabyte uses 945G), and both use GeForce 7300 graphics. The other parts I chose because of availability.

 

Final Cut Pro runs fine on this system as well as Maya and the Adobe CS2 apps. Its a pretty decent system with an Xbench score of 127.47 compared to my Dual G4's 68 and MBP C2D's 102. USB, 2 channel sound, built-in card reader works great. Too bad the mobo didn't have onboard FW, but the PCI FW card took care of that problem.

Edited by hudahelru
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Racher
Racher
Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hey hudahelru,

 

Thanks for the detailed response! I'm just curious about your choice of dual core processor. Is your install of OSX86 capable of seeing/using both processors? I got the impression that any OSX86 install will only be able to utilize one processor. Or perhaps you've dual booted with Windows too...?

 

-Racher

Link to comment
Share on other sites
seleven
seleven
Posted
Posted
If building a whole new computer why not go the extra yard and buy a real mac?
I don't know about the original poster, but in my case, it's simple economics.

 

I don't have 2K/2.5K to spend on a MacBookPro / Mac Pro. I also don't need a high end machine, but I do want something that is faster than my G4 733 Digital Audio and not a laptop/all in one.

 

The Mac Pro has the disadvantage of somewhat expensive RAM and a high price tag.

 

The MacBook's (and the iMac) are not expandable enough for me. I don't want my desk littered with external drive cases, there is enough {censored} on it already. :-)

 

I can build a hackintosh for under 800 shipped per newegg, reusing a case, mouse and existing apple keyboard.

 

That 1K+ is better spent on improving my house, or better yet, not even spending it and going deeper into debt.

 

As much as I'd rather have the real thing, as long as Apple has that huge hole in the midrange area, I'll be looking at building one.

 

Anyway, for the OP, I would say just about any board that uses an Intel 945 chipset with an ICH 6 southbridge. These two seem to be the easiest to get up and running with the minimum fuss.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
hudahelru
hudahelru
Posted
Posted
Hey hudahelru,

 

Thanks for the detailed response! I'm just curious about your choice of dual core processor. Is your install of OSX86 capable of seeing/using both processors? I got the impression that any OSX86 install will only be able to utilize one processor. Or perhaps you've dual booted with Windows too...?

 

-Racher

 

Both cores work! Haven't tried Boot Camp yet, but I'm pretty confident it'll work. I've installed Parallels and running XP and Vista (no slick grafx effects). No problem.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Schwinn555
Schwinn555
Posted
Posted
{censored}. Thanks for the heads up. ;)

 

You don't need boot camp on a hacIntosh. I put Win XP on a seperate 40 GB hard drive(have also used Vista). On my machine I just hold down the F8 key at boot and choose the hard drive I want to boot. So PC or Mac no big deal. Different machines may use different key combo for boot. It may also be possible to partition a drive and boot from different partitions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Racher
Racher
Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hey, thanks for all your responses, everyone. This is most helpful.

 

And I agree with Thi3f, buying an actual Mac would be most ideal. My "hackintosh quest" began when I tried to install OSX86 on my video editing workstation, a custom-built dual Xeon PC. All my attempts failed, and I never got farther than the dreaded "HFS+ partition error" message. You can see a detailed account of my struggle here (nobody chimed into that thread; maybe one of you will have a suggestion. Right now, I'm convinced that my motherboard is simply incompatible with OSX86):

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...c=42993&hl=

 

My next thought was to build a Hackintosh from scratch, which would save me some cash. I had planned that my next computer would be a Mac, but the OSX86 option has intrigued me. I might wait until the GMA3000 based motherboard is availabe (neonkoala mentioned this). Anyone know of any timelines on this hardware (availability or whether OS X supports it yet)?

 

Thanks again for all your advice!

 

-Racher

Link to comment
Share on other sites
whodiini
whodiini
Posted
Posted
You don't need boot camp on a hacIntosh. I put Win XP on a seperate 40 GB hard drive(have also used Vista). On my machine I just hold down the F8 key at boot and choose the hard drive I want to boot. So PC or Mac no big deal. Different machines may use different key combo for boot. It may also be possible to partition a drive and boot from different partitions.

 

Can u boot off that winXP on the other drive in OS X using parallels? I tried and it hung and killed the winXP partition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
asap18
asap18
Posted
Posted

I havent tried but im sure the x3000 can use the gma950 driver with a few tweaks. Anyway just get a 7300/7600, it will be much better than the integrated graphics.

 

And there are x3000 motherboards. Look for a 965G chipset if you want one. The G means the gma x3000 in it while the 965P does not

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nargot
nargot
Posted
Posted

mobo - GA-965P-DS3 or GA-965P-DQ6

cpu - E6300 you can overclock it easily to 3.15 ghz with 800 mhz DDR2 ram

graphics - 7300GS (cheapest) or 7900GS (best bang for buck)

get sata drives 320 gb WD is the best value for money (get a seagate for just a little bit more)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Palom
Palom
Posted
Posted
mobo - GA-965P-DS3 or GA-965P-DQ6

cpu - E6300 you can overclock it easily to 3.15 ghz with 800 mhz DDR2 ram

graphics - 7300GS (cheapest) or 7900GS (best bang for buck)

get sata drives 320 gb WD is the best value for money (get a seagate for just a little bit more)

 

 

so a GA-965P-DQ6 will work this OS X86?

 

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16813128323

 

I to am going to build a OS X system soon

 

My imacs video card just doesn't do it for me anymore, and a mac pro is way to much

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nargot
nargot
Posted
Posted
so a GA-965P-DQ6 will work this OS X86?

 

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16813128323

 

I to am going to build a OS X system soon

 

My imacs video card just doesn't do it for me anymore, and a mac pro is way to much

 

 

using it right now with the specs i listed its nice and fast. The temp of the overclock is ~50°C, using an arctic freezer pro 7 with arctic silver .

Link to comment
Share on other sites
frizbot
frizbot
Posted
Posted
but if u want to build a new pc, make sure everything is intel tongue.gif, get a 7300 or 7800 based graphics card, and your good to go

 

This is true due to EFI. An Intel motherboard could eventually run OS X natively with MacEFIx86. No one seems to know what 3rd party boards use EFI.

 

This is difficult. The motherboard should have GMA950 in case of video problems, it should have gigabit ethernet (for me, I use that), ideally its chipset 945, and supports Core 2 Duo. AFAICT, this doesn't exist. This is for as good as possible Apple support, since ideally the chipset would be the newest and the video would be x3000 etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Aufgedyng
Aufgedyng
Posted
Posted

Hey Nargot,

 

I'm going to try your config below with 10.4.8, is there anything special that i should consider when installing or is it straight forward?

 

Any help appreciated

 

mobo - GA-965P-DQ6

cpu - E6300 you can overclock it easily to 3.15 ghz with 800 mhz DDR2 ram

graphics - 7300GS (cheapest) or 7900GS (best bang for buck)

get sata drives 320 gb WD is the best value for money (get a seagate for just a little bit more)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
nargot
nargot
Posted
Posted (edited)

its pretty straight forward (after i worked it out)

note: make sure you have the JAS 10.4.8 patched with the 1st ppf (i think its called JAS10.4.8v1) and your ide dvd drive will work, i cant verify this will work with other versions.

 

option 1

if you want windows and os X it is easiest to have two hdd.

linux is not easy to get working on this chipset.

 

make sure the ide jumper settings are correct, see below

 

what i used

ide (SLAVE)- DVD rom for osx and windows

ide (MASTER) - hdd for windows

sata (orange) - hdd for osx

 

this is all off the top of my head (i think i've posted it before thought so search for my posts, there are not many here)

 

1st - install mobo, cpu, ram

if you are dual booting install two hdd (its just easier in the long run if things go pear shaped)

u will probably need an ide drive and setup bios to IDE only (sata wont work out of the box)

make sure the HDD you want to install windows on is set to master on the IDE chain

 

BIOS - under integrated peripherals

ACHI - disabled

JMicron - IDE

 

install XP first

install XP SP2

install all the gigabyte ich8 drivers

shutdown

 

plug in a sata drive into the ORANGE sata port for osx

enter bios - set achi to enabled (thats the ich8 for the sata drive)

boot into the JAS 10.4.8 v1 (you need the ppf1 patched disc for best compatability)

format the SATA drive with disk utility

install osx - select custom install - select intel specific patch. dont install anything else.

reboot

osx will probably now boot

 

 

i cant remember exactly how to boot back into windows but it is basicly as follows

 

to boot back into windows you will need to disable the achi ports in bios again to force windows to boot

boot into windows

install Acronis director suite

install bootloader

reboot

enter bios enable achi

boot into windows, open acronis bootloader and detect the osx partition (it will be called "unknown operating system")

 

you should now be able to dual boot

 

option 2 OSX only

plug dvd drive into ide

plug hdd into sata (orange port)

BIOS

enable the ACHI (ich8 ports)

set everything else as enabled install osx as previously described

 

final bits

install natit/titan after OSX installation as required for your graphics card

install the ALC888 audio drivers (do a search)

line in audio doesnt work and i havn't tried to fix it yet

 

 

 

forgive the instructions if there is an error. The gist is, it is an easy motherboard to install osx onto with the JAS 10.4.8v1 DVD. It is very stable and i can help further if needed.

 

 

Hey Nargot,

 

I'm going to try your config below with 10.4.8, is there anything special that i should consider when installing or is it straight forward?

 

Any help appreciated

 

mobo - GA-965P-DQ6

cpu - E6300 you can overclock it easily to 3.15 ghz with 800 mhz DDR2 ram

graphics - 7300GS (cheapest) or 7900GS (best bang for buck)

get sata drives 320 gb WD is the best value for money (get a seagate for just a little bit more)

Edited by nargot
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mr. Sideburns
Mr. Sideburns
Posted
Posted (edited)
If building a whole new computer why not go the extra yard and buy a real mac?

 

Oh I'd love to own a real mac, but even if I did I'd still probably want to build a hackintosh. It's about testing stuff...learning...figuring stuff out..it's interesting and fun to do.

 

For most of us..this is a hobby and getting a real mac would take some of the fun away.

Edited by Mr. Sideburns
Link to comment
Share on other sites
nargot
nargot
Posted
Posted
Oh I'd love to own a real mac, but even if I did I'd still probably want to build a hackintosh. It's about testing stuff...learning...figuring stuff out..it's interesting and fun to do.

 

For most of us..this is a hobby and getting a real mac would take some of the fun away.

 

agreed, its good fun getting things working

Link to comment
Share on other sites
satseaker
satseaker
Posted
Posted

i dont about all the new hardware, but i bought a used dell dimension 4600 for $100, installed with the p4 2.4ghz cpu(sse2 only) got the drivers for the gforce fx 5200, was simple to install but no agp shows up as a pci(anybody know how to fix that),onboard intel network was just as easy, sound is perfect(have not tried the surround patches yet) only real prob was the dvd and video playback sucked(got a p4 3ghz with HT for $80) and that was fixed(anybody know how to get the hyper threading to work or does it work and how can i tell) so i guess i got a 3ghz imac for about $200 :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...