Hi guys, good day!
I got myself these parts hopefully to build my first Hackintosh:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Zalman 9700NT
4x2Gb Team Elite RAM DDR2 800
2x150Gb Western Digital Raptor HDD SATA
500Gb 7200 Seagate 32mb Cache
LiteOn 20x DVDRW SATA
XFX Geforce 8800GT 512mb
550 Watts HEC Winpower PSU

I plan to be able to run the following:

Basic Motherboard Capabilities - Sound I/O, LAN, USB. Firewire is optional
Raid 0 for my 2 Raptors, for fast boot, saving documents and later on moving the files for archive in my 500Gb Seagate.
Dual Boot XP/Leopard 10.5.2 - XP for Gaming and Leopard for work namely Adobe Creative Suite (Yes, I know that XP won't read the entire 8Gb)
Hoping to OC to 3.0Ghz with all cores recognized and stable

I want to ask for your opinions and suggestions on what motherboard to use.
What installers and other optional files I might need to look for in order to build this monster

Also, in my research I've found in most of the guides I've read stated that I have to insall XP first then
install the AHCI drivers too depending on what chipset I'll be using to be able to dual boot XP properly and fix some bugs in OSX86. Install method MBR right?


Thank you so much in advance guys!

RAID-0 for boot doesnt work on OSX86, if you've already got the two drives, use one for win, and one for mac.

the popular mobo around here seems to be the ASUS p5w, but I'm in the midst of constructing a frankenmac with a gigabyte ga-ex38-ds4, with a Q9300. I wanted the newer chipset, and from what I've heard, this board works very, VERY well.

good luck, and read the wiki, there's tons of info up there. Make a list of the boards that you like on the list, then compare which are more compatable, then do some research on which boards are ultimately better boards, then price compare, and purchase. that's what I did.

actually was trying to go for newer chipsets as well but wasn't able to find some heavy info regarding x38 chipsets. i did see that board on the HCL for 10.5.2 and it looks promising. does sleep, wake etc work properly?

donno yet, still installing. Well, rather, zeroing the data on my system partition. THEN will be installing. I just finished putting it together and configuring my BIOS, which I think I'll have to update to the newest version soon, but I'm impatient, and I'm trying an install tonight.

But according to the Wiki, "All OK", so I'm quite hopeful. With the specs this board has and its affordability, I'm surprised half the people on this site aren't using them.

ill probably go for the DS3R... i want something that really works