Hello all,

I've been reading through the forums, and I've decided to build a OSx86 machine. This machine is to take over the brunt of the work that my current mac has (2002 iBook 12.1", 900 MHz G3). Just some advice from all of you. My new machine just needs to be able to play video (the ibook can't even play non-HD H.264 video), casual web browsing, my graduation work, and the occasional game. I've been reading, but can't come across a plain out, yes or no, on the motherboards. So getting your input, here are my choices:

Intel D945GTPL
Giga-Byte GA-8I945GMF
Foxxconn 945G7MA-8KS2
DFI 945G-TMGF
And the Asus P5LD2-VM

Which is the better board? best choice for money? best performance? or should I go with a 915 based board?
The board will be mated to either a Celeron D 336 or a Pentium D 805. If you haven' noticed, I'm a student, so, I'm a little low on cash (hence the no iMac purchase yet).

Thanks
AJ

Personally I chose the Asus P5ld2-vm. You need to disable the sound card to install, and customize the audio kext, but that's easy stuff. It's one of the best in my opinion, and I use mine a ton!

I wouldn't recommend the Asus P5LD2-VM. I had one and ended up returning it. It only has one IDE channel that fully functions in OSX. Thus if you want to run a Parallel ATA harddrive and a CD-ROM they're going to have to share the channel.

The connector for the second IDE channel is also located way near the bottom of the board, and you're going to need a pretty long cable to connect it to your CD-ROM (depending on your case of course).

The board also is a Micro-ATX, meaning it has an PCIe and 2 PCI ports. If you're like me, you can fill those up pretty quickly (I use a PCI Wireless Card, TV-Tuner and Sound Card).

He does have a point there. It is a very simple board, but it does work well.

Thanks for the replies so far... Maybe I should exxagerate a little. I do have VERY extensive knowledge and experience in building PCs, but only Athlon one, so theres my major roadblock, that I lack info on intel boards. What I am looking for is a small board (so MicroATX). I would like working ethernet, video and sound. I'm not afraid to hack, i mean "mod" kexts, as I've done it on the iBook. A hint, scratch the Foxconn board off, as it has the Broadcom BCM5788 chip for ethernet, so apparently it is incompatible. I'm torn between the intel board and the Asus board. In my experience, Asus boards are great design, but poor reliabilty, I've had the USb and IDE ports on a A8N go out, several fans on a A7N266, and the ALC650 audio on a A7N8X-VM go out. Thanks for the info, and more recommendations would be great!

If you decide to buy one with intel915 chipset i recommend the MSI 915G Combo. 100% Compatible;

GMA900 - OK (CI, QE, Q2DX, Core Video)
LAN - OK (10,100,1000)
Sound - OK (Core Audio)
SATA - OK (ICH6)
PATA - OK
PCIx - OK

Owned one, evely tested.

Word of advice... Choose wisely your hardware so you dont regret it...

Cheers!

If you are looking for Micro-ATX, the Asus Board is what you want. Native Network, Firewire, USB, video, etc... All you need to modify is the sound kext. That's it! You have to disable the sound on installation, and then dump AppleHDA and mod Azalia. That's it! So it is quite compatible. Check out the wiki for the best info though.

One last question... does sleep work on the asus board? and is a Pentium D really worth the extra 70 bucks?

AJ

No, sleep does not work, on any board as far as I know, but the D is worth it!