The motherboard I have now has an incompatible ATI chipset so I'm looking to replace it and figured I'd buy one that will run OS X 100% natively and set it up with 2 SATA drives for dual booting Vista and OS X.

I have a Pentium D 945 3.4GHz Dual Core which is LGA775 I believe. I also must have a PCI-E 16X slot and SATAII connectors. nothing else matters except that everything work 100% natively under the new OS X builds using he hacked kernel.

So what's the best board for this processor that work 100% with the latest builds? I went through the wiki but I soon realized I'm way out of touch with the latest Intel stuff and don't even know what the latest chipsets are for the old pre core duo stuff.

Thanks!

Intel Bad Axe 2, expensive but great. or ASUS P5W DH Deluxe

http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/D975XBX2/index.htm


both boards support Intel Core Duo 2 (for future upgrade!)

http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&am...amp;modelmenu=1

I have the Asus P5LD2 Deluxe, works great!! No complains.
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&am...amp;modelmenu=1

If you are on a budget try the board in my sig.

Thanks guys! I love ASUS boards but I thought on allot of boards there was an issue with an audio jack not working, or maybe that issue is in the past. I'll look into it more and then decide. Thanks for those choices though!

I highly recommend jumping on Ebay and snagging a Dell GX620 barebones tower. It's BTX, so even under load, its whisper quite. Fully compatible with 950 Graphics or use a PCIe card. Best of all, thier cheap.

Got my board off eBay for like $30. Doesn't support the Core 2 Duo line, but runs Pentium D's great. Sound and ethernet took a little tweaking, but they were both an easy fix.

OK, here if my list as of right now:

$149 - Asus P5W DH Deluxe - http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelme...2=11&l3=248 (Audio, Ethernet, & USB need patching)
$102 - Asus P5LD2-VM - http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelme...2=11&l3=194 (Audio & Ethernet need patching)
$98 - Intel D945GCL - http://www.intel.com/products/motherboard/d945gcl/ (Can't find enough info to determine)
$60 - Intel D945GNTLKR - http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/nt/nt_available.htm (Audio & Ethernet need patching)

I'm looking for the least expensive solution possible but I want it to be 100% compatible in every way. I'm going to be doing more research into each one as as I do I'll post back with the lowest prices that I've found and also what each board requires to be 100% operational under OSX. Until then I'd appreciate any feedback only from people who have the above board running 10.4.8 and what works and what it took.

Thanks!

Hi @92GTA,

Take a look at this thread where I'm doing something similar:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...41343&st=40

I'm also debating which mobo to go with.

I didn't realize the D945GNTLKR required any patching. I was being told it didn't need any patching. Do you know for sure it does need audio and Lan patches? If so, then it may not be the best choice as this board doesn't support the Core 2 Duo chips, which are WAY better from everything I read about them. Speed and multitasking are incredible.

So I am also looking at the Asus P5LD2-VM but just realized today that it is a Micro ATX board. This is very limiting for doing audio work as It only has 2 PCi slots open. And only 1 I believe if I use the PCI-E for an Nvidia 7300GS 256MB card (which I'm told is the most compatible for OSX.) Also, this board has VERY mixed/poor reviews on Newegg.com for reliability. I've always sworn by ASUS though and never had issues myself, but maybe this M-ATX board is not so good...? Not sure. The OSX guys on here though swear by it, so it is still at the top of my curiosity list.

So the more I read, the more I may end up with an Intel Bad Axe II mobo. Only problem is the $229.00 price. BUT it is a full sized board and overclocks and is a great choice for Vista/XP use as well without issue.

I'd love to hear more about the P5W DH Deluxe if you have some info or threads. I'm guessing here, but it seems like the flagship board from last cycle 6 months ago. Good then, but now the flagship is the P5B Deluxe which is better overall except getting OSX loaded. I think the P5B requires major patching and tweaking. Any opinions anyone?

Keep me posted on what you decide.
Rational

This is usually the cheapest p5ld2 board http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&...amp;modelmenu=2
Down side is only 2 memory slots. Only audio needs a patch.

Are you sure p5ld2-vm needs ethernet patched? I'm pretty sure last one I installed on worked right out of the box....

I'm sure unless the very latest images available have these fixed kexts. I did a search on this forum using those exact models and am only reporting what I could find in my results. Search for yourself and you guys will get the same results. Granted kexts are widely available for each and very easy to find and on one of the boards the ethernet did work but required the cable to be unplugged and plugged back in every boot and it only required changing to another kext to solve this, none the less it still needing it. I'm only reporting the facts.

I looked into the Intel D975XBX2 and while it is as compatible as any of the above, I was apauled to read that it wasn't Quad-core ready however the Asus P5W DH Deluxe IS Quad-core ready.

Seems like a stupid choice to get the over priced Intel over the Asus if you ask me. I was almost ready to buy the Intel until I found that out.

if it's the p5ld2-vm board I'm guessing they had bios set up wrong. I did a couple of installs on them with np.
P.S.
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=41685

i recommand you a 945G-CONROE DVI, it's cheap, fully compatible (lan, sound, graphics, usb,ide, sata), and very stable.

The only problem with this board (which i have for 5 months now) is that it has no firewire, and that overclocking goes to 350mhz fsb max (because of the 945 intel's chipset) , if its not a problem for you you can go ahead and buy it.

PS : fully compatible with C2D, i have a 6300E on it.

Wasn't that the one with 100BaseT ethernet though? Its not full ATX either. But good recommendation.

I believe I've picked the Bad Axe 2. 92GTA said it's incompatible with quad core processors, but I'm seeing it being sold with the QX6700. "Intel Bad Axe 2 LGA775 Kentsfield / Conroe Motherboard And Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Retail Bundle". Just thought I'd correct that, since I was quite disappointed when he said it was incompatible.

i have the Asus P5LD2-VM
used the Jas 10.4.8 AMD INTEL SSE3 SSE2 with v1p and Defiant Disk Utility Patches Applied

with two tiny patches everything works but sleep.

you are talking less then 60 seconds and you have a full function machine. if that is really to much then try the applestore.



lastly and this isn't a jab. if two tiny patches that you just click and drag and a little work in terminal is too much, try getting wireless to work on a linux laptop. now that will make you go out and buy new stuff.

@postaldave

I wanted to thank you for your last reality check post. You were right. I was being a bit too hesitant to have to make .kext changes. I was trying to find the "perfect" motherboard with the thought I'd save myself a ton of hassle on future reinstalls of OSX by trying to find something that would not need a single tweak.

Also I was under a mistaken belief that either these tweaks were hard and time consuming, or impossible to accomplish if roadblocks pop up with the video on first boot. I think I was basing my hesitance on my first experience loading OSX this week on an AGP based board and freezing at the grey apple logo screen. (I could only get to the OSX desktop with the onboard 865G built in graphics and not the Geforce 3 TI 200 I was trying) I was thinking that getting a 100% compatible board would eliminate this major pain in the ass.

I inquired with diabolik and he tells me he just plugs in his PCI-E 7300GS and/or 7600GS and it loads right up and onto the OSX desktop without issue. Basically skipping (and not needing the onboard 950GMA) I was also under the belief I'd need the onboard video to do the tweaks prior to plugging in the PCI-E vid card to at least have a screen to work with. Once I heard that I didn't need the onboard video after all I was much relieved. (So I guess OSX is natively uses PCI-E by default and good to go?)

Then after reading your post, it made me believe it really isn't all that tough on the P5LD2 afterall, so I went with it!

See my post here with all the details:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?act...&pid=310232

Thanks for your input guys.
Rational