Update:

Build complete, everything works great. Wrote an A-Z guide here for Bad Axe 2 boards:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=76014

Specs:
Bad Axe 2 "KR" motherboard
2.4ghz Q6600 Quad processor overclocked to 3ghz
8 gigs of ram
3 x 500gb SATA hard drives
SATA DVD burner
320mb XFX 8800 GTS (macdotnub installer)

Very, very happy - thanks to everyone for their input! Board is super stable, nearly everything works (no mic/line input, second set of SATA ports don't work yet, and processor says 2.4ghz, quad, unknown, instead of Core 2 Quad or Q6600).


Original Post:

So I've decided to build a Hackintosh. Here's what I'm looking for:

Quad-core processor
4GB or 8GB RAM
Motherboard
Hard drive
DVD burner with LightScribe
Great video card (7900 minimum)
Gigabit LAN
Stereo sound output (minijack)
Lots of USB ports

Looking at either Tiger or Leopard, whichever is the most stable. The key things I am looking for here are (1) power and (2) stability. What's the best? This machine will be built soley to run OS X.

Looks like Leopard handles quad-cores better. Planning on using a 2.4ghz Quad-Core Intel Q6600 processor: $280

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115017

Going with 4 x 2GB Transcend DDR2-800: ($200)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820208344

Intel BOXD975XBX2KR motherboard: $240

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813121059

Cooler Master RC-690 case: $70 (plenty of airflow to OC the Q6600 to 3ghz)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811119137

yup the bad axe2 with Q6600 is the way to go it seems:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=71231

Okay, here's the buy list - everything kosher?

Cooler Master RC-690 case - $70

Corsair 520-watt modular power supply - $100

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P motherboard - $150

Intel Q6600 processor - $280

8GB DDR2-800 RAM - $200 (4x2GB)

7600GT Fatality Edition - $150

WD 500GB SATA hard drives - $105

SATA DVD burner with Lightscribe - $35

D-Link Bluetooth USB adapter - $30

Total comes up to $1120 plus shipping. I configured an equivalent Mac Pro at $4457 (Two 2ghz Dual-Core Xeons, 8gb ram [4x2gb], 500gb hard drive, 256mb 7300GT, Bluetooth). That's over $3300 of savings - not bad!

Q6600 for $259 @ NCIX

http://ncixus.com/products/22211/BX80562Q6600/Intel/

Nice, thanks! Saves me a few bucks, even with $12 shipping. I think I may go with a 7300GT because I've been reading about some problems with the 7600GT. This was recommend at Lifehacker:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16814133172

Final check - missing anything? Everything compatible? Just about ready to pull the trigger!

Okay, it looks like the Bad Axe 2 is the way to go for minimal fuss. The 7300GT looks like the way to go for graphics cards as well. Everything else looks fine, so I think I'm going to do it! I'll post back when I've built the beast

OK, latest version:

Case: $170; $120 AR
Cooler Master RC-690 case ($70; $30 AR)
Corsair 520-watt modular power supply ($100; $90 AR)

Guts: $671
Intel Bad Axe 2 motherboard ($179 shipped)
Intel Q6600 processor ($272 shipped)
8GB DDR2-800 RAM ($220 shipped)

Misc. Parts: $235; $195 AR
500GB SATA hard drive ($105 shipped)
SATA DVD burner ($35 shipped)
7300GT video card ($60; $30 AR)
D-Link Bluetooth USB adapter ($35 shipped; $25 AR)

$1076; $986 AR.

Scheduled delivery of my parts is 12/5 (next Wednesday). Ended up adding a couple more 500's plus an Xbox 360 webcam to act as my "iSight" - $35 shipped at Buy.com:

http://www.buy.com/prod/xbox-360-live-visi.../202790238.html

Total was $1336.65 for: (I already purchased Leopard, but add another $109 - $129 for that if you don't have it)

-2.4ghz Quad-Core processor
-8 gigabytes of ram
-1.5 terabytes of hard drive space
-20x DVD burner with Lightscribe
-Bluetooth 2.0
-1.3mp Webcam
-256mb 7300GT video card
-Firewire 400 + USB 2.0 ports

The equivalent Mac Pro (dual 2.0ghz Xeons) came up to $5115. My "Hack Pro" is over $3700 less! (really over $3800 less since the Mac Pro doesn't come with an iSight camera, but it does come with a keyboard/mouse so I'll call it even) I will do a detailed writeup of the system and build process once I get everything up and running. So far, here are the only drawbacks I see:

1. The Intel motherboard requires that the second SATA controller be disabled in order for Hackintosh to work, meaning I only get 4 SATA ports. I have 1 SATA DVD drive plus 3 SATA hard drives (primary boot drive, Time Machine drive, and Parallels VM/other files drive), so I'm already maxed out. If I want more storage in the future, I can always go with a PCI controller card or even a RAID card.

2. Boot Camp seems to be a no-go since the EFI is part of the OS X Hackintosh system rather than the motherboard. However, since this is a PC - who cares? I can just dual-boot if I need real performance (instead of a VM). The Crysis PC game is looking pretty fun so I might upgrade to a better video card down the road for that.

3. Future updates will have to be verified online as working on Hackintoshes before being installed. Even though I will be running a vanilla kernel with the PCI EFI hack, who knows what Apple has up their sleeve; a future update *might* break the system, so I'll have to be very careful about downloading updates.

4. I'm limited to mainly 7000-series video cards if I want the best compatibility. The 8800s and some ATI cards seem to be working okay, but the 7000-series has the best track record.

5. The Intel Bad Axe 2 motherboard can only support a maximum of 8 gigs of ram. If I ever wanted to upgrade for whatever reason, I've already maxed out the board. Right now a Mac Pro supports 16 gigs of ram officially and 32 gigs of ram unofficially. A future BIOS update on the Intel board may or may not be able to increase the ram cap - I don't know if that's a hardware or software-imposed limitation. Not that I'm saying 8 gigs isn't overkill already, but since that upgrade was only $200 I can see 16-gig kits coming down in price in the future too.

So really I'm pretty much set, the only thing I have to be careful about is future Apple updates just to be sure they work 100% before downloading them.

Unless they've made a board revision, I've got 3 BA2 boards and I don't need to disable the second controller. I have 4 500gb drives connected to my Marvell controller for Windows XP and 4 more 500gb drives connected to the ICH7 controller for OSX86. It's been working smoothly since I've had it. It's like having two complete systems in one...even more flexible than my mac pro in that way. You'll have one smokin' machine when you're through setting it up. Good luck.

Holy crap, awesome!

8800GTS/GTX cards are working very well in Leopard - any particular reason you skipped them? They would handle Crysis too.

the point of having that sort of hardware and only a 7300gt is beyond my understanding
even a 7600 would have been a better choice
as pointed out 8800gts/gtx work fine in hackintoshes

I wanted a card that would work 100% right off the bat. I will upgrade to either a 7900 or 8800 down the road. Would this 8800 GTS card work 100%?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...2b8800gts%2bxxx

Just a quick update:

-Got the BA2, it was DOA, RMA'd it
-Got a second BA2, works great
-174 Xbench (Q6600/8GB/500GB/7300GT)
-OC'd to 3ghz, 200 Xbench
-Adding 7900 then an 8800 GTS (7000-series cards will be used in other systems)
-Everything is super fast (1 bounce & apps open)
-Properly downloaded 10.5.1, no problems
-Onetrack is the man (Leopard Perfect Install guide)

More updates later

Having trouble getting Time Machine to work right. The Sound Patch also does not work. I did a fresh format and tried installing again, no luck. However, 10.5.1 downloaded without problems and I didn't even have to repair permissions before booting to get it to work normally!

Okay, I've narrowed it down to 3 problems:

1. Time Machine does not work
2. Sound does not work
3. Graphics exhibit occasional tearing/pixies

I've tried a few different IONetworkingFamily binaries with no luck; I've also switched my drives from ACPI to IDE (they're SATA), still no luck on Time Machine. I've tried installing the Sound Patch a few times, including two separate files, but that's a no-go too. Also, the graphics sometimes tear/have pixies, I don't know what to call them - graphical weirdness. They go away when I turn off/on my monitor, but sometimes come back. Not sure if that's the card or the driver. My monitor is working fine with my Mini.

It's hammer time!

-Got sound working
-Graphical gremlins seem to go away after I switch off/on the monitor, haven't gotten to testing the 7900 or 8800 yet
-Time Machine is still a mystery

Won't quit till everything is working 100%

Got Time Machine working
Graphical gremlins still here

When I boot or reboot, I get the little pixies on my screen. If I turn my monitor off, then on, they seem to go away for the duration of the time I use the computer until I reboot again. I will see if this happens with the other video cards later.

Reinstalled NVinject 1.5 (for Leopard), same problem. I'll try a different monitor later just to be sure.

Just tried a 7900GT, works great. Same graphical gremlins, but a quick monitor off/on fixes that. 8800 GTS is next! I will also be testing Software RAID plus a RAID PCI IDE card later.

thanks for keeping us posted. I'm watching on my brand new Badaxe/q6600 10.4.10 install (Kalyway), but eagerly eyeing leopard.

Phil

Installed the 8800 GTS, works great with NVinject 1.5 for Leopard and has no gremlins. Tested so far:

-PNY 7300 GT
-eVGA 7900 GT
-XFX 8800 GTS

All work great, but the 7300 and 7900 have gremlins each boot until I reset the monitor. To recap my install:

-Kayway formatting
-BrazilMac (built under Tiger, Oct 31 edition, from Leopard retail full DVD)
-PC EFI 5.2
-10.5.1 update (no repair permissions needed!)
-Updated IONetworkingFamily binary (for Time Machine)
-Sound patch (AppleHDApatcher 1.16)

I will be testing all 3 cards on different monitors later tonight.

To bad you whent with the Bad axe the asus P5w DH was way cheaper and has way more options and is just better

No problem! I will be releasing a very detailed guide later this week, as well as a complete driver pack for the Bad Axe 2 motherboard. I'm building a second Hackintosh this week (Gigabyte board, C2D proc) and I will test the cards in that to see if maybe the gremlins are just on the Bad Axe 2. They're not a big problem (just a simple monitor on/off fixes them), but I don't like bugs period. I will also be doing another fresh install on the Bad Axe 2 just to get things down pat for my guide, so we'll see if they come back with that as well. Plus I'll test it with a couple different monitors, so I'll have all my bases covered.

The Bad Axe board is $10 cheaper than the Asus board ($169 vs. $179). The Asus board only has 6 SATA ports, while the Bad Axe board has 8. The Bad Axe has a long history of stability with Hackintosh, plus I don't need wireless. So no biggie

... amazing. I'm more than jealous...

I'm in the process of making a frankintosh, but nothing compared to this beast.

I had a Santa Rosa-based MacBook Pro as well as an older Mini. Since I don't require portability anymore, I sold the MBP for a decent price and decided to build this. Originally I wanted to upgrade my Mini (I'm big into upgrading Minis), but the 2.33ghz T7600 processor is still almost $700 everywhere, so I looked at Mac Pros. Too bad the Mac Pros start at $2,500 standard; even if you cut down the config it only goes to $2,200. Enter the Hackintosh - $1300 and it's even better than the $5,000 configuration! Haha. I got a good price on an 8800 GTS used, so I'm going to recycle the 7300 & 7900 into a couple other Hackintosh projects (7300 in a Gigabyte/C2D build I'm doing this week). This stuff is so great...my machine is absolutely flawless. Zero problems. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. I couldn't be happier!

I just tested OS X's Software RAID using two WD 500gb 7200rpm SATA drives. Mirroring seems very slow...I copied over my XP VM and launched it, the first time it froze up my entire system and the second time it just went dog slow and hardly responded to my mouse clicks. Although it was fine copying stuff over. I just set them up in a Striped and it's much faster. I would say 99% as fast as the primary boot disks...it seems just a tiny tad itty bit slow when running the VM, hardly noticeable, and it seems to go full speed once you get into it. I'd say if you want to use Mirroring, just use it for file storage/backup/Time Machine rather than actually running stuff off of like a VMware virtual machine. Just from my quickie test.

It seems like the only thing that doesn't work with Hackintosh is Boot Camp. However, since you're on an actual PC you can just dual boot or install XP/Vista on a separate drive and boot from there by choosing the drive in the BIOS. I'm not sure if you could read a "real" partition using a VM app like Fusion or Parallels though, which may be an issue if you want to do virtual plus dual boot. There are some NTFS readers like MacFuse or Paragon's software.

I'm also trying to figure out the best way to clone the internal boot drive. I like the concept of Time Machine, but if my boot drive bites the dust I don't want to have to sit there and install Leopard/Brazil for like 2 hours again, then restore the Time Machine backup. I wonder if CarbonCopyCloner could restore a file clone using Kalyway or something...

Did you end up getting thet BLK or BOX board? You linked to two different models on New Egg and zip zoom.

EDIT: I guess the BLK stands for bulk and comes with a few less items in box or something.

Yup one comes with the Box & accessories and the other is OEM. There are 2 models available right now, the non-KR and the KR edition. The only difference is that the KR edition supports CrossFire, which OS X doesn't support anyway. You will need a different IONetworkingFamily.kext for the non-KR edition as well, check out my software thread for the Bad Axe 2 over here:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=76014

After reading this, I've decided my next computer will not be an OEM or Apple.

how to make Quad Core Q6600 recognised in leopard?

i saw the screenshot from BJMoose recognised as Intel Core TM 2 Quad but it's 2.66GHz
and saw a few others also recognised

thanks

Its not recognized by defaut in about this mac , he edited some file you can see in his post
But iATKOS install this is recognized in System profiler

ah i see, thanks

well in system profile, it does recognise has 4 cores

Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 4
L2 Cache: 8Mb

Weaksauce12, looks like you built the machine i was aiming for.

Any changes you would make looking back?

i'm really new to osx86 and am wondering what changes would be needed for dual monitors?

Did you ever run this system run 10.4? I have an office full of 10.4.11 imacs and i think i want to stay there for as long as possible.

thanks,
kNewton

Why use a Bad AXE, that board is really outdated, you may aswell use the 845 chipset .

Use a P35 board - WAY better support with OSX86 - you can get full sata/ide + lan + audio out/mic in/spdif out also!!!

I have built two machines with the ASUS P5ke-Wifi, fantastic board, built in wifi works with OSx86, runs leopard awesome, overclocks, optical audio out, 1333mhz cache support, and firewire. It truly pwns!

Another choice would be the Gigabyte P35 DS4, that board is just as well supported, sept it doesn't have wifi.

Graphics card choice would definitely be 8800gts for power, reliability, and ease of setup (+ dual monitor support with dual DVI). Built a machine last weekend with a 8800gt and had a fair bit of trouble getting it to work.

how does the 8GB of ram go?

I would not use the Bad Axe 2 board again. It is a very solid board, but it has some strange boot code issues that I haven't really been able to resolve, plus other boards give you full support like 100% audio. Right now I would recommend the Gigabyte P35 DS3L, which is supposed to be 100% compatible and also supports 45nm processors. I'll find out in a week or so Also, I've never used Tiger on my Hackintosh, just Leopard, but I've heard the xXx 10.4.11 release is good!

WeakSauce: did you have to do anything special to get it to boot off of raid0? I'm running an Asus p5k-e with a Q6600 and 2x500Gig SATA drives. I've set the on-board controller to AHCI and used the Disk Utility on the disk to Raid0 the drives. It installs, but won't boot. I tried installing it JBOD style and it boots fine, but I would like the performance boost of the stripe.

Hints?

Thanks,
dj