knyte2 Posted May 15, 2008 Share Posted May 15, 2008 Ok, so there may be better configurations out there, and there may be setups that hold more ram, but this one works without a hitch (well, almost no hitches) and comes in as listed at just under $600. Less if you have parts lying around. ECS 945GCT/m-1333 mobo Intel E4500 - These are regularly on sale at Fry's - Most recently it was with the E6550 (faster is better) for $159 4GB of PC6400 RAM (Your choice) can be had for under $100 500GB SATA Drive right around $100 SATA or IDE DVD/DL - in the $40 neighborhood Sapphire HD2600XT 256mb - Found online for about $69.00 Case and power supply - Easily found for about $50 Total - Just over $500 For the install you'll need to fond a few things (easy enough to find out it the wild) 1. Kalyway 10.5.1 (It imagine that the 10.5.2 disk could be subbed, I just havent tested it) 2. bootefi.zip (the best scripted install of pcefi that I have used, works without a hitch) 3. Audio_Setup_Sigmatel_9220.zip (makes the sound work, though it comes through the pink input port) 4. The latest Natit (for the 2600, though you will want to follow the guide found here to the letter.) 5. The Kalyway 10.5.2 combined update (again, easily found in the wild) ** Before you start, make sure you have the bootefi.zip unzipped and on a thumbdrive. I found it worked more reliably on a mac formatted thumbdrive. Also name the thumbdrive something easy as you will need to get to it later via the terminal. Ok, once you have all the hardware, go ahead and install all the hardware into the case EXCEPT THE VIDEO CARD Boot from the Kalyway DVD, and go into disk utility Format the drive in one partition, GUID - Give it a one word name, something easy to remember. Quit disk utility, and go ahead with the install. Choose custom, and select only the vanilla check boxes. (No boot loader necessary, that comes with the bootefi installation) Once finished with the install, insert the thumbdrive, and reboot with the Kalyway DVD and go into the terminal (found under the tools pull down) >The following was taken from the readme file with bootefi.zip, I couldnt word it any better< Then enter the following commands sudo -s (then enter your root password) cd /Volumes/usbvolname/bootefi where usbvolname is the volume name of the USB Thumb drive, USB hard drive, or second internal drive where the "bootefi" folder was copied to. ./bootefi.sh installvolumename where installvolumename is the volume name of the drive that OSX was installed to. The installvolumename should be surrounded by double quotes. Example: ./bootefi.sh "MacHD" or ./bootefi.sh "Macintosh HD" Now simply follow the prompts and choices based on the type of bootloader install. The choices are EFI or Darwin X86 bootloader and for an EFI bootloader, mbr or guid type partition on the OSX hard drive. At the end, the script will ask to either reboot or stay in Terminal and reboot later. Before OSX boots up, make sure to remove the OSX install DVD, so that it won't interfere. Once this is completed, you can reboot without the thumbdrive, and DVD. You should be in OSX and up and running. A couple more steps, for the audio and video. Video - follow the guide link here (I know this one works, if it gives you trouble, make sure you repaired permissions) Audio is a little trickier, here's the guide Install the Kalyway 10.5.2 combined update, and rund your updates. You should be good to go. I'll be refining this one a little, with some BIOS screenshots and the like in the coming weeks. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/104944-ecs-945gctm-1333-installation-guide/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
maclinux Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Cool! I was just looking for a cheap upgrade, as my funds are limited at the moment. I'm waiting for your detailed report. Thank you! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/104944-ecs-945gctm-1333-installation-guide/#findComment-748450 Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattrb Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 too bad the motherboard cant overclock. If you want to overclock you should spend 50$ more and get one that does. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/104944-ecs-945gctm-1333-installation-guide/#findComment-749038 Share on other sites More sharing options...
knyte2 Posted May 30, 2008 Author Share Posted May 30, 2008 I was more concerned with stability than OCing it, but I can definitely understand the appeal. Since tis MB will accept the 45nm chips (I believe), I just figured that I could pick up the performance with a CPU upgrade. Still the 4gb limit is a little frustrating (though I haven't found it all that crippling as of yet). Also, the Kalyway 10.5.3 update works as advertised, just be sure to follow the readme file included in the archive. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/104944-ecs-945gctm-1333-installation-guide/#findComment-764170 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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