Need help deciding what hardware to change.

[resiroth]

I'll try to be as thorough as possible so you don't have to keep asking me things. I've looked at the forums but I'm still not sure and I'd like to have some confirmation.

Currently I have the Kalyway 10.5.2 INTEL&AMD DVD but people are mentioning 10.5.3. What is the difference?

On to hardware:

I currently have an older machine that I was thinking about trying to install MAC OSX to try it out.

The specs are:

AMD 64 3000+ running at 2ghz

ASUS K8N

1GB PC 3200

AGP ATI X800 XL PLATINUM 256MB

AGP monitor resolution 1280x1024

500GB IDE hard drive

IDE DVDRW drive

Onboard sound

I'm using a DWA-142 d-link N receiver and a DIR-655 router. I noticed the router was listed under MAC on their website so that is a good sign.

As I browsed newegg more I realized I could dust this machine off and make it fly again.

I currently have in spare parts:

a 7900 GS From nvidia 256MB PCI-E

550 watt PSU x-infinity I think, I got it free on black friday

A coolermaster case ( a nice one )

DVD drives

IDE hard drives.

 

I read that my athlon processor was compatible but I'm worried from a performance standpoint.

I am going to upgrade the motherboard and I am leaning towards

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131172 or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128090

The asus is listed as working 100% ( not sure about onboard video ) but it seems like it may be phased out. The gigabyte has no data on the wiki but supports newer AMD processors. I recall from earlier that intel was only supported, is there any benefit of going intel? I don't want to spend more than 100 dollars on the motherboard but that doesn't seem to be very limiting judging by the number of boards that look good under that price.

I'm leaning towards a 5200+ AMD. Is there a reason that they're so cheap compared to intels similar multi-core processors? Do 8800GTs have the same compatibility as 7900GSs? is one better compatibility wise?

Other than that 4gb of pc6400 and I should be good.

 

Also: I may make this my main machine over my current one with dual booting vista/OSX. Do hackintoshes have any stability issues to worry about? Is it more realistically a second machine toy? Or can I safely dual boot between them.

 

I apologize for my horrible structure. I have been up for 26 hours so it will probably be rambly. I hope I can help contribute to the wiki once I get everything figured out.