MacOldTimer Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 Hello All, This is my first post on the forums(been looking around for a long time). I am looking at building my first hackintosh and want it to have have 8 cores. I want it be able to boot both Vista and OS X, and possibly XP. It time for both my PC and Mac to be replaced and want to get it down to one machine. So, far I was able to find one other person who was able to get Intel's D5400XS (Skulltrail) mobo to work. So that is where I started. Please let me know what you think about my parts list for this build. Any recommendations would be helpful. The price is going to be a little on the high side, but getting a dual 2.8ghz MacPro w/o display at the same configuration w/tax was over $5200. Motherboard Intel BOXD5400XS D5400XS (Skulltrail) - Retail 604.84 + 6.95 S&H ($611.79) http://www.provantage.com/intel-boxd5400xs~4ITEM0F4.htm CPU 2 x Intel Xeon E5430 Harpertown 2.66GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 771 80W Quad-Core Processor – Retail $484.99 + Free S&H ($969.98) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819117145 Memory A-DATA 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM ECC Fully Buffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Server Memory - Retail $154.99 + Free S&H http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820211298 HDDs Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - Retail $76.84 + Free S&H http://www.buy.com/prod/western-digital-ca.../203868982.html 1 or 2 for Boot and 4 for Raid 5 ($384.20 or $461.04) Video Card BFG GeForce 8800GT OC2 512MB 675MHz GDDR3 PCI-E 2.0 Dual DVI/HDTV+TV Out SLI Supported - Retail $142.99 (After 30.00 Rebate 7/31/08) + Free S&H http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=...amp;dcaid=15889 DVD-Burner LG Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 4X DVD+R DL 16X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-R 24X CD-RW 40X CD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Super Multi Blu-ray Disc Burner & HD DVD-ROM Drive w/Lightscribe - Retail 181.95 + 13.35 S&H ($195.30) http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.as...g&pid=19866 Tower NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Black Steel / Plastic - Retail 109.99 + 28.00 S&H ($137.99) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...NZXT-_-11146047 PSU CORSAIR CMPSU-1000HX 1000W (Model: CMPSU-1000HX) - Retail 189.99 (After $20 Rebate 7/31/08) + 11.12 S&H ($201.11) http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetai...ctCode=10008048 Monitor BenQ 24 inch LCD Wide GTG 4000:1-2MS DSUB/DVI / HDMI HDCP Manufacturer Part# V2400W - Retail 434.12 + 14.95 S&H ($449.07) http://www.provantage.com/benq-v2400w~7BEN9011.htm Grand Total $3324.23 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted July 23, 2008 Share Posted July 23, 2008 Should work -> Check this and this. There are more threads on the same subject, I just didn't bother to find them. Please let me know what you think about my parts list for this build. Any recommendations would be helpful. The price is going to be a little on the high side, but getting a dual 2.8ghz MacPro w/o display at the same configuration w/tax was over $5200.The trick is to not buy Apple brand RAM and hard drives. You save a lot that way. A skulltrail setup will be slightly cheaper though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgersbadgers Posted September 13, 2009 Share Posted September 13, 2009 Like MacOldTimer, I too am a long-time-lurker, first-time-poster. An 8-core hackintosh is something I've been considering for some time now (MacBook Pro bit the dust and I became poor). So it looks like I'm embarking on an intense journey. I like to think I've got a good amount of computer building experience. Other than the busted MBP, I've got a half rack full of rackmount frankensteins that I just use for odd jobs w/ various VMs (winblows and linux). And although I'm a long-time mac fan, the last time I tried anything hackintosh-related was 4 long years ago when OSx86 was just beginning. Back then, I got a working proof of concept, smiled, then repurposed the machine. Not that you care about any of this. Anyway, my main goal is to build an 8-core hackintosh on a tight budget ($,1500 USD, SEP09). So I figure that I've got two main options. I'll get to the hardware part in a bit. The first option is to install VMware's ESXi Server and see if I can get OSX to spin up in a virtual machine. My cursory research on this is that it's tough to do, even to virtualize OSX Server. The second option is of course to install OSx86 outright. Neither of these two options will be easy since I haven't really found anyone with a working hardware list similar to what I want. Maybe I haven't exhausted all my research options. But I spent a few days on newegg and decided to plunge in headlong. Here's what I ordered yesterday. Keep in mind I have absolutely no idea if any of this will work! I will keep you all posted. Motherboard SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAL-i-O Dual LGA 1366 Intel 5500 ATX Dual Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5500 sequence (Nehalem-EP processor) ... - Retail As of this writing, the three cheapest dual-processor LGA 1366 boards on newegg are these two and the one above. Why did I settle on this one? It has a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot. I will be using this later when I upgrade (discussed below). It has onboard sound. It sounds like a lot of folks are having a tough time getting sound to work with OSX. The cheapest PCIe sound card they had was like $60. An extra sound card is really not something I want to mess around with. It has PCI slots. I'll tinker with these since I've got boxes full of old PCI cards. If the onboard sound (above) completely fails, then I'm sure I've got some generic PCI sound card kicking around. Same goes for old VGA cards. the TYAN board had 0 and the ASUS had 1 PCI slot. It has plenty of headers for fans. Looks like 6 from the picture. It has dual gigabit ethernet. Again, if these don't work, I've always got the PCI. Processors 2 X Intel Xeon E5504 Nehalem 2.0GHz LGA 1366 80W Quad-Core Server Processor Model BX80602E5504 - Retail Keeping in mind I wanted to go cheap, I still get two quad-core chips. Surely my not-so-broke peers would upgrade these puppies. I went with LGA 1366 instead of LGA 775 for some random reason. I got got two of these cheap heatsinks/fans. Hopefully they don't suck as much as I think they will. Memory 3 X Patriot Signature 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) ECC Unbuffered Server Memory Model PSD34G1333EK - Retail (12 GB total) Wanted to go with 16 GB, but the motherboard only has 6 memory slots. This is all I could swing dollar-wise. Rackmount Chassis + Power Supply Athena Power RM-4U4064X80 Black 4U Rackmount Server Case - Retail As mentioned, I've got an existing rackmount installation in my home. This combo comes with a 800 Watt power supply. The key is that the dual processor motherboard needs dual 8-pin 12V EPS power connectors (in addition to the normal 24-pin power connector). The AthenaPower site isn't great, but this page has the rackmount enclosure specifications which indicates that this is the included power supply. All my hopes and dreams are riding on these two snippets of text: "Dual EPS-12V 8pin for Intel Skulltrail" and "Dual 8 Pin EPS-12V Support Quad CPU Xeon M/B." Optical Drive LG 22X Super Multi DVD Writer Black SATA Model GH22NS40R - Retail Like any geek, I've got a box full of old IDE/ATA optical disk drives, but I didn't have any SATA. The motherboard has no IDE/ATA headers. I'd really like to get away from optical media altogether, but I foresee plenty of tinkering and needing to boot from DVDs. Also, one of the 4 things broken on my MBP was the DVD drive, so I've missed it from time to time. This one came with a combo pack of dual-layer DVD-RW-DLs. External Hard Drive Enclosure Link Depot ENWB-25B-SS 2.5" USB 2.0 External Enclosure - Retail Got this to try to salvage the hard drive out of my busted MacBook Pro. It may also come in handy if I want to boot off USB or get files back and forth if networking doesn't work right away. Monitor + Video Card ASUS VW246H Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail <no video card ordered> Now, the real goal is to get two of these eventually. The display has both VGA and DVI inputs. The plan is to get the thing running using the motherboard's onboard VGA. Surely, I've read about a lot of people's issues with various graphics cards. And dual monitors adds to that lather. So after I get the thing up and running, then I'll tackle the dual DVI monitors plus graphics card issue. <edit>I made a glorious mistake. The motherboard does not have onboard graphics. I've got a plan, but I'll tell you about it when I actually try it.</edit> So... Now all I need to do is wait the 3 days shipping time and start putting the thing together. If you notice anything grossly incompatible right off the bat, please let me know so that I can place another hasty order. I'll be sure to continue reading and posting on these forums. A lot. I'll document my progress the best I can. Let's work together? - badger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyckyj Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 I am 99.99% sure that that motherboard does not have onboard graphics. Luckily basically any cheap nvidia pcie card will work. Edit: oops a little late Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgersbadgers Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 I am 99.99% sure that that motherboard does not have onboard graphics. Luckily basically any cheap nvidia pcie card will work.Edit: oops a little late LOL yes, yes, that was a bad oversight on my part... As of this moment, still waiting for the items to ship. I've got some old clunker video cards kicking around that I will try... but I think they are AGP/PCI. If they work, that will tide me over till next payday. If not, I'll probably end up grabbing one of these: EVGA 01G-P3-N945-LR GeForce 9400 GT 1GB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail Pros: dual DVI, 1 GB onboard. Cons: DDR2. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellair Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 Like MacOldTimer, I too am a long-time-lurker, first-time-poster. An 8-core hackintosh is something I've been considering for some time now (MacBook Pro bit the dust and I became poor). So it looks like I'm embarking on an intense journey. I like to think I've got a good amount of computer building experience. Other than the busted MBP, I've got a half rack full of rackmount frankensteins that I just use for odd jobs w/ various VMs (winblows and linux). And although I'm a long-time mac fan, the last time I tried anything hackintosh-related was 4 long years ago when OSx86 was just beginning. Back then, I got a working proof of concept, smiled, then repurposed the machine. Not that you care about any of this. Anyway, my main goal is to build an 8-core hackintosh on a tight budget ($,1500 USD, SEP09). So I figure that I've got two main options. I'll get to the hardware part in a bit. The first option is to install VMware's ESXi Server and see if I can get OSX to spin up in a virtual machine. My cursory research on this is that it's tough to do, even to virtualize OSX Server. The second option is of course to install OSx86 outright. Neither of these two options will be easy since I haven't really found anyone with a working hardware list similar to what I want. Maybe I haven't exhausted all my research options. But I spent a few days on newegg and decided to plunge in headlong. Here's what I ordered yesterday. Keep in mind I have absolutely no idea if any of this will work! I will keep you all posted. ... So... Now all I need to do is wait the 3 days shipping time and start putting the thing together. If you notice anything grossly incompatible right off the bat, please let me know so that I can place another hasty order. I'll be sure to continue reading and posting on these forums. A lot. I'll document my progress the best I can. Let's work together? - badger Do you installed everything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgersbadgers Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 Do you installed everything? Yes, I've assembled this machine and it is running solidly..... as an ESXi server. I have tried multiple methods to install OSx86 in a VM on ESXi with no luck. I have tried multiple methods to install OSx86 on the hardware itself with no luck. There is much more tinkering to do. I will keep you posted. Has anyone found a reliable multi-core VMware VM image??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellair Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 There is a 10.6 vm image in the t*rrent world Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dyckyj Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Yes, I've assembled this machine and it is running solidly..... as an ESXi server. I have tried multiple methods to install OSx86 in a VM on ESXi with no luck. I have tried multiple methods to install OSx86 on the hardware itself with no luck. There is much more tinkering to do. I will keep you posted. Has anyone found a reliable multi-core VMware VM image??? Any luck yet? What specifically is your problems when trying to install on the hardware? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitrobass24 Posted January 17, 2010 Share Posted January 17, 2010 Any updates? I also just got this board and am looking for some insight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgersbadgers Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 All, Sorry to be so sluggish in replying (months). And even more sorry to report I have very little good news. I tried a few VMs for ESXi with no good luck. I am not interested in VMWare Server since that requires a host OS--much prefer a bare metal hypervisor. Currently the machine is running with Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit with no problems. But using windows is like living in hell. As soon as I get a vacation I'll do backups and burn a spindle of CDs. I've downloaded like two dozen OSX86 ISOs to try, all different flavors. If and when I make any progress, I will let you know, but so far I haven't. One thing I've been wondering about is that, as I mentioned, I went with two Intel Xeon E5504s because they were cheap... These don't have hyperthreading. Curious if that will present any issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgersbadgers Posted July 22, 2010 Share Posted July 22, 2010 SIX MONTHS LATER: GREAT NEWS I have this machine running extremely solidly with Snow Leopard using the retail install method described by lifehacker. Benchmark 165 on XBench. Minor issues. Motherboard (SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAL-i-O) onboard sound and onboard networking did not work out of the box. Used an old PCI SoundBlaster Live Digital 5.1 card plus whatever driver from the manufacturer. Used a simple trendnet PCI 10/100/1000 ethernet card. Went with the EVGA 01G-P3-N981-TR GeForce 9800 GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card Used some easy-to-find kext for it to recognize 2 monitors. I am an extremely happy person now that this beast is running solidly. I have thrown everything I can think of at it, including software, peripherals, and virtualization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgersbadgers Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Additional news. I threw in a 64 GB Kingston SSD and set up four more 1 TB HDDs. Nice boost. Then I built seven more mostly identical systems. Having a full rack of hackintosh servers is nice. Xgrid works. Dual GigE works. All the streaming servers work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stellair Posted September 2, 2010 Share Posted September 2, 2010 Additional news. I threw in a 64 GB Kingston SSD and set up four more 1 TB HDDs. Nice boost. Then I built seven more mostly identical systems. Having a full rack of hackintosh servers is nice. Xgrid works. Dual GigE works. All the streaming servers work. Can you tell me which motherboard you are using now? Is everything (shutdown, sleep, esata, usb, firewire,...) working? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badgersbadgers Posted September 3, 2010 Share Posted September 3, 2010 Can you tell me which motherboard you are using now? Is everything (shutdown, sleep, esata, usb, firewire,...) working? SUPERMICRO MBD-X8DAL-i-O Dual LGA 1366 Intel 5500 ATX Dual Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor 5500 sequence (Nehalem-EP processor) ... - Retail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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