Best Hackintosh build?

[Wman]

I will aquire a g5 case modified for an atx board soon. I want to know what the "best" hardware (least problems/ trouble installing) is. An atx mobo (a lot of people seem to us asus p5e, which I believe needs some BIOS upgrading), that will support intel c2q, video card (pci-e, 512mb, maybe the basic mac pro one?), etc. What set up would you recommend. Pretty budget though.

-thx

[LogicalUser]

i would reccomend doing some browsing on this forum, the gigabyte motherboards based on the P35 and P45 intel chips seem to be very popular & well supported.

i'll be assembling a machine with a EP45-DS3R in the next few days, just as soon as all the parts arrive

[Wman]

I've been reading around. I'm using a p45 or 35. Those will fit in a g5 case with a modifies I/O panel for ATX, right? They're just standard ATX? I also want to do a retail install. Should I go for Efi-x (and just use one of their recommended mobos), or do BOOT321 and use the ep35-ds3l mobo? Either way, I'll use intel c2q, probably 2.4ghz. I would like to save the 200$, but if efi-x will be more straightforward or work better in general, I think its worth the money. If I use one of the above mobos, will I have driver issues. I really don't want to deal with kexts and will I be able to do apple software update?

[Synaesthesia]

Save your money - just use Boot-132. Hackintosh is really easy if you have the right hardware, eg P35-DS3L motherboard. You may have to use kexts a little, but so what - just use kext helper - no sweat!

[Wman]

Ohh. Theres a software that makes that easier. i thought kexts might involve something confusing and hard. Sounds OK. I guess I'll use BOOT123.I looked at my budget and I really can't afford the extra 200$ for efix. Still unsure of hardware...

 

mobo:

P35-DS3L - 100$ - works well, cheap

P35-DS3R - 70$ - Don't know about this one. How does it do?

P45-DS3R - 200$ - works well, maybe

P45-DS4P - 200-250$ - Not sure about this. Anyone used it?

p45-DQ6 - 300-350$ - I want this, expensive, low budget

P45-EXTREME - 350$-400$ - Can't afford really, just wondering how this is?

 

Probably P35-DS3l or P45-DS3R, not sure though. Any advice on mobo?

Will I have to update BIOS?

 

CPU

either C2D, C2Q, If I can get a good deal or C2E, if I can get an awsome deal

 

probably either Q660 or Q9550 (C2Q). What do you think?

 

case:

Modified G5 case,I'm buying. ATX form, no PSU

 

PSU:

no idea here. about what voltage should I get?

 

Video card:

GeForce 8800GT

GeForce 8600GT

what should I do here? Limited budget, want 512, but I'll settle for 256, since I can upgrade this easily when i get mor money

What seems to work best with OSX86? - I probably want dual-dvi, for two 20-inch monitors.

 

Any advice, then?

-thx:)

[Synaesthesia]

There's a list of hardware working here :

http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.5.2

 

The P35-DS3R works well, according to the list in the wiki. Get that. Get a Quad core Q6600 if you can, else a Core 2 Duo is good - basically get the best CPU you can afford.

 

Get 4gb RAM. Fast RAM is better for overclocking. Get a decent cooler, if you want to overclock a Core 2 Quad.

 

For PSU - 350W or so is fine, if you get a big gfx card like 8800GT you need more wattage, like 450-500. Antec is a good brand for cases + PSU.

 

The 8600 256mb will serve you perfectly for Dual-screen graphics. If gaming is a priority, get an ATI 3870 or nVidia 8800GT or better.

[Wman]

what about P45-DS4P and P45-DQ6?

 

still, probably P45-DS3R

 

Will those mobos support the 2.83GHZ C2Q?

 

What's the advantage of P45-DS3R over P35-DS3R or P35-DS3L?

[LogicalUser]

IMO anything above the P45-DS3R is overkill, all you get are enthusiast related options, crossfire support, better motherboard cooling, etc... all not relevant for a hackintosh.

and $200 seems like a ripoff as well, i just got one new, shipped & including tax for $160 canadian.

 

all of those motherboards you mentioned will work fine with any core 2 processor.

 

P35 is the older chipset, and has been discontinued in favor of the P45 series.

 

from the hackintosh perspective, the biggest difference between the P45-DS3R and the P35-DS3R/L is the presence of onboard firewire on the P45-DS3R. the "R" stands for raid, which means that its got onboard raid options (doesnt work for hackintosh, so irrelevant)

oh, and the P45-DS3R also supports 16GB of ram, through the use of 4gb modules

[Wman]

So, given my limited budget would there be any foreseeable problems with a p35, otherwise I'll get a p45-Ds3r. Also, would a blood iron be good? and where did you get your mobo for 160$? I'm in canada too, so with our terrible dollar (or rather the us strangely very good dollar) that is a good price.

[bobbobson]

Get the basic vanilla P45 it's a newer chipset it will have everything you need, the eP45 is the same but with energy saving.

 

In terms of graphics an 8600 will do fine if you don't intend to play a lot of games. If you do intend to play some games look at a 9800GTX+ or a HD3870. The 9800GTX+ will give you better performance in windows with games. The rest is just like any other PC, no tricks, get 4GB of at least DDR2800, an E8600 if you want dual core, or a Q6600 if you want a quad core with some room to overclock the rest is up to you but I wouldn't go with a hard drive smaller then 500gb, and I'd get a DVD Burner, blu-ray is still to new

[LogicalUser]

The EP35/P35 based gigabyte boards are discontinued, & replaced by the EP45/P45 based boards. you will not find a new P35 based board, unless its open box/refurbished.

 

oh, FYI... gigabyte's most recent motherboard revisions in this line start with GA-EP45, or GA-EP35 rather than GA-P45 or GA-P35. its the same P45 or P35 chipset, but the ones without the E are much older, and lack some energy efficiency related PCB changes. i even saw a GA-P35-S3L used on ebay, which also lacks the DES feature of all the newer ones (the D in DS3L/R)

 

 

as for buying as a Canuck, newegg.ca is probably the cheapest place you'll find, prices & shipping & such is in canadian, however they ship your parts from the US. That said, my graphics card & ram took 4days, cost $15 to ship, and no customs/border fees.

 

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-DS3L $126.49 Canadian, has a $15 US mail in rebate right now on top of that, so $110 or so.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...N82E16813128345

 

or, GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R, $146.99 canadian (same board as EP45-DS3R but with some PCB related cooling changes)

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...N82E16813128359

 

the biggest difference here is that the EP45-DS3L has no firewire, and the EP45-DS3R/UD3R does have onboard firewire.

if your on a budget, the EP45-DS3L seems like the best choice IMO

 

 

that, or from one of these, with similar pricing as newegg.ca, but shipped from within canada.

http://www.ncix.com

http://www.bestdirect.ca (used to be TDdirect.ca)

http://www.nxsource.com

all the same parent company, located in Richmond BC. only difference between the 3 frontends seems to be current sales/customer service/parts selection/interface/etc... they share the same warehouse & quantity of stock.

 

i got my mobo via bestdirect.ca along with the PSU & case, as shipping for the heavy items was a fortune from anywhere outside BC, i have an invoice for my last parts that says both bestdirect & TDdirect.ca and mentions NCIX or NXsource on it.

 

 

 

 

 

also, as for a graphics card... the 8800gt is kinda discontinued. well, more correctly it has been replaced/rebranded into the 9800GT. the same GPU core, same stock clock speeds, shader paths, etc... just a few tiny changes to the PCB.

 

the only real difference ive noticed between the 8800gt and 9800gt reference designs is the addition of a SPDIF digital audio in port on the graphics card, which it uses to offer complete HDMI output including digital audio, via the DVI-HDMI converter.

 

 

you'll find versions from a half dozen vendors on newegg.ca for under $150 canadian

 

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...N82E16814130384

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?...N82E16814150323

[Wman]

k how does this sound:

 

mobo:

GA-EP45-UD3R -about 150$

cpu:

intel c2q q6600 (2.4ghz) -about 250$

gpu:

GeForce 9800GT - about 150$

 

should I use UD3R or DS3R?

would it matter if I got 8800GT to save the 50$ or so? or should I just get the newer one?

Will this work well with hackintosh? Will I need new kexts or patches for any of this?

 

What kind of psu will I need for this?

[LogicalUser]

if you can find a 8800GT in stock for $100, go for it, most vendors seem to have switched over to 9800GT for their cards.

 

the stores i mentioned are out of stock on DS3R, likely discontinued & replaced by UD3R.

 

its well supported hardware with 10.5.5. kexts/patches? depends on what route you go to install, boot132 from a hidden partition or USB stick with a install from retail 10.5.x seems to be the popular route lately, and theres collections of the needed stuff to get it working 100% around somewhere

[Wman]

What kind of patches/kexts will I need for this set up?

[Synaesthesia]

Check the Genius Bar Tutorials.

 

Also, search the forum with Google. Here's an example:

http://letmegooglethatforyou.com/?q=8800gt...insanelymac.com

[Wman]

k thx. But I want the most out of box performance. that's all I'm looking for. I'll search around on the forums.

[Synaesthesia]

For the Gigabyte EP45-DS3R/UD3R, according to the wiki, all works out the box except sound and shutdown.

 

Here is a fix for sound.

 

Shutdown fix is openhalt.kext from Psystar, then everything works perfectly!

[Wman]

 

so I just get that fix and download the kext, which I install with the app mentioned above.

I'll install the kext and the sound doesn;t really matter as I always use a firewire external card, but I'll try to get that fix too

-thx!

 

 

EDIT: I'm not a serious gamer, just a little COD and WoW, when I eventually get a WoWcard. I aven't played in ages. But I would like to be able to do some gaming and have it look nice. I don't really think I will need a 512mb videocard. It would be a fine upgrade as I've been using 64mb for a while. Probably GeForce ar ATI. Also, I might eventually get a better one, but I'm on a budget and its fine to have a cheaper GPU for now. The GPU is easy to upgrade.What 256mb one would work well?

[Generic George]

 

so I just get that fix and download the kext, which I install with the app mentioned above.

I'll install the kext and the sound doesn;t really matter as I always use a firewire external card, but I'll try to get that fix too

-thx!

 

 

EDIT: I'm not a serious gamer, just a little COD and WoW, when I eventually get a WoWcard. I aven't played in ages. But I would like to be able to do some gaming and have it look nice. I don't really think I will need a 512mb videocard. It would be a fine upgrade as I've been using 64mb for a while. Probably GeForce ar ATI. Also, I might eventually get a better one, but I'm on a budget and its fine to have a cheaper GPU for now. The GPU is easy to upgrade.What 256mb one would work well?

 

The important thing with video cards is not the memory, but the GPU chip. The amount of memory only really starts becoming a factor when you are trying to run at high resolutions with features like Anti-Aliasing on.

 

I'd recommend a minimum of a nvidia 8600/9600 if you are interested in doing any gaming at all. They get down to about $50.

[Wman]

kk 8600/9600 it is, then. those are duil link dvi, I imagine.

 

Where can you get these for 50 bucks?!?!?

[Generic George]

kk 8600/9600 it is, then. those are duil link dvi, I imagine.

 

I would check the card description. Odds are only one if any of the DVI ports will be dual link, at least in the $50 sort of price range. But IIRC you only need dual link if you are driving a 30" monitor (what ever resolution that is).

[Wman]

ok...so here is my build so far:

 

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R - $150

Nvidia GeForce 8600 - $50?

Intel C2Q Q6600 (2.4 Ghz) - $250

Modified Powermac G5 case - $130 (shipped)

these are low estimates, but close.

 

so I need:

I will be using a 500W PSU

At least one 500GB-1000GB HD for now

A DVD-DL drive (Blu-ray would be cool)

Some kind of extra FW/USB2.0 PCI device

Some kind of SD/microSD reader PCI device

 

Do any of these matter hackintosh-wise? What would you recommend for any of these.

[Generic George]

A DVD-DL drive (Blu-ray would be cool)

 

Not so much. OSX doesn't currently support playing back Blu-Ray movies. Though you can use it for data disks with the current version of Toast IIRC.

 

Just make sure you get a SATA DVD Drive.

[Wman]

oh ok yah. i have toast. actually used that once, although i really don't think blu-ray is going to become big. Its expensive and really doesn't seem to do anything. I'll tell yah when I get some stuff then.