NickPapageorgio Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 Everyone says it but I really am not familiar with a lot of the technical issues involved in doing this. I didn't even realize Apple was using Intel processors! I have wanted a Mac for a while but the price tags scare me off. Growing up PC, I never wanted to pay more then $1,000 for a computer. With that in mind, I have been looking at the components capability list at osx86project.org (http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page) and have been putting together the specs for my Hacintosh. The computer will mainly be used for photography. I want it to be fast with good graphics. I don't really care to run Windows/Vista on it (along with Leopard) unless there is a good reason to. Again, not being technical savvy some of this may not work together so I wanted to post it here for ideas and suggestions. Everything is at newegg.com and these prices are current as of this morning. CASE Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811133154 $139.99 - $30 rebate = $109.99 MOTHERBOARD Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813121059 $229.99 PROCESSOR Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 Yorkfield 2.83GHz 12MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115041 $309.99 GRAPHICS/VIDEO CARD EVGA 896-P3-1260-AR GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130370 $219.99 MEMORY OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820227267 $60.99 - $30 rebate = $30.99 STORAGE / HARD DRIVE Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822136284 $119.99 x 2 = $239.98 I do not like to use the C drive except for the OS and a small handful of software like Aperture & Office. Everything I save goes to another internal or external HD. I currently use external HD's and am looking at the Drobo (http://www.drobo.com/) to store my photos. With that in mind, maybe I can find a better primary HD (that isn't so big) to handle the OS and few programs I will instal and just have 1 backup internal HD (1 TB) to go along with my external HDs or drobo. Options!.... CD/DVD BURNER SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 22X DVD Burner - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827151171 $24.99 POWER SUPPLY CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139006 $104.99 - $35 rebate = $69.99 NETWORK INTERFACE NETGEAR GA311 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI Gigabit Adapter with Jumbo Frame support 1 x RJ45 - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...3&Tpk=GA311 $24.99 CARD READER Silverstone FP35B USB 2.0 Card Reader with extra silver front panel - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820131010 $34.99 SOFTWARE APPLE Mac OS X v10.5.4 Leopard (New version) - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16832110040 $109.95 OTHER Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835100007 $5.99 GRAND TOTAL: $1,411.83 I have a wireless keyboard and mouse that I like and I just purchased the SAMSUNG TOC T240 Rose Black 24" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 20000:1(1000:1) - Retail ($399.99) which is an amazing monitor! Again, any ideas or sggestions are greatly appreciated! -Mr. Papageorgio. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/138901-wanting-to-build/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 Some thoughts: The motherboard you have chosen (Bad Axe 2) works really well, but is getting old and costs way too much! For $70-$150 you can get an excellent P35 or P45 type motherboard which is a lot more modern and works perfectly too. I don't think the Bad Axe supports 45nm processors either (might be wrong here). There's no need to get an extra network card - networking works, in many motherboards. The Graphics card you have chosen isn't working in Mac OS X with acceleration. Get a 9800GTX+ instead. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/138901-wanting-to-build/#findComment-983240 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaap Posted November 30, 2008 Share Posted November 30, 2008 NickPapageorgio, check this guide. Read through most of that thread- a lot of info has been updated. Kaido on anandtech has a recipe for perfectly working Hackintoshes using the retail DVD. He's made a 1-click installer for many of the new mobos, and he's very helpful with noobs building their first mHack. The key is the motherboard above all else, and like the poster before said, the one you've chosen works, but is older and way too expensive. There are newer/cheaper/faster/better boards out now, and these days you can take advantage of a full retail/Chameleon/Boot-132 build that is nearly flawless. I highly recommend buying a compatible Gigabyte P35 or EP45 based board, use your retail copy of OSX and follow the guide. You can make a system as powerful as you want by upgrading the parts- IE: faster (compatible!) graphics card like the suggested 9800GTX or even just an 8800GT, faster/more RAM (the newer boards can handle 16GB), better CPU, etc. You could also save a little bit and put more $ into the more critical components by scaling down a little of the overkill. IE: the card reader. I've used this one in many builds, works great and is $10 rather than $35. You don't really need a 750W PSU with that rig, (a high quality 500W would do just fine) so you can probably find a cheaper one. Your RAM is a very good deal, but you could get a board that supports 8 to 16GB of DDR2 1066 or 1333. Boards I'd recommend: EP45-UD3P (half the cost of the old BadAxe, works with full retail) EP45-DQ6 (about the same price as the BadAxe, but has tons of every slot and I/O type.) EP35-DS3L (or P35) Older, but still newer than the BadAxe, cheap, a long history of support, works with full retail) Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/138901-wanting-to-build/#findComment-983271 Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickPapageorgio Posted December 1, 2008 Author Share Posted December 1, 2008 Thanks! I am watching Kaido's posts and looking for his new "recipes!" Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/138901-wanting-to-build/#findComment-983603 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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