[COMPLETED] Noob question? Quad Core Hackintosh suggestions...

[jtram]

Hey guys, I just joined this site and I have some noob questions:

 

The plan: I want to build a stable quad core hackintosh with a:

 

Core 2 quad q8200 or q6600,

Dual boot with Leopard 10.5.5 and Windows XP,

4 or 8 gb ram,

Sata dvd,

1 x 500gb sata hd,

1 x 1tb sata hd,

1 x 600w psu.

I want to also o/c in the bios

 

These are my questions:

 

1. I'm not sure which processor is better suited for a Hackintosh (q8200 or q6600) which one is better...any suggestions?

 

2. What motherboard will work for these processors, (one without soundcard and ethernet issues)?

 

3. What type of ram work with the Leopard OS? any? (DDR2 8000)

 

4. Will any sata DVD burner work?

 

5. Is there any problem running the hackintosh in dual boot? I only want to run general aplications and logic 8.0 and protools on the mac side. (not a vista fan here, my old programs don;t work on it and I still need to use them)

 

6. I'm not a gammer: I don't need a souped up vga or anything like that. Does 10.5.5 work with on board vga cards?

 

Thanks guys...I'm very new to the (m)hacworld but everyone has one now and I need to catch up! Ha..

[Synaesthesia]

Hi, many questions are answered here on the forum if you just search, and there is a (slightly outdated) list of working hardware at

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

which helps a lot. But I will answer your questions, in order!

 

I believe both those processors work just fine. However, the Q6600 works with Vanilla kernel, but the Q8200 requires a patched kernel. Not a big deal.

 

Hi. There are many motherboards that work without Sound or ethernet issues, (although they all require some patching). One of my favourites is the Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L. It is cheap and works well. If you want something fancier, try the Gigabyte P45-DS3L.

 

Use DDR2-800 or 1066.

 

Sata DVD works well.

 

I believe you can get any OS X program or Application to run perfectly, including Logic 8, Protools, whatever.

 

Yes, but only the outdated GMA 950 - for light graphics get a cheap working card like the nVidia 7300GT 256mb or ATI 2600 Pro.

[JaE-V]

If your overclocking dont get the Q8200, struggles. Go with Q6600

[Wman]

a lot of people recommend the p45-ds3l, but, if you use the q6600 (which seems to be the cpu of choice, and pretty cheap), I would say the p35-ds3l would be a better deal. The q6600 is designed for p35 chipset and would work just as well if not better with the p35 board and the p35 board is cheaper. I say ga-ep35-ds3l and a q6600 (that's what I'm using), but if you get the other cpu, the p45 will be better. They're both great mobos and oob (except audio, but I just use external, and there's a fix for that)

[jtram]

Thanks guys!

 

Per recomendation, I've narrowed down to using: still some questions though

1. q6600

 

2. gigabyte ga ep45 ds3L

 

This mobo is on sale @newe99 for $104.99 with rebate to $89.99; will this work? I've read about people having alot of problems getting the mobo to not constantly reboot with the ep45 ds3l mobo. What do you think?

 

3. sata dvd drive

 

4. sata 1 tb and 500 gb hard drives (no raid)

 

5. OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready Active PFC Power Supply

 

6. Newe99 does not have the nVidia 7300GT 256mb or ATI 2600 Pro graphics cards. What else can I use that's cheap? (not into graphics)

 

7. 8 gb ram ddr2 800

 

8. leopard 10.5.5

 

9. firewire card (can I use any firewire card?)

 

How does this sound? Will everything work alright?

 

Also, does 10.5.5 run bootcamp so that I can install windows xp in a dual system?

[Synaesthesia]

This mobo is on sale @newe99 for $104.99 with rebate to $89.99; will this work? I've read about people having alot of problems getting the mobo to not constantly reboot with the ep45 ds3l mobo. What do you think?

I think if you're concerned about that, get the P35-DS3L, which is reported as working perfectly.

 

Go for the Geforce 8400GS - it's cheap and also works fine.

 

8GB works, I believe.

 

Get any firewire card in this list. (Scroll to bottom). Or get the P45-UD3R which is working with built in Firewire.

 

You can't run Bootcamp on a PC - but it's easy to dual-boot Windows XP + OS X with 2 partitions with a bootloader.

[Zaap]

Yeah, the P35-DS3L is rock solid, easily one of the best boards for a retail build. You can still find them brand new on ebay.

 

This $10 Firewire card works great.

 

Use VMWare Fusion 2.0 rather than Parallels. It can boot an actual Windows install as a 'bootcamp' virtual machine.

[jtram]

Hey zapp, I was all ready to go with vmware fusion but as I read more about it...I don;t think it will work...it says my hardware will become software and I have external devices I want to connect...using the firewire card for my audio interface. Will this progrma still work? Should I just do a regualr dual boot instead?

[Synaesthesia]

Whatever, you should check both out when you get it installed.

 

Fusion is good for just running windows for certain apps. It's pretty fast when it works - and I believe (but I'm not sure..firewire may work).

 

Anyway, it's dead easy to dual boot. Just check out this guide: search for "dilnalomo" in google.

[Zaap]

Hey zapp, I was all ready to go with vmware fusion but as I read more about it...I don;t think it will work...it says my hardware will become software and I have external devices I want to connect...using the firewire card for my audio interface. Will this progrma still work? Should I just do a regualr dual boot instead?

 

Sorry, I think I misunderstood your original question. I thought you were already planning to do a regular dual boot.

 

Yes, by all means, that's what I'd recommend.

 

 

My statement was about 'bootcamp' type performance within OSX. VMWare can use the actual Windows install in a dual boot system like a virtual machine, much like bootcamp on a real Mac. (And of course, you can also use just a straight-up Virtual install.) I really don't know the full range of hardware that's supported in any VM setup, but I wouldn't rely on it being an exhaustive list. Mainly, it's just convenient to have access to basic Windows apps while using OSX.

 

But I wouldn't suggest a virtual machine as a replacement for a dual-boot install- just an addition to it.

[jtram]

This worked perfectly...the rundown of what I did is here

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=142275....

 

 

Thanks everyone!!!