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I've been to the Wiki. I've been on NewEgg. And I've spent hours reading this forum.

 

And I still can't seem to put together a working Hackintosh.

 

Please, if you have the time provide me with some guidance. The motherboard has been my biggest problem. It seems that models change on an almost daily basis.

 

I just want a basic Hackintosh to play around with. I don't want to nor can I break the bank on this.

 

Thanks.

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Been doing that. And it's driving me nuts. So far I would guess no more than 10% of the listed motherboards seem to be available and it seems that all those motherboards are problematic.

 

I used a Gigabyte EP45-DS3L with a Core2Quad Q6600, and the following:

  • iDeneb v1.3 10.5.5
  • nVInject for the Asus 8400GS graphics card
  • Taruga's audio patch for the on-board audio.

It worked first time, although finding the audio patch online took a few hours.

 

I chose that mobo because it was described as very compatible, and would definitely use Gigabyte again.

 

Hope that helps.

dont wanna spend alot of money?

 

Get the MSI Wind.

 

 

And that right there is the advice that drives people totally nuts.

 

Go to www.newegg.com

Go to Intel Motherboards

Go to MSI

Search for wind

 

Nothing comes up.

 

Goggle search turns up a lot of stuff for MSI Wind.

 

But I'm guessing you mean this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16856167032

I just put together my Hackintosh a couple days ago and I followed this guide:

 

http://auzigog.com/2008/12/23/hackintosh-20/

 

 

I used the recommended Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P (selles for about $135 at the 'Egg)

Intel Dual Core e5200

2 gigs ram (buying 4 gigs tomorrow)

PNY 9500 GT

SATA HD

SATA DVDRW

Coolermaster case

 

 

That guide pretty much nails it perfectly. The only thing you might have to work on some is the video

if you don't choose something like a NVidia 7300 or 8400.

 

The install is a retail vanilla install (courtesy of a Boot-132 disc and retail Leopard disc) that updates and everything. Ethernet works completely

out of the box. Couple kext installs per the guide and everything is golden.

 

Once you start installing the OS, it might take you an hour to have it up and running.

 

 

Even though the mobo is rather pricey, I think its worth it considering its feature set.

 

Mine is rock solid and fast as hell. Works awesome.

Cannibul, no need for going nuts.

 

First off, do yourself a huge favor and narrow down the search to Gigabyte motherboards. I've built a pretty good sampling of Hackintoshes, and thus far Gigabyte motherboard models have presented the least amount of challenges, the most stable systems, and the most reliable machines for OSX. There are here and there other good mobos from other makers, but Gigabyte is more consistent in models that are Hack-friendly, in my experience.

 

I second the GA-EP45-UD3P with a retail install. I've built several of these and they work great. (Use the auzigog guide- worked great for me.)

 

Also, I highly recommend the GA-P35-DS3L. Even though it's a bit older board, there are still tons of these boards floating around ebay that are brand new. (Read the listings, and make sure they say BRAND NEW, in retail packaging.) I've bought several from here. The boards shipped very fast from this seller, and have all worked perfectly.

 

The benefit of this board is it runs 100% rock solid, is easy to setup, and features a really good noob-friendly guide by Kaido over at anandtech. (Recently, he's been adding UD3P support to his guides as well).

 

 

Mobo choice is the biggie. Either of the above will serve you well, and have a good deal of support from other users who have the same board.

 

You can use just about any socket 775 processor from a Celeron, dual core Pentium, up to a quad Core2- base it on your speed requirements and price range.

 

Video card choice is also critical. I second the choice of a 7300GT or 8400 as good basic starter options. Example, THIS is a card I've used for several basic Hacks and been very pleased with it. Works great, it's fanless, and cheap.

 

Or use the Wiki to make your own choice.

 

RAM choice- these days 2 or 4 GB of 1066 or 800Mhz RAM is pretty cheap.

 

Stick with SATA drives, and you should be all set.

 

I also recommend this $8 USB sound adapter to avoid fussing with on board audio. Onboard audio works fine in most cases, but USB audio actually sounds better, works OOB, and is 100% hassle free.

Well I ended up with a Gigabyte Ep45-UD3P with 4 megs of RAM and an old 6600GT video card I had laying around.

 

I'm new at this and having tons of problems with the Video drivers and other items.

 

The only thing I can manage to install is a Kalyway distro.

I just want a basic Hackintosh to play around with. I don't want to nor can I break the bank on this.

I know you already bought your mobo and all but just in case you can still return it... How basic is basic?

 

I use a mini-itx Intel D945GCLF2 board which has built-in Atom 330 dual-core processor, Intel 950 graphics and gigabit ethernet for $85 (Newegg). Since it's uses the standard mini-itx form factor, you can pretty much use any case you want (atx, micro-atx, mini-itx), something that may have turned you away from the MSI Wind. So far, it works great with Kalyway 10.5.2 + Combo Update 10.5.5. After the combo update, everything is working well (video, sleep, networking) except for the audio line/mic-in which is easily remedied with a USB mic or camera w/built-in mic.

 

True, it's not a powerhouse, but it's very usable for websurfing, iTunes and DVD playback. I haven't tried HD video playback yet but it's on my to-do list once I fix the multi-boot issue with Vista and 7 Beta. I think I'll try installing the iPhone SDK on it, too, just for learning. :)

I was thinking about this MoBo too, but Cannibul's problems concern me :D

 

 

I would not let it concern you. It's most likely me.

 

I have it running Kalyway right now. Trying to get my video drivers straightened out. I've got a 8400GS in there that the system recognizes but it has the incorrect amount of memory shown. So I'm stuck at 1024x768 right now.

 

I've installed the NVInject 0.20 stuff and the NVKush stuff.

I've only done the retail install on this board. Kalyway is getting a little old. For a distro install, I'd recommend a newer one with this board, like iDeneb.

 

All the old NVinject stuff is old.

 

Use EFI strings to setup the graphic card. Download a tool like EFIStudio or OSx86tools, select your graphic card from the dropdown list, and click to add the card to the boot.plist.

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