hackintosh parts plan

[Vanishing]

Hi all.

 

I've been working on a list of parts for a build and wanted to post what I'm looking at using to get some feedback from people with a lot more experience in building their own machines.

 

Here's what I have so far:

 

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

Foxconn BloodRage LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

Corsair 750watt PSU

Coolermaster ATCS 840 Case

Corsair TR3X6G1600C9 XMS3 6gb (3X2gb) Ram

BFG Tech BFGE981024GTOCE GeForce 9800 GT 1gb 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0

24X DVD Burner (don't know which, still looking)

 

Alternatively I was looking at using a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 mobo, (but I like the specs on the foxconn bloodrage and it looked like cooling was a bit more flexible.) If anyone can give me pro's and con's on the 2 it would be a great help.

 

I'm not sure I'd need more cooling in the ATCS 840, if anyone here has used them with an i7 cpu could let me know what they think I would appreciate it!

 

I think I've covered what I need to put the beasty together, if I've left anything out please chime in.

 

I'd also appreciate input on which os x install seems to work best ie Kalyway, iDeneb etc.

 

Thanks! (and thanks to the Insanelymac members, truly a real inspiration!)

 

[tonboy13]

Hi all.

 

I've been working on a list of parts for a build and wanted to post what I'm looking at using to get some feedback from people with a lot more experience in building their own machines.

 

Here's what I have so far:

 

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

Foxconn BloodRage LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard

Corsair 750watt PSU

Coolermaster ATCS 840 Case

Corsair TR3X6G1600C9 XMS3 6gb (3X2gb) Ram

BFG Tech BFGE981024GTOCE GeForce 9800 GT 1gb 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0

24X DVD Burner (don't know which, still looking)

 

Alternatively I was looking at using a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 mobo, (but I like the specs on the foxconn bloodrage and it looked like cooling was a bit more flexible.) If anyone can give me pro's and con's on the 2 it would be a great help.

 

I'm not sure I'd need more cooling in the ATCS 840, if anyone here has used them with an i7 cpu could let me know what they think I would appreciate it!

 

I think I've covered what I need to put the beasty together, if I've left anything out please chime in.

 

I'd also appreciate input on which os x install seems to work best ie Kalyway, iDeneb etc.

 

Thanks! (and thanks to the Insanelymac members, truly a real inspiration!)

 

 

Not Kalyway or iDeneb, this has to be a retail installation

[Vanishing]

hmm.. I'm rethinking the foxconn mobo

 

I knew I left out something! (already owned) hard disk: seagate model ST31000340AS (1gb sata)

[Vanishing]

Alright, after a bit more study I think the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P looks better on paper.. and from what I see has mostly good reviews by people that have used it for the standard pc.

 

But how well will is work for a hackintosh?..

 

EDIT

 

Well now that insanelymac.com is back up and I've had a chance to search.. it looks like maybe this board is problematic (fussy) to get os x running on!

 

The only real difference from that UD5 seems to be that you lost the ability to use a SAS drive, it has 2 firewire outputs instead of one and that tpm chip.. which is supposedly not enabled unless you initialize it. I like the idea of have that second FW connection and 3 more slots for ram.

 

Should I just go with the UD5 and stop banging around?

[TomCom]

Should I just go with the UD5 and stop banging around?

 

Yes, you should. Most tutos are made for this board and it's a great board, like the UD3P for P45 chipset.

If I were you I'd buy this one, though it's a bit pricier, and I'd be paid back from a 620-650W Corsair PSU. 750W is huge and more intended for something like high-end SLI or Crossfire rigs.

And these memory modules got a better latency:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231247

Plus, they usually are a lil bit cheaper and look great on Gigabyte blue boards…

[Vanishing]

Yes, you should. Most tutos are made for this board and it's a great board, like the UD3P for P45 chipset.

If I were you I'd buy this one, though it's a bit pricier, and I'd be paid back from a 620-650W Corsair PSU. 750W is huge and more intended for something like high-end SLI or Crossfire rigs.

And these memory modules got a better latency:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231247

Plus, they usually are a lil bit cheaper and look great on Gigabyte blue boards…

 

Thanks for the input TomCom! I was thinking I might need a 750 if I started popping in a FW800 and a raft of hd's as well but if a 650 works just as well then it would certainly save some $$ in the purchase and maybe some $$ off the electric bill!

[TomCom]

You'll be able to calculate precisely your power needs thanks to this web page:

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

But be aware that you should add a 50% margin to your real need, for example a 600W PSU for a 400W "Recommended PSU Wattage". Otherwise it'll be noisy, really hot, and low voltages would cause instability issues, especially if you decide to overclock.

[Zaap]

True that, about the PSUs.

 

But also look carefully at the PSU stats, and user rating. A higher quality 400W PSU with multiple, balanced rails and high build quality will end up causing you less trouble than a crappy 600W PSU with a single weak 12V rail, from some junk manufacturer. Read lots of newegg user reviews, specifically from users who have owned a PSU over a year. I notice that the craptacular ones start off with five-egg raves, then a year or less later, droves of pissed off users come back with one-egg rants about how their budget PSU bit the dust, and worst case, took some components down with it.

[Vanishing]

You'll be able to calculate precisely your power needs thanks to this web page:<br><a href="http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp" target="_blank">http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp</a>

But be aware that you should add a 50% margin to your real need, for example a 600W PSU for a 400W "Recommended PSU Wattage". Otherwise it'll be noisy, really hot, and low voltages would cause instability issues, especially if you decide to overclock.

 

Wow, that's an incredibly useful tool TomCom! Thanks

 

If I build in a 'fudge'* factor for adding extra sata hd's, and possibly a blu-ray plus some external devices connecting via pci-e fw800 it calculated that I'd need 638w so I'm guessing that means I actually should look for at least an 850w psu.

 

(*It's like George Carlin's routine about a new house.. when you first have it.. there's plenty of space, so you go and get stuff and you fill it up.. then suddenly you don't have any room.. so you buy a bigger house! And then you have to much room.. so you go out and buy even more stuff!)

 

True that, about the PSUs.

 

But also look carefully at the PSU stats, and user rating. A higher quality 400W PSU with multiple, balanced rails and high build quality will end up causing you less trouble than a crappy 600W PSU with a single weak 12V rail, from some junk manufacturer. Read lots of newegg user reviews, specifically from users who have owned a PSU over a year. I notice that the craptacular ones start off with five-egg raves, then a year or less later, droves of pissed off users come back with one-egg rants about how their budget PSU bit the dust, and worst case, took some components down with it.

 

Hi Zaap

 

Yeah, I've been digging into the reviews on the psu's, (and just about everything else I'll need), trying to avoid the lemons. The ones I've been considering seem to all have 4 rails.. and *mostly* positive responces from the buyers.

(As an aside, I'm spending a lot more time thinking about the parts for this then I would for a mac direct from apple.. could that be a good thing? )

[TomCom]

If I build in a 'fudge'* factor for adding extra sata hd's, and possibly a blu-ray plus some external devices connecting via pci-e fw800 it calculated that I'd need 638w so I'm guessing that means I actually should look for at least an 850w psu.

 

I wonder how you managed to get that high with a single 9800GT. A standard rig (CPU+MB+3 sticks of RAM and a single HDD) should burn around 150W idle and 250W on load. Add 100W more for a huge OC, 10-15W for each more internal HDD (and let's say 50% more for external ones) and I don't know for sure for an optical drive, but who burns DVD on full load?

Anyway this tool is reliable, but either you have 12 HDDs and so on, either you made a mistake somewhere.

[Zaap]

Wow, that's an incredibly useful tool TomCom! Thanks

 

If I build in a 'fudge'* factor for adding extra sata hd's, and possibly a blu-ray plus some external devices connecting via pci-e fw800 it calculated that I'd need 638w so I'm guessing that means I actually should look for at least an 850w psu.

 

I've got several (socket 775) PCs stuffed with tons of drives, graphic cards, TV tuners, external devices, and I've never had the need for a PSU beyond 600W. Most components actually don't use that much power. By all means, get what you feel you need, but I wouldn't stress too much over the PSU wattage if you're not going to be running dual gaming graphic cards in SLI or Crossfire, and overclocking to the moon. That's the kind of stuff that really gobbles power. The i7 is actually pretty power-effecient compared to socket 775.

 

I recently helped a friend build an i7 based system (non-Hack) and we used a 650W (Corsair) PSU -picked simply because it says i7 certified and neither of us had built an i7 system before- several drives, optical drives, beefy graphics card, 6GB RAM, no overclocking. The 650W was plenty of power. I'm not nessisarily recommending this PSU for your setup, just saying it did work great for this one.

 

 

(As an aside, I'm spending a lot more time thinking about the parts for this then I would for a mac direct from apple.. could that be a good thing? )

It's well worth it if you consider- will you be spending a lot less than $2500 total? Because that's the entry level price of an i7 Mac from Apple. If your grand total comes close to $2500, then you should perhaps consider the entry level MacPro.

[Vanishing]

I've got several (socket 775) PCs stuffed with tons of drives, graphic cards, TV tuners, external devices, and I've never had the need for a PSU beyond 600W. Most components actually don't use that much power. By all means, get what you feel you need, but I wouldn't stress too much over the PSU wattage if you're not going to be running dual gaming graphic cards in SLI or Crossfire, and overclocking to the moon. That's the kind of stuff that really gobbles power. The i7 is actually pretty power-effecient compared to socket 775.

 

I recently helped a friend build an i7 based system (non-Hack) and we used a 650W (Corsair) PSU -picked simply because it says i7 certified and neither of us had built an i7 system before- several drives, optical drives, beefy graphics card, 6GB RAM, no overclocking. The 650W was plenty of power. I'm not nessisarily recommending this PSU for your setup, just saying it did work great for this one.

 

Sounds good!

 

It's well worth it if you consider- will you be spending a lot less than $2500 total? Because that's the entry level price of an i7 Mac from Apple. If your grand total comes close to $2500, then you should perhaps consider the entry level MacPro.

 

I think my last configuration cost calculation had me spending about 1200.00 dollars (plus shipping) which is one of my incentives for a byo machine.

 

I wonder how you managed to get that high with a single 9800GT. A standard rig (CPU+MB+3 sticks of RAM and a single HDD) should burn around 150W idle and 250W on load. Add 100W more for a huge OC, 10-15W for each more internal HDD (and let's say 50% more for external ones) and I don't know for sure for an optical drive, but who burns DVD on full load?

Anyway this tool is reliable, but either you have 12 HDDs and so on, either you made a mistake somewhere.

 

Hmm!.. I added just 4 sata drives, a blue ray burner, dvd dual layer (just for fudge factoring) 6gb memory the video card, a pci-e card, the cpu, single socket and left the other factors at default..

 

Maybe I shouldn't have selected high end desktop?

 

ok, recalculated it as a regular desktop stock i7 920 setting the same number of drives ram etc, and the final number is..... drum roll please!... 533w.

[TomCom]

533W is already much and I totally agree with Zaap: a good 600 something PSU is all you need. Corsair makes very good ones and you can consider either the 650W standard line or the HX 620 with modular cables.