Boot-132 Compatible Tower, Best Components

[philexile]

Hello,

 

I'm currently running a P4 3.2 Ghz tower with iDeneb installed. While its serving me well, its getting a little long in the tooth and I'm thinking about building a new machine.

 

I was browsing around the forums and I'd like my next machine to run via Boot-132, so that I won't have to worry about system updates and whatnot. I was wondering if anyone out there has a compatibility list of components that I can use with this method. I haven't been able to find one, but maybe I'm not looking in the right places.

 

Below are the specs I'm aiming to achieve. These aren't set in stone, so any suggestions would be appreciated. I'd be running this as a dual boot machine, primarily using Photoshop on the Mac side and games on Windows. I'll most likely stick with XP, unless Windows 7 proves itself worthwhile.

 

Motherboard/CPU - I can either go with a 775 or 1366. I'd prefer to go with i7, since that's the new one on the field, but if its not supported, whatever.

 

Videocard - EVGA GeForce GTX 275 Superclocked Edition (Looked like a good upper middle-of-the-road card to me.) Here is a link to the NewEgg page:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130503

 

Thanks in advance!

[philexile]

Hello,

 

After doing some more research, I've compiled a complete list of components. These are listed below. As I stated before, I'd like to use the Boot-132 method, so that I can do updates. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks!!!

 

Video Card - SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready

 

Found this at the OSX86 Wiki, first listed under ATI: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.5.7#ATI

 

Motherboard – GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R $105

 

Found this listed at OSX86 Wiki, with a boot-132 image. If you scroll down the page a little bit, you can see it here: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.ph...10.5.7#Gigabyte

 

CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

 

Memory - Mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) [8 gigs total]

[TomCom]

Get a Quad, for example a Q9550. The E8600 is just a waste of money aimed at gamers and extreme overclockers who absolutely want to break the 5GHz. For the same price, you'll get almost twice the power.

[philexile]

Ha, but I am a "gamer."

 

I want to use this for Photoshop on the Mac side and gaming on the PC. I've heard that the duos are just as good, if not better than the quads speed-wise.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong though!

 

Aside from the CPU, does everything else look Boot-132 compatible to you?

 

Thanks

 

Get a Quad, for example a Q9550. The E8600 is just a waste of money aimed at gamers and extreme overclockers who absolutely want to break the 5GHz. For the same price, you'll get almost twice the power.

 

Actually, I was just looking at your signature. Maybe I should follow the weaksauce12 guide as well.

 

Seems like practically the same mobo.

[TomCom]

5GHz overclocked CPUs are only useful for Crossfire or SLI in very high resolution like 30" displays, the kind of stuff that's not compatible with Mac OS X. Some dual-GPU boards are, but if you don't want one, CPU limited games, like GTA IV and World in Conflict, can use a Quad Core. And a Q9550 is definitively a far better value than a E8600. It's your money, your choice, but you'd better spent more in a Quad and/or a graphic card like a HD 4890/GTX 275.

 

Weaksauce guide is just perfect, but you should search if it's working on a EP45-UD3R. The UD3P itself is almost the same motherboard with a second PCI-e 16x and a TPM chip, but the bios is different, and it's very important for compatibility. I know it for sure 'cause I had to flash mine in order to fix some issues.

[philexile]

Good point regarding the Quad vs. Duo. I think you sold me. Also, its probable that I'll be better off with the Quad 3 years from now then I would with a Duo. Especially with Snow Leopard.

 

I was actually going to get the UD3P. I haven't bought a thing yet. I wanted to be sure everything worked before purchasing anything.

 

By the way, what did you need a TPM chip for?

 

Regarding the graphic cards, are HD 4890/GTX 275 compatible with Boot132? I was under the impression that you had to stick pretty close to Apple's own specs in order for everythign to work well.

 

Thanks again

 

5GHz overclocked CPUs are only useful for Crossfire or SLI in very high resolution like 30" displays, the kind of stuff that's not compatible with Mac OS X. Some dual-GPU boards are, but if you don't want one, CPU limited games, like GTA IV and World in Conflict, can use a Quad Core. And a Q9550 is definitively a far better value than a E8600. It's your money, your choice, but you'd better spent more in a Quad and/or a graphic card like a HD 4890/GTX 275.

 

Weaksauce guide is just perfect, but you should search if it's working on a EP45-UD3R. The UD3P itself is almost the same motherboard with a second PCI-e 16x and a TPM chip, but the bios is different, and it's very important for compatibility. I know it for sure 'cause I had to flash mine in order to fix some issues.

[TomCom]

I was in the same situation as you, about to order a EP45-UD3R, but the UD3P is allegedly one of the few best P45 motherboards. I didn't need all its features, I bought it over the UD3R for its full compatibility with my EFi-X key, but I got to ship back the damn dongle for RMA after only four months. When I read about weaksauce guide, I thought it was worth to give it a try, though I failed last year to install a boot 132 on the buggy EP35-DS4 I wanted to replace so bad before it drove me crazy.

 

You'll have to install the graphic card afterwards. I think I'm going to buy a Q9550 too, maybe next month. Its price has dropped 50€ here in France, these few last weeks. Later, I'll replace my 8800GS with an MSI GTX275, when it becomes cheaper and easier to install. Nvidia cards usually are, and above all the latest GTXs are greener if you don't play all day long: an HD4890 needs 30 more watts than a 275 on idle mode, plus I don't want to ruin my computer silence with a hairdryer.

[philexile]

Hello,

 

Well that's good to know! I want compatibility!

 

That's interesting about the video card. So you would suggest I get a budget one first, get Boot-132 working with the weaksauce guide, then get a better card down the road?

 

Also, do you think I should be looking into an i7 CPU and board or is it too early for that? I haven't heard much regarding it and compatibility.

 

Thanks again!

 

I was in the same situation as you, about to order a EP45-UD3R, but the UD3P is allegedly one of the few best P45 motherboards. I didn't need all its features, I bought it over the UD3R for its full compatibility with my EFi-X key, but I got to ship back the damn dongle for RMA after only four months. When I read about weaksauce guide, I thought it was worth to give it a try, though I failed last year to install a boot 132 on the buggy EP35-DS4 I wanted to replace so bad before it drove me crazy.

 

You'll have to install the graphic card afterwards. I think I'm going to buy a Q9550 too, maybe next month. Its price has dropped 50€ here in France, these few last weeks. Later, I'll replace my 8800GS with an MSI GTX275, when it becomes cheaper and easier to install. Nvidia cards usually are, and above all the latest GTXs are greener if you don't play all day long: an HD4890 needs 30 more watts than a 275 on idle mode, plus I don't want to ruin my computer silence with a hairdryer.

[TomCom]

No, I didn't say to buy a budget card. It was the best one I could afford last year. :/

I'm really happy about it, though. It's always worked flawlessly, no matter the way I install it.

 

About Core i7s, I'm not the good person to ask about them. If you can use so much power, why not, but Gigabyte motherboards are allegedly far from perfect and will be replaced soon by new models with Sata III capabilities. All early adopters are gonna cry with their expensive yet obsolete motherboards.

[r8f5e7]

All early adopters are gonna cry with their expensive yet obsolete motherboards.

 

Why "obsolete"? Because they don't have SATA III support? Whos gonna throw all his hdds out of the window to replace them with SATA III ones once he owns a mobo capable of using them? I'm currently using SATA II and will soon switch to SATA SSDs. No need for this technology, especially if you have a RAID setup. What else do you think will make the current i7 boards "obsolete"?

[TomCom]

USB3? Power over eSata?

 

Of course people are not going to throw their mobos away, but good SSDs like OCZ will need Sata III very soon and who will buy their used obsolete mobos when they want to change it next year or so?

[yourboyvic]

I skimmed over this conversation so I'm not sure if the gigabyte board you're looking at supports crossfire or not but since you said you wanted compatibility you may want to reconsider the radeon gfx card you listed.

 

nvidia is not towering over ATI in terms of performance per dollar by any means and granted for your gaming needs the radeon may do the trick, however it is a clear fact that nvidia does a better job providing drivers and firmwares for the mac side of things much better than ATI.

 

my two cents; if the board you end up with does end up supporting crossfire but you're only going to get one video card anyway get an nvidia. if you get an SLI board, well then, get two/three nvidias

 

get a pair of passive 9600s and you're set

 

nvidia driver/firmware support FTW!

[TomCom]

As far as I know, neither Crossfire nor SLI is compatible with a Hackintosh. Only some bi-GPU cards do work.