What's a good, cheap motherboard?

[macman88]

Last year, my 1st generation MacBook started acting up and the battery won't be detected. I went to a genius and he told me it appears to be a motherboard issue, so it would cost me about $800 to get it fixed. Seeing as how I paid $1k for that thing only 2 years ago, I was pretty pissed, and decided to go the hackintosh route. I ended getting a pc notebook for about $300, and after hacking it, liking it.

 

I designated by MacBook as my "desktop" mac now, seeing how the battery unit isn't reliable anymore. Well...now I'm getting those random shutdowns that happen to 1st generation macs. It looks like I'll have to throw this thing into storage now since it appears the reliability is gone....can't afford to write a term paper only to have it disappear due to the random shutdown/the autosave not saving the latest version in time.

 

Right now, I'm looking for a motherboard that will run os x as vanilla as it can. I'm hoping for integrated graphics and onboard audio, too. Again, it doesn't need to be a powerhouse -- I just need something relatively cheap so that I can browse the web, watch youtube videos, and type up essays on. Any suggestions?

 

Also, what do you think about following the EFI-X compatibility list? I don't think i'm willing to plop down $200 for a EFI hardware bootloader, but I'm thinking...if it's on the EFI-X list, then wouldn't chances be that it'll run fine on Chameleon EFI? I know osx86project has their own HCL too, but that thing is a giant mess to sift through.

[brandon DuBois]

Last year, my 1st generation MacBook started acting up and the battery won't be detected. I went to a genius and he told me it appears to be a motherboard issue, so it would cost me about $800 to get it fixed. Seeing as how I paid $1k for that thing only 2 years ago, I was pretty pissed, and decided to go the hackintosh route. I ended getting a pc notebook for about $300, and after hacking it, liking it.

 

I designated by MacBook as my "desktop" mac now, seeing how the battery unit isn't reliable anymore. Well...now I'm getting those random shutdowns that happen to 1st generation macs. It looks like I'll have to throw this thing into storage now since it appears the reliability is gone....can't afford to write a term paper only to have it disappear due to the random shutdown/the autosave not saving the latest version in time.

 

Right now, I'm looking for a motherboard that will run os x as vanilla as it can. I'm hoping for integrated graphics and onboard audio, too. Again, it doesn't need to be a powerhouse -- I just need something relatively cheap so that I can browse the web, watch youtube videos, and type up essays on. Any suggestions?

 

Also, what do you think about following the EFI-X compatibility list? I don't think i'm willing to plop down $200 for a EFI hardware bootloader, but I'm thinking...if it's on the EFI-X list, then wouldn't chances be that it'll run fine on Chameleon EFI? I know osx86project has their own HCL too, but that thing is a giant mess to sift through.

 

Check out the Gigabyte G31M-ES2L - for 52 bucks its hard to beat...

[noNix]

The Gigabyte G31M-ES2L is the lowest cost option out there. Couple the board with an Intel E5200 or E6300 for $20 bucks more and you have a great machine. Ram is so cheep there is no point in not maxing the board out at 4GB and you can get a workable graphics card for under $50. The biggest nightmare is finding a case that you like. Use weaksauce12 / LeopardSoup guide and you will be happy.

 

If all you are happy to watch YouTube at standard resolutions - not full screen, and not HQ then you could even get by with an Intel Atom 330 based board. Zaap has a great simple guide for that here. The board has onboard Intel 950 graphics, which works, but is kind of crappy for anything more than the basics. That means NO games, and only basic YouTube, but the machine can be built for under $250 plus monitor and keyboard. The big unknown is how it will perform with 10.6 Snow Leopard.