Is another component needed on Hackintosh build?

[punkmaiden]

Hi there.

 

My dad and I are looking at building a Hackintosh, with the following specs

 

Relevant motherboard;

1 TB HDD;

128/256MB Graphics Card;

3GHz Core 2 Quad Intel Processor

4GB RAM

Multi Card reader.

Apple OSX10.5.latest, or even 10.6

And DVD/CD drive

 

My Dad, not being the most adventurous person when it comes to technology, decided that he'd have someone else build it. Fair enough, I thought. The 'builder' quoted £480 for the build, inc. his labour. So we decided to go ahead. However he rang us up a couple of days later, and said that another 'part' was needed, and it being my dad who answer the phone, he can't remember exactly what he said. Anyway, apparently it would have to be imported from the US and would cost an extra £200. It was needed, apparently, because the OSX would crash consistently without it.

 

My question is, does anyone know what this 'part' could be, or even if it exists? I must admit that I'm a little sceptical... As far as I know (arguably I have been a PC-ite my entire life, and it's only in the last couple of months I've realised that Apple really is the way to go) only the parts above (and of course, the Tower and PSU, and all the bits above have to work nicely together etc) are needed, and that there isn't an extra 'toggle' that should be included. We're in England, if that has any relevance, considering the builder said that the part would need to be exported.

 

Your advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you in advance,

 

Emma

[srs5694]

Your retailer is probably referring to EFI-X, which is a hardware "dongle" that adds EFI firmware to a standard PC. Backstory: The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is the next-generation replacement for the traditional PC BIOS. Intel-based Macs use EFI rather than a BIOS, which is one of the reasons a stock OS X install DVD won't install on a standard PC without a little extra help, such as Boot-132.

 

I don't know all that much about EFI-X or how well it works vs. other OSx86 installation methods. Certainly there are people who run OSx86 without EFI-X; but there are also people who have serious problems getting it to install or getting it to run well. Clearly, the safest and simplest way to run OS X is to buy a real Apple Mac. Beyond that, you must expect to run into problems.

[punkmaiden]

Your retailer is probably referring to EFI-X, which is a hardware "dongle" that adds EFI firmware to a standard PC. Backstory: The Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is the next-generation replacement for the traditional PC BIOS. Intel-based Macs use EFI rather than a BIOS, which is one of the reasons a stock OS X install DVD won't install on a standard PC without a little extra help, such as Boot-132.

 

I don't know all that much about EFI-X or how well it works vs. other OSx86 installation methods. Certainly there are people who run OSx86 without EFI-X; but there are also people who have serious problems getting it to install or getting it to run well. Clearly, the safest and simplest way to run OS X is to buy a real Apple Mac. Beyond that, you must expect to run into problems.

 

Thanks. I'm still new to all this, so i'm still in the planning phase. The link and advice is very helpful.

 

Cheers, Emma