Budget Motherboard / PC Recommendations?

[The Ouch]

My daughter's dual G4 is just not cutting it anymore. Most new software is x86 only, and it's simply dog slow. So, I want to replace it for her.

 

I've been looking over the compatibility charts, and I'm having trouble finding a worry free motherboard. Basically I'm either looking for a MB with everything included on it (yes, I'm a lazy bastage), or an inexpensive retail PC. It does need decent 3d, since she likes to play WoW occasionally. (It doesn't need to scream, but 10fps at 640x480 will not cut it).

 

And, I'd like to spend $300 ish for MB, CPU, and enough memory for it to be usable.

 

Any ideas? I was looking at the P5QA-Pro from here: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/HCL_10.6.0 , but when I followed the install link, it looks like MANY people are having issues with it. Since this isn't a toy for me to hack around with all day, I need it to be stable. Like my Dell Mini-9, which simply works. All the time.

 

I would also be happy with a working full computer, like an eMachines, or something, assuming I could get it in the price range I want.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions . . .

 

Perhaps we should make an "OSX86 on a budget" wiki page, with current steals.

[The Ouch]

I've been playing with the search feature, and I've found many suggestions about budget hackintoshes . . guess I should have RTFF'ed a bit first.

 

But, I do still have questions:

 

Is an ATOM based board ok for light gaming? It seems that the top boards mentioned (like the Gigabyte ones) are high on power, and high on cost. And, to keep cost down, I'd like a MB with built in video -- or am I just asking for trouble

[LogicalUser]

IMO you'd do far better with a non-atom based setup with a real mobo/processor & dedicated video card, and $300 for mobo/CPU/RAM seems like plenty

 

the gigabyte P45 based boards start at about $70-100 on sale, a Pentium E6300 is $80 (2.8ghz 45nm), and 4GB of either DDR2 or DDR3 starts around $60

now, you could go even cheaper, G31M/G41M board for $55-65, Pentium E5200 for $70, 2gb for $40, etc... but the $10 gets you a much better proc, the $20 gets you double the ram, and an extra $15 for the mobo would get you a full sized ATX board with more expansion slots, 8gb ram capacity, HD audio, overclock potential, etc...

 

a decent nvidia 9000 seriescard could be had for $35-65 depending on your needs, $30 mail in rebates on a $70 card make for a nice bargain

plus, keep in mind that a fully supported PCI network card costs $25 at most if the mobo you choose has any issues with the onboard

[Zaap]

Like the previous poster, and based on what you list as needs, I'd highly recommend a Gigabyte G41M-ES2L board an E6300 processor, 4GB of DDR2 800 RAM (more than enough for most use, whereas 2GBs can feel a touch anemic) and as beefy a graphics card (8000 or 9000 series nVidia) as your budget allows.

 

You can put together a very good system with the above in the $400 range, complete.

 

The G41 board is very well supported and currently runs Snow Leopard very well. It certainly can be counted on to be as reliable as you're used to with the Dell Mini.

 

I'd forget the ATOM for any kind of gaming- I have a dual core ATOM based Hackintosh that works very well, but in reality it's probably not but a smidge faster than your Dell Mini. So imagine gaming on that, with maybe a 20% performance increase with dual core and faster RAM. It's not speed to write home about.