Jtc26 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Hey guys, I want to build a cheap as possible car hackintosh. My first hackintosh build so pretty happy I'm thinking the following.. Motherboard G-B G31M-ES2L $59 Cpu E3300 $75 Ram 2gb ddr2 800 kingston $52 HardDrive SATA 2.5" SSDD Solid State Hard Drive (for SDHC SD Memory Card) $25 32gb sdhc $98 I'm from Australia so prices may be different Trying not to have too powerful cos I don't want it to use to much power.. Wanted ssd so boot is quick. Can i get cheaper? Also is the inbuilt graphics on motherboard supported?? or should i just get a graphics card? Wat version of mac should i run as well? Thanks Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaap Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 I'm not really up on car-computers- what's the intended function in the car? What type of monitor output? Location of the computer? Look into a dual-core Atom board like the D945GCLF2. If it suits your needs, it'll give you a lot of advantages in a car- it's tiny, uses very, very little power compared to a full-sized board, CPU, GPU, etc. and it has the key elements built into one package with everything OSX-compatible. (CPU, GPU and audio). Add RAM, hard drive and power and you have a complete system. These are also pretty cheap. The G31M-ES2L doesn't have working onboard video for OSX, so you'd need a graphic card using more power (that is, unless in a car setup you can get by without res-switching and Quartz Extreme, I don't know). As for the OS- in either case, Leopard (10.5.x) will run perfectly on either board. Snow Leopard (10.6.x) works on either as well, though not sure what the setup entails on the Atom board as I haven't tried SL on mine yet. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1321475 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtc26 Posted November 7, 2009 Author Share Posted November 7, 2009 Thanks for the information, The car computer will be used to play music, videos, possibly gps, possibly net and few other things. basically will act as a head unit so will need to upgrade sound card to... I'll be using a 7" XGA VGA LCD touchscreen for my monitor. Doing my own fabrication for it. I do like the look of the D945GCLF2, size as you said is a fairly big factor and would work out cheaper than buying the G-B G31M-ES2L and e3300 together So now my possible system will be as follows D945GCLF2 $110 2gb ddr2 667 Kingston $52 if i go SSD Will be 2.5" SSDD Solid State Hard Drive (for SDHC SD Memory Card) $25 32gb sdhc $98 Or 2.5" 320Gb WD $70 Original plan was to use my external hard drive to store all music and stuff and the 32gb for OS, could I get away with a 16gb? to save a bit of money? Also if i go along the 2.5" 320gb I would need a wireless pci card so i can transfer music whist my car is parked out my house. Whats a good one that's compatible? For OS would try Snow Leopard first and if i couldn't get working would go to Leopard... Thanks guys Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1322357 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtc26 Posted November 7, 2009 Author Share Posted November 7, 2009 Just found ur guide Zaap on the <300 build.. think I'm gonna do something very similar to that.. they should sticky it.. stop newbs like me posting.... also after further research going to go with the 320gb hard drive Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1322385 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaap Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 Original plan was to use my external hard drive to store all music and stuff and the 32gb for OS, could I get away with a 16gb? to save a bit of money? When you install OSX, be sure to select the custom install during the process, and deselect all the printer drivers you don't need and language files. That way the OS goes from about 11GB down to 6GB or so. So yes, you could get away with installing it on 16GB, but obviously no need to waste more space than necessary for your use. (Plus the install is a lot faster without all the bloat) Also if i go along the 2.5" 320gb I would need a wireless pci card so i can transfer music whist my car is parked out my house. Whats a good one that's compatible? I've used this card, and it works great in OSX as wireless N. Like a lot of compatible cards, it requires the ralink drivers for OSX. Many cards with the same chipset work- if you have a draft N router, you'll definitely want to go with an N card for maximum range from your car to house. Keep us posted on how this project goes- I'd love to see how this turns out! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1322992 Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharredPC Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 For a car computer, I'd really suggest an Aopen Mini PC. I use one for our home theater computer- tiny, low power, but can have very decent specs (Core2Duo, 500GB hd, etc). Handles a retail OSX (EFI) install excellently, most stuff works right off without fiddling. I can picture putting one under the seat or in the glove compartment. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1323222 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtc26 Posted November 8, 2009 Author Share Posted November 8, 2009 Although the Aopen Mini PC maybe better spec wise.. price wise here in Australia where looking around $300 difference, not really what i had in mind.. When you install OSX, be sure to select the custom install during the process, and deselect all the printer drivers you don't need and language files. That way the OS goes from about 11GB down to 6GB or so. So yes, you could get away with installing it on 16GB, but obviously no need to waste more space than necessary for your use. (Plus the install is a lot faster without all the bloat) Keep us posted on how this project goes- I'd love to see how this turns out! So 6gb Could i get away with a 8gb card? hmm maybe lol..cos each time a bring it down half's the price. my gut says just get a 2.5" what do u think zaap? main reason for running off SD would be lower power consumption, less issue with bumps and speed? (considering probably only gonna have the speed of one SD not gonna be if any much better) was gonna use this or something similar.. Con's would be space available and price... Probably if i was going too do SSD would work better with a high speed Compact flash Your thoughts? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1323320 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaap Posted November 8, 2009 Share Posted November 8, 2009 So 6gb Could i get away with a 8gb card? hmm maybe lol..cos each time a bring it down half's the price.my gut says just get a 2.5" what do u think zaap? main reason for running off SD would be lower power consumption, less issue with bumps and speed? (considering probably only gonna have the speed of one SD not gonna be if any much better) was gonna use this or something similar.. Con's would be space available and price... Probably if i was going too do SSD would work better with a high speed Compact flash Your thoughts? Hmm... I'm reluctant to advise using 8GB. I know that people were able to install Leopard on the Dell Mini 9 with an 8GB SSD- but... it seemed like there was a ton of hoop jumping to get it to just barely fit. The main problem is, even though the OS will physically sit in only 6GB or so of space, it needs a certain amount of breathing room to install, and then to function at its best. I know people had a hard time running system updates on 8GB, because the system installer had no room to perform. Personally, I've never installed OSX on less than a 10GB partition. One thing- I'd really look into is what solid-state media types are actually compatible with booting OSX. I'm really not up on the limitations myself. Also, look into what types of drives people use effectively in car PCs. I know I've seen mention of them where people just used regular laptop hard drives mounted a certain way. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1323769 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtc26 Posted November 9, 2009 Author Share Posted November 9, 2009 Yer most do use the 2.5" drives, but i like to be different... However I don't like waiting so i'm just gonna get the 2.5".. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1324171 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jtc26 Posted November 19, 2009 Author Share Posted November 19, 2009 Order has now been placed for D945GCLF2 Corsair ddr2 2gb 667 Zalman ZM-NB47J heat sink also have the following lying a round 80gb 2.5" sata HDD and an old dell case to get up and running before heading into the car. Also will an IDE slim DVD drive work if I connect via USB? Thanks Guys Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1335270 Share on other sites More sharing options...
miK. Posted November 19, 2009 Share Posted November 19, 2009 Check out this touchscreen Mac mini in a Tahoe... cool stuff! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/196116-cheap-car-hackintosh/#findComment-1335290 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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