Hackintosh <$300 for Iphone Dev

[Aurimas]

I want to build a hackintosh. I'm new in this business so I need help. The main idea of the hackintosh is to use it to develop iphone applications (Xcode). I want it to run 10.6 (I have upgrade DVD I've bought)

 

I am running on the low budget ($300) so keep that in mind.

 

I already have:

Monitor Dell 2409W

HDD WD 750GB SATA

 

I need to buy (that's were I need suggestions):

MB:GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 $49.99

GC: EVGA 01G-P3-N959-TR GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit $69.99

RAM: OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $86.99

CASE: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UB $44.98

CPU: Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz $64.50

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V $49.99

DVD: SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B $18.99

 

Total: $385.43 -> that is above my budget

[tombo]

Well your case+power supply is almost more than your CPU+MB. I am using a mere 2Gb of memory - OSX isn't a hog like Windoze.

 

First I would find a case+PS combo - should be able to do that at $40

Second - vid card - sparkle Nvidia 8400GS would be fine. $25

Third - 2Gb memory (2X$23.00) = $46

Fourth - CPU is fine as is = $64.50

Fifth - DVD as well = $19

 

Total = $195.50

 

Did I miss anything??

 

oops forgot MB @ $50 Total is $245.50 - sorry

 

Actually, make sure you use a SATA DVD - it'll bump the price a bit but make Snow install easier.

 

 

I want to build a hackintosh. I'm new in this business so I need help. The main idea of the hackintosh is to use it to develop iphone applications (Xcode). I want it to run 10.6 (I have upgrade DVD I've bought)

 

I am running on the low budget ($300) so keep that in mind.

 

I already have:

Monitor Dell 2409W

HDD WD 750GB SATA

 

I need to buy (that's were I need suggestions):

MB:GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 $49.99

GC: EVGA 01G-P3-N959-TR GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit $69.99

RAM: OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $86.99

CASE: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UB $44.98

CPU: Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz $64.50

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V $49.99

DVD: SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B $18.99

 

Total: $385.43 -> that is above my budget

[Aurimas]

Does sparkle Nvidia 8400GS work with osx 10.6, I haven't found any articles about it?

 

Well your case+power supply is almost more than your CPU+MB. I am using a mere 2Gb of memory - OSX isn't a hog like Windoze.

 

First I would find a case+PS combo - should be able to do that at $40

Second - vid card - sparkle Nvidia 8400GS would be fine. $25

Third - 2Gb memory (2X$23.00) = $46

Fourth - CPU is fine as is = $64.50

Fifth - DVD as well = $19

 

Total = $195.50

 

Did I miss anything??

 

oops forgot MB @ $50 Total is $245.50 - sorry

 

v2 of my selection:

 

MB: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L $49.99

Case: IN WIN IW-Z583T.AQ350BL includes 350W PSU $54.99

GC: EVGA 512-P3-N947-LR GeForce 9400 GT 512MB 64-bit $54.99

CPU: Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz $64.50

RAM: G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $44.99

DVD: SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - OEM $18.99

 

Total: $288.45

 

Does this look decent? Will I have trouble with any of the parts with OSX? Better deals?

[tombo]

Does sparkle Nvidia 8400GS work with osx 10.6, I haven't found any articles about it?

 

 

 

v2 of my selection:

 

MB: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L $49.99

Case: IN WIN IW-Z583T.AQ350BL$54.99[/b]

GC: EVGA 512-P3-N947-LR GeForce 9400 GT 512MB 64-bit $54.99

CPU: Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz $64.50

RAM: G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $44.99

DVD: SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - OEM $18.99

 

Total: $288.45

 

Does this look decent? Will I have trouble with any of the parts with OSX? Better deals?

 

Still too high on case and PS - try [url="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811148045 $34 and 480w PS. Other than that I think everything else is ok.

 

Sparkle I think is ok but search the forums and the wiki. I guess with your vid card choices you want to play some vid games?? You could find someone with an old 7xxx series too!!

 

For sure check the vid card forum and the wiki (always check the wiki). Actually, the best thing is to find what Apple uses and use that. That's why I had the 7xxx card (before it blew up). Worked right out of the box.

 

If you want better deals you could try ebay but ....... well no warrantee. I have a Asrock board that's sitting around but I'm not really into selling. Just that someone may be upgrading and you might get a deal. Or a refurbished Compaq (Dell, etc.) that might be another way to go.

[broken]

Does sparkle Nvidia 8400GS work with osx 10.6, I haven't found any articles about it?

 

 

 

v2 of my selection:

 

MB: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L $49.99

Case: IN WIN IW-Z583T.AQ350BL includes 350W PSU $54.99

GC: EVGA 512-P3-N947-LR GeForce 9400 GT 512MB 64-bit $54.99

CPU: Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz $64.50

RAM: G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $44.99

DVD: SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1681S-0B - OEM $18.99

 

Total: $288.45

 

Does this look decent? Will I have trouble with any of the parts with OSX? Better deals?

 

 

I would stay away from anything below a 9400 series Nvidia card. No sense in only saving a few dollars to go with such an old and outdated video card. Plus Snow Leopard has OpenCL acceleration with the 9400 series and above. Its the minimum Apple is using, so I would do the same.

 

 

Your v2 hardware list looks good. I do have a couple suggestions on some alternate parts you might consider.

 

--Video Cards--

 

That PNY 9400GT card will work great, but I would suggest the Sparkle 9400GT: Fanless (quieter) and less expensive:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...7-037-_-Product

 

I have used their 9400 GT and currently use the 9500GT and they are great cards for the money. Plus no extra noise.

 

Or for a couple dollars more (still less than the PNY) you can get the Sparkle fanless 9500GT:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...7-034-_-Product

 

 

--Network Card--

 

Most likely the motherboard you receive will be the revision 2.x version. For whatever reason Gigabyte changed out the Realtek based NIC chipset

on the 1.x boards for one from Atheros on the revision 2.x boards. The Atheros based NIC has NO support under OS X at all.

 

I have one of each revision board and they setup identical except for the NIC.

 

 

So, you are most likely going to need a NIC. Anything with the Realtekk 8169SC chipset is supported under OS X with no need to install drivers

or configure anything. They just work out of box under either Leopard or Snow Leopard. You could even plug one into the PCI slot of a real Mac and it well work equally perfect. Full Bonjour support and all.

 

I use these cards in both my desktop clones:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...6-139-_-Product

 

The Trendnet card works great, but maybe outside your budget.

 

 

Or you could use this card by Encore:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16833180026

 

More or less the exact same card and should work perfectly without the need to hack around.

 

and everything.

 

 

 

 

These are just a couple things that came to mind. The e5200 cpu you are thinking of using is a great chip.

I used one in my last build and its smoking fast for the $.

 

Building your machine with known working parts is definitely the way to go. That way if something doesn't

work the way you expect it to, its easy to fine guides and FAQs to help you out. The ES2L is a VERY well

supported board. Like I mentioned earlier I have 2 of these boards and ones running Snow Leopard and

the other Leopard. Both rock stable.

 

 

Good luck with your build.

[tombo]

Good point about the NIC. I use the USB to ethernet from Apple. I figured that it would be supported. $29 last time I checked.

 

From what I've seen about OpenCL on Nvidia website, 8xxx,9xxx and 10 series is supported. Just another datapoint.

[Zaap]

Be careful very about going too cheap on the PSU. It's a mistake to go with one that's too much of a mystery and may really suck. Read very carefully the reviews of any case/PSU combo you buy. I find cheap cases to be great for the type of system you're building, but cheap PSUs can cause you all sorts of stability issues and trouble.

 

The case in your second build list is reported by one reviewer to have a non-standard PSU. Depending on the internal layout of the case, this could be a real PITA- should the PSU die on you or need replacement, if there isn't a standard space for a full-size ATX PSU, you may have to get some noisy/expensive mATX PSU as a replacement. Unfortunately, the product images don't show inside the case, so personally I'd really avoid it.

 

Even though it's a developer system, if quiet performance is important to you at all, I'd avoid cheap cases and PSUs. You first choice of PSU is excellent- it will guaranteed give you no problems for years to come, and is plenty of power for the spec. I'd highly recommend it. A cheap PSU may work fine for a while, and then die on you at some crucial time later on- hopefully not taking out any of your components when it does. The original case is much better as well if you eventually want more expansion, and also quieter performance. Otherwise, you could look into a cheap-as-dirt case minus PSU, and go with your original PSU.

 

I'd also advise just biting the bullet and putting the full 4GB of RAM in it now. DDR2 RAM is on the way out- it's only going to get more and more expensive. Eventually you may want more RAM, and after the first of the year you'll probably see the prices go up steadily. If you can swing it, just max it out now. The price of DDR-2 has already DOUBLED from where it was this past summer.

 

As far as the rest, that build should give you 100% trouble-free performance as the board is tried and true.

[LogicalUser]

agreed on the RAM.

 

8GB of DDR2 (4x 2GB) cost me under $100 last year, and for the most part non-sale prices for just a 2x2GB pair are up above $80-90 now.

 

Same with the PSU, I'd stay away from ultra cheap/freebie PSUs if you can.

I purchased a Logisys case recently that included a "480w" PSU for only $32 total. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811148030

 

Very nice case, but the PSU was a joke. The side of the PSU said 330w combined draw in the breakdown, where they got the 480w figure included in the name from I've got no idea.

It came with just a single SATA connector, thin, flimsy & cheap looking wiring, and advertised only 17amp of total +12v capability on a single rail...

 

Even scarier, the PSU itself weighed absolutely nothing.... I mean... holding the unit in one's hand it felt like the bundle of thin wires & connectors coming out of the box weighed significantly more than the PSU itself, enough to put it off-balance in your hand & require a firm grip. Looking through the grille I was unable to see ANY sort of heatsinks, and it nearly looked empty inside....

 

Comparing against the OCZ StealthXStream 400w PSU which I picked up for $25 after rebate was equally scary, it weighs at least 4x as much as the Logisys 480w PSU does.

 

With that said, I'm quite happy with my purchase overall, as when I threw the Logisys PSU on a local classifieds site for $15 I got over a dozen offers. I'm thinking of doing the same with my next build, as $17 for a case just can't be beat

 

If you can find a deal on it, I'd highly recommend the OCZ PSU, very well reviewed, and nearly the same parts as their +700w PSUs (is capable of aprox 650w real-world total load)

If not, going with the cheapest 80+ certified PSU you can find is a good bet, as a PSU has to be of a certain quality construction to come close to passing 80+ certification

[tombo]

I agree with all statements but remember the overriding spec was $300.

 

Yes it's nice to "max out" on RAM but looking at my currently running Hackintosh with 2 Gb (running itunes, iphoto, safari,mail,adium) I still have 700mb unused. Realistically no one needs 4 Gb for running xcode.

 

I also agree on PSU (I'm an electrical engineer after all) BUT most power supplies are made in a few factories and rebranded for the customer, you pay for the name a lot of the time. Power supplies (in my experience) do not "take out" components unless the designer didn't know how a switching power supply is supposed to work.

 

I've been very happy with off-brand PSU and limited memory. The only reason I am upgrading is that I want to do more video editing and THAT takes some horsepower not running xcode for some iphone apps. A lot of developers used the Mac mini to do iphone dev. and they aren't complaining.

 

With all the best intentions, you CAN'T future-proof a computer. Never could.

 

Stick to your budget .......... when you can afford better, get it.

 

Well at least you have some varying opinions, good luck with your decisions.

[Zaap]

It came with just a single SATA connector...

This bears repeating: beware that so many cheap PSUs only come with one SATA connector. Nothing will annoy you more than putting together your system, and discovering you can't actually install and use it, because you only have 1 SATA connector and so can't use both hard drive and optical drive at once.

 

So be sure either to check how many SATA connectors a PSU has in stats or user reviews, or if not listed, just in case, pick up a molex to SATA adapter.

 

I agree with all statements but remember the overriding spec was $300.

True, good points.

 

I guess I would urge the OP to consider going for the minimum RAM to stay on budget ( you're right, it isn't a necessity, just that it may keep going up in price) and go with a dirt cheap case, but still get the best quality PSU that keeps within budget.

 

A cheap PSU may not take out system components (although I have seen that happen in rare case, probably because a bad one may not have proper over-voltage protection) but it's fairly common that a PSU that doesn't output clean power can cause system instability that the user may mistake for the OS/software being flaky. That I've seen a lot of, and a developer system should be as stable as possible.

[LogicalUser]

I've heard waaaay too many stories about sub $15-20 PSUs failing to ever trust one with hundreds of dollars worth of components AND my valuable data. Stories of smoke, cables melting, connectors melting, fire, etc....

 

Finding a $10-20 PSU with functional OCP & OVP circuits is hard. Finding one with both set where they should be based on the PSU's specs & label on the side is virtually impossible. At that price, odds are your getting a repackaged/rebranded generic PSU that is likely built around a 5+ year old design intended for a Pentium III or IV.

 

And then there's the added costs in terms of electricity you'll be paying, as a cheapo power supply will likely have an efficiency of 55-70% (30-45% of energy pulled from wall wasted as heat) as opposed to 80-85% or more for a quality PSU.

 

It may not be much, but over as little as 6 months the energy savings could pay for the cost of a better PSU.

 

 

and really, when a quality branded PSU can be obtained on sale for around $40 shipped (cheaper with rebates) it seems a stupid idea to skimp. A StealthXStream 400w set me back only $25 canadian after MIR, shipped.

 

newegg.com currently has four 80+ certified PSUs on sale for $30-40 (3 with freeship)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817159074

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139008

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817182160

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817182202

[Aurimas]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions.

 

I managed to successfully install OSX on vmware. I'm running it on my laptop (Dell D630: Core 2 Duo T7500 2.2GHz, 4GB ram, windows 7 64-bit).

 

Would I get much (if at all) benefit on getting a $300 hackintosh instead of just using virtually installed one?

 

Thanks

[tombo]

well you could get rid of windoze (yeccch) and put OSX on the laptop. I think D620 is supported, probably D630 too. If you wanna be safe, get another harddrive to install to - a lot cheaper than $300.

 

For virtualization on my Hackintosh I use Virtualbox (yes sometimes I have to use Windoze).