Start from scratch with snow only?

[jbolted]

I apologize if this is a long post:

 

Like millions of other people I want to put together a hackintosh. I'm pretty adept on any Mac OS, I'm fluent i guess with the terminal. I can do a detailed search on this forum and find a good list of compatible hardware I'll need, & should have no problem assembling it. I rebuilt my old emac enough times, should have no problems on that end.

 

I can get around in a windows environment but not that familiar with the OS. I don't even have any of the newer windows OSes. I do have Leopard 10.5.6 DVD and I'm gonna get a snow DVD. I have a working eMac with Leopard on it now & an old Beige G3 with Panther on it, they both work & they both get cable internet through a router but can't really handle the apps available now adays.

 

I'm going to go with an Intel Core2quad & I'll get SATA drives & dvd burner & I'll get an nvidea gpu since they seem the most compatible. That being said here is my dilemma.

 

I don't know where to start.

Do I have to have a windows installation already on the hackintosh?

Do I need to first install Leopard or can I start from scratch with a snow dvd?

 

Also I noticed through researching that there are, it looks like at least 3 different methods to go about installing the OS.

 

I would like to wind up with a finished product that I can do software updates on. Maybe someone can recommend a method to use & all the patches for that method and I can find the tutorial for it here.

 

Thanks for reading and any help,

 

jbolted

[LogicalUser]

technically, you do not need to ever install windows or leopard on a set of hardware, and could go straight to snow leopard. With that said, depending on method you may need to use OSX to prep your installer volume/bootloader/etc... But you've got a real mac, so no biggie there.

 

IMO the idea solution is a "vanilla" Snow Leopard install, with all the required kexts & plist files located on the chameleon bootloader volume (located either in the EFI partition or on a USB thumb drive) Since no modifications to the OSX install itself, minor software updates are no problem. Even many major updates will work, although you'd best wait a week or so to make sure nobody reports the update breaking compatibility with something, a la 10.6.2 and netbooks

 

Where to start? IMO I'd start with picking an architecture & socket type, and then a motherboard. Keep in mind the right mobo is the most crucial component on a hackintosh and Gigabyte boards are very popular for good reason

 

Socket 775 & Core 2 is by far the cheapest option, with i7 & socket 1366 being the most expensive and i5/i7 & socket 1156 falling right in between. Without a price range, its hard to know what to recommend, but I do have a recommendation on what to AVOID

 

IMO building a system around a Core 2 Quad right now is a huge waste of money, as a system built around an i5 CPU, P55 board & DDR3 RAM will cost at most $50-100 more than an entry level Core 2 Quad, P45 & DDR2 build will, all with a 3 year newer architecture & MUCH better performance.

[jbolted]

technically, you do not need to ever install windows or leopard on a set of hardware, and could go straight to snow leopard. With that said, depending on method you may need to use OSX to prep your installer volume/bootloader/etc... But you've got a real mac, so no biggie there.

 

IMO the idea solution is a "vanilla" Snow Leopard install, with all the required kexts & plist files located on the chameleon bootloader volume (located either in the EFI partition or on a USB thumb drive) Since no modifications to the OSX install itself, minor software updates are no problem. Even many major updates will work, although you'd best wait a week or so to make sure nobody reports the update breaking compatibility with something, a la 10.6.2 and netbooks

 

Where to start? IMO I'd start with picking an architecture & socket type, and then a motherboard. Keep in mind the right mobo is the most crucial component on a hackintosh and Gigabyte boards are very popular for good reason

 

Socket 775 & Core 2 is by far the cheapest option, with i7 & socket 1366 being the most expensive and i5/i7 & socket 1156 falling right in between. Without a price range, its hard to know what to recommend, but I do have a recommendation on what to AVOID

 

IMO building a system around a Core 2 Quad right now is a huge waste of money, as a system built around an i5 CPU, P55 board & DDR3 RAM will cost at most $50-100 more than an entry level Core 2 Quad, P45 & DDR2 build will, all with a 3 year newer architecture & MUCH better performance.

 

thanks LogicalUser for your response! I appreciate the tips. As far as a budget, I would love to get up and running on about 600 or so. I can get a LCD monitor later. Do you think thats doable?

 

I want to build on an Intel cpu & a gigabyte board ( i heard good things about gigabyte).

Not sure if ATI or nvidia. I thought nvidia was most compatible, but now I'm not so sure (apple seems to be moving to ati cards on everything except for their lowest end imac).

I'm also not sure if the case matters that much, or is it just a matter of preference? What ever the case I'm going to get one without a PSU, (I heard that a good PSU can go a long way to having a stable setup).

[LogicalUser]

600 or so sounds like a good budget to me, enough to give you lots of choice in terms of parts depending on what you'll be using the machine for

 

The case you choose is purely a matter of personal taste & cost. And yeah, I would not recommend using a included-with-case PSU, although you could likely sell it for $15-20 locally via online classifieds if the case you like includes one. (I got a logisys case w/ garbage 480w PSU for $30 & sold the PSU for $15)

 

With a budget of around 600, an i5 build seems like the best deal. I'm in the process of a i5-750/P55-UD3R/9800GTX+/OCZ stealthXstream 400w PSU/4gb RAM build myself right now, just waiting on the mobo

 

i5-750 = $200-225

gigabyte P55 based mobo = $90-130 depending on size & ports

2x2GB sticks of DDR3 = $75-120

80+ certified 400-600w PSU = $35-60 on sale

SATA DVD-R = $25-35

A case = $25+

A video card = $50-150

hard drive = $50-100

 

minimum $500-550 with sales & cheap part choices, max $700 or so if you go for beefier video card/bigger HD/better mobo/etc..

 

I would say $75-120 is the sweet spot for video cards what with nvidia 9800GTs at $80 and GTS 250 at $110-120

For ATI cards you'll need someone else's advise, I've yet to hack with a ATI card.

 

Alternately, keep your eyes open for used cards to save yourself a bundle in up-front costs. I recently picked up a 8600GT for $20, and an 8800GT with aftermarket heatsink for $40, both local.