Building a Hackintosh

[Blaziken]

Hi  :censored2:

 

I want to build a hackintosh (max. 800€).

 

I tried choosing components but it's not easy.

 

 

 

 

I use the computer for surfing the internet, chatting, listening to music, playing videogames. I don't need an i7 

 

I need two hard disks (One for Mac OS X, I think 500GB are ok, and one for Windows 7 and Ubuntu).

 

I don't play videogames that need too much power, I play games like The Sims 3, Simcity, ecc.

 

 

 

 

Can you help me? 

 

 

 

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Blaziken.

[shoarthing]

Hi 

 

I want to build a hackintosh (max. 800€).

 

I tried choosing components but it's not easy.

 

 

 

 

I use the computer for surfing the internet, chatting, listening to music, playing videogames. I don't need an i7 

 

I need two hard disks (One for Mac OS X, I think 500GB are ok, and one for Windows 7 and Ubuntu).

 

I don't play videogames that need too much power, I play games like The Sims 3, Simcity, ecc.

 

 

 

 

Can you help me? 

 

 

 

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Blaziken.

. . . you may find this sticky helpful

[mac09hack]

Hi 

 

I want to build a hackintosh (max. 800€).

 

I tried choosing components but it's not easy.

 

Can you help me? 

 

Thank you in advance,

 

Blaziken.

 

I was where you are at about 6 months ago. I researched what components would support MacOS X and how to go about installing OS X when the system was built.

 

I will give you a quick synopsis of my build and experience.

 

I decided first to build the stoutest computer I could afford with future proofing the build. I found a PC case that was heads above the others in design.

 

Cooler Master Cosmos case with Cooler Master UCP 900 watt power supply. I like this case as it has the power supply mounted low in the cabinet. The PS sits on a enclosed air chamber that doesn't let PS hot air enter the main cabinet.

 

I chose the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 motherboard and an Intel i7 920 CPU. This was the top of the line best recommended Mac Like MoBoard for that time. I added 12 GB of DDR3 1600 RAM (2GB x 6 RAM sticks) and a EVGA Nvidia 9800 GTX+ video card. A SATA DVD-RW drive and a 1TB SATA boot disk.

 

After learning how to connect the cables to the MoBoard, I ran self test by setting up the BIOS as recommended for booting MacOS X an worked tirelessly for 2 moths to learn how to load the OS.

 

I finally decided on using the script that Digital Dreamer has on this web site. It required me to use another Intel MAC to load a disk drive with the proper Kexts and boot loader to make Leopard work.

 

I had intermittent success with getting everything to work such as internet ports, sound and correct video resolutions. Recently I loaded Snow Leopard onto the boot disk with Kakewalk 2.1 using the USB Flash drive method. Kakewalk is the simplest way to load Snow Leopard onto a PC with specific Intel based Motherboards.

[Blaziken]

I was where you are at about 6 months ago. I researched what components would support MacOS X and how to go about installing OS X when the system was built.

 

I will give you a quick synopsis of my build and experience.

 

I decided first to build the stoutest computer I could afford with future proofing the build. I found a PC case that was heads above the others in design.

 

Cooler Master Cosmos case with Cooler Master UCP 900 watt power supply. I like this case as it has the power supply mounted low in the cabinet. The PS sits on a enclosed air chamber that doesn't let PS hot air enter the main cabinet.

 

I chose the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 motherboard and an Intel i7 920 CPU. This was the top of the line best recommended Mac Like MoBoard for that time. I added 12 GB of DDR3 1600 RAM (2GB x 6 RAM sticks) and a EVGA Nvidia 9800 GTX+ video card. A SATA DVD-RW drive and a 1TB SATA boot disk.

 

After learning how to connect the cables to the MoBoard, I ran self test by setting up the BIOS as recommended for booting MacOS X an worked tirelessly for 2 moths to learn how to load the OS.

 

I finally decided on using the script that Digital Dreamer has on this web site. It required me to use another Intel MAC to load a disk drive with the proper Kexts and boot loader to make Leopard work.

 

I had intermittent success with getting everything to work such as internet ports, sound and correct video resolutions. Recently I loaded Snow Leopard onto the boot disk with Kakewalk 2.1 using the USB Flash drive method. Kakewalk is the simplest way to load Snow Leopard onto a PC with specific Intel based Motherboards.

 

 

 

 

Thank you 

 

I thought on which hardware to buy. I think I'll buy:

 

Processor: Core 2 Duo 3,06 GHz

RAM: 4GB

HD: 2 x 500GB SATA

CD-DVD Writer

 

 

 

 

I really don't know which mobo I should buy.

I want a motherboard with integrated ethernet, audio and graphics (and if this won't raise too much the price of the motherboard, I want bluetooth too)  that work without issues.

I don't need overclocking.

If graphics and audio are integrated into the motherboard, I don't need a video card or a audio card, do I?

 

Excuse me for my bad english, I'm italian.

 

 

 

 

EDIT: I forgot: I prefer to install SL retail, not using distros like iPC. If I install SL retail, could I update the OS without problems?

 

The budget is 800€, but I prefer, if I can, to spend less than 600€

[amzor]

Check out the three different builds that are on conti's

myHack store. They all should work well with Snow Leopard. And use myHack to install Snow Leopard retail when you get it.

http://astore.amazon.com/sojug-20

http://osx86.sojugarden.com/installer/

[muchlife]

are you reusing ANY of your old equipment or you starting from scratch? if you have some hard drives or an old graphics card to re use, then your new system would be quite impressive with a budget of 800

 

amzor's info above my post looks great, i bookmarked that myself (thanks!)

 

 

in case you want few other options/ideas...

 

1) Core 2 Duo - $600

- E8400 Core 2 Duo 3.0 Ghz

- Gigabyte EP45-UD3L ** (see below - purchase UD3P or UD3R outside Egg)

- 9600 GT 512 MB - Dual DVI

- 500w modular power supply

- 2 GB DDR2 800

- Two 1TB SATA (spinpoint F3)

- One SATA DVD burner

newegg public wishlist - here

 

 

2) Core 2 Quad - $850

- Q8400 Core 2 Quad 2.66 Ghz

- Liquid Cooloing - Corsair H50 (all in one system)

- Gigabyte EP45-UD3L ** (see below - purchase UD3P or UD3R outside Egg)

- 9600 GT 512 MB - Dual DVI

- 500w modular power supply

- 2 GB DDR2 800

- Two 1TB SATA (spinpoint F3)

- One SATA DVD burner

newegg public wishlist - here

 

** Should purchase EP45-UD3R($135) or EP45-UD3P ($145) if you can afford it, however NewEgg was out stock at time i made the lists so i put the EP45-UD3L in its place to give you the idea, just add $40-50 and purchase motherboard elsewhere. If not, the UD3L is fine and will run you just as smoothly but i prefer ALC 889a over 889 and also prefer ICH10R over ICH10

 

 

3) Core i7 1366 - $1,050

- Core i7 920 2.66 Ghz (1366)

- Liquid Cooloing - Corsair H50 (all in one system)

- Gigabyte GA-EX58A-UD3R

- 9800 GT 512 MB - Dual DVI

- 650w modular power supply

- 3 GB DDR3 1333

- One 1TB SATA (spinpoint F3)

- One SATA DVD burner

newegg public wishlist - http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWi...Number=10861754

 

4) Core i7 1156 - $1,050

- Core i7 860 2.8 Ghz (1156)

- Liquid Cooloing - Corsair H50 (all in one system)

- Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4P

- 9800 GT 512 MB - Dual DVI

- 650w modular power supply

- 4 GB DDR3 1333 (3 x 1GB)

- One 1TB SATA (spinpoint F3)

- One SATA DVD burner

newegg public wishlist - http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWi...Number=10867234

 

see all my hackintosh wishlists here - http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWi...archItemNumber=

[merelli]

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2009/09/how-t...tart-to-finish/

try the guide here. To cut down on the cost go with a lower preformance ram and a slower processor. I used this guide and it was very easy to put together.

[Broc McGee]

hello I wanted for a long time to build my own hackintosh and I succeeded to some degree.

 

I am typing this my "gigamac" which works for the most part.

 

I bought the majority of components from Newegg.com or from my local Microcenter store.

 

the motherboard:

gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P

 

the processor:

intel core 2 duo 2.8Ghz

 

the ram

2x 1GB DDR2 667

 

the HD's

WD Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" SATA II 3G 7200rpm (for Windows XP)

Samsung 500GB 3.5" SATA II 3G 7200rpm (for Mac OSX)

 

the DVD burner

pioneer DVR-216

 

the case

thermaltake VL8000 V3 black

 

the powersupply

Coolermaster 500W

 

the video card

pny geforce gt 240 512MB PCIE 2.0 x16

 

So i used about 5 different websites including this most excellent forum to help me build my own system. It was extremely slow and hard for me as I am the type that prefers everything to Just Work.

 

I was an ultra cheapskate and did not want to have to buy a bootloader like the ones from EFI-X. I thought I could do it on my own as I have built plain vanilla PC's many times that run various versions of Linux.

 

I already had a full Retail copy of Mac OSX Leopard which I had originally bought a couple years ago to upgrade my Dual G4 Mac from Tiger to Leopard. But I never used the upgrade and kept Tiger on the G4.

 

I found through searching various sites a guide to some link for a Vanilla Bootloader which I downloaded and burned to a Boot CD.

 

In the end I use the majority of my Bootloader info from this Website/Forum. Once I got the computer booted with the Boot CD I created (with edited info gathered from this forum) I then popped in the OSX Leopard DVD into the CD/DVD drive and let it run. It was very slow at first. But I got to the Disk Utilities and formatted and partitioned the Samsung HD for use for OSX. Everytime I tried this it appears that Leopard Fails and the computer crashes. But Apparently it was successful.

 

My next project was trying to have the computer do a default boot into the Mac side. For a while all I could do was force the computer to boot using the Boot CD (better than nothing).

I used the Chameleon program from this Forum and the OSX86 Tools to install a boot program onto the HD. Yea it worked.

 

Next biggest pain in the butt??? NO LAN ACCESS. This was a big roadblock for me. the gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3 has an awesome dual gigabit LAN built in, but nothing I could do would force the Mac side to see it and access it. In the End I found an ancient 10/100BT PCI card which I put in the computer and finally the Mac side saw the ethernet card an allows me to access my Home LAN.

 

The final and most frustrating of all problems is SOUND.... nothing I can do so far has enabled my Mac install to recognize sound. I have yet to figure it out and all but given up. The gigabyte-EP45-UD3 again has wonderful onboard surround sound. But the most I can get is the Apple System Profiler to see is "Intel HD Audio" but it still says no sound device exist.

 

In the end, i primarly use the Mac side for web surfing and email and graphics stuff. I keep my old Dual G4 Mac around for anytime I wanna play music or videos (with sound) .

 

the Windows XP drive in my computer is 99% only for games and I rarely use it for serious work.

 

Sadly I am convinced however if I ever get to the point where I get $800 to spend on a computer, I will just use it to buy a Real Mac. I realize there are very few Real Macs for that price range (the Mac mini or a refurb system).

 

My Gigamac "hackintosh" was a very good eye opener and educational tool for me has has enabled me to learn and understand more about building and maintaining computers.

 

Good Luck

 

-LukeR.

 

my biggest problem for me so far is I do not have any access to another Intel Mac. lol... might be reason my build hasnt been 100% successful. I did a lot of the downloading of info from my PPC G4 Mac and tried to install and setup items while in that platform

no matter what I've done my USB Flash drive I created will not boot my setup. I've had to resort to just using a plain vanilla boot CD i created from files form this forum.

 

I really wish I could fet my Mac side to run with sound.

 

I was where you are at about 6 months ago. I researched what components would support MacOS X and how to go about installing OS X when the system was built.

 

I will give you a quick synopsis of my build and experience.

 

I decided first to build the stoutest computer I could afford with future proofing the build. I found a PC case that was heads above the others in design.

 

Cooler Master Cosmos case with Cooler Master UCP 900 watt power supply. I like this case as it has the power supply mounted low in the cabinet. The PS sits on a enclosed air chamber that doesn't let PS hot air enter the main cabinet.

 

I chose the Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 motherboard and an Intel i7 920 CPU. This was the top of the line best recommended Mac Like MoBoard for that time. I added 12 GB of DDR3 1600 RAM (2GB x 6 RAM sticks) and a EVGA Nvidia 9800 GTX+ video card. A SATA DVD-RW drive and a 1TB SATA boot disk.

 

After learning how to connect the cables to the MoBoard, I ran self test by setting up the BIOS as recommended for booting MacOS X an worked tirelessly for 2 moths to learn how to load the OS.

 

I finally decided on using the script that Digital Dreamer has on this web site. It required me to use another Intel MAC to load a disk drive with the proper Kexts and boot loader to make Leopard work.

 

I had intermittent success with getting everything to work such as internet ports, sound and correct video resolutions. Recently I loaded Snow Leopard onto the boot disk with Kakewalk 2.1 using the USB Flash drive method. Kakewalk is the simplest way to load Snow Leopard onto a PC with specific Intel based Motherboards.

[muchlife]

hello I wanted for a long time to build my own hackintosh and I succeeded to some degree.

 

I am typing this my "gigamac" which works for the most part.

 

I bought the majority of components from Newegg.com or from my local Microcenter store.

 

the motherboard:

gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P

 

Next biggest pain in the butt??? NO LAN ACCESS

 

The final and most frustrating of all problems is SOUND.... nothing I can do so far has enabled my Mac install to recognize sound.

 

 

the LAN ports and AUDIO ports on the GA-EP45-UD3P work fine, no PCI(e) cards are needed. If you didn't get them working properly you either did something wrong, didn't use the correct kext files, or have a faulty motherboard.

 

i attached a ZIP of the extensions i used on EP45-UD3P and have everything (firewire, USB, sound, LAN) working great!

 

for LAN ports - use RealtekR1000.kext found in folder labeled "put in system-libr-extensions"

 

which obviously, you install that kext into /System/Library/Extensions folder or your /Extra chameleon folder

 

for AUDIO ports - (use files i attached for audio, only if you have 889a, not 889) use AppleHDA.kext and ALCinject.kext found in folder labeled "put in system-libr-extensions"

 

which again obviously, you install that kext into /System/Library/Extensions folder. this will give you Mic In, Headphone Out and SPDIF outputs

 

* if your sure your motherboard works fine, and have installed the right files properly, make sure you dont have quick boot = enabled in your bios. this prevents the DMI data from being passed along properly and can kill your LAN, Audio and Firewire functionality in OSX. soon as you switch quickboot to disabled, the EP45-UD3P should work flawlessly

 

This motherboard is my favorite hands down, I plan on buying a 2nd one soon to build another hack for my studio partner

muchlife_ep45_ud3p_files.zip

[Blaziken]

are you reusing ANY of your old equipment or you starting from scratch? if you have some hard drives or an old graphics card to re use, then your new system would be quite impressive with a budget of 800

 

amzor's info above my post looks great, i bookmarked that myself (thanks!)

 

 

in case you want few other options/ideas...

 

1) Core 2 Duo - $600

- E8400 Core 2 Duo

- Gigabyte EP45-UD3R ** (see below)

- 9600 GT 512 MB - Dual DVI

- 500w modular power supply

- 4 GB DDR2 800

- Two 500GB SATA

- One SATA DVD burner

newegg public wishlist - here

 

I think I'll buy this hardware.

 

I have 1GB ram of my old computer and a 200GB hard disk but I don't know if it is SATA or IDE.

I may use a 500GB hd for Mac OS X and a 200GB hd for Windows (and linux).

[muchlife]

I think I'll buy this hardware.

 

I have 1GB ram of my old computer and a 200GB hard disk but I don't know if it is SATA or IDE.

I may use a 500GB hd for Mac OS X and a 200GB hd for Windows (and linux).

 

feel free to PM me if you have ANY questions installing retail vanilla on these Gigabyte boards. I'd be glad to help you as I've installed on 3 EP45 Gigabyte boards now for myself and 2 friends. If you have some experience you probably won't have much trouble at all thought because there are so many good guides out there.

 

i used this guide for 10.5.6 Leopard retail install using Grub DFE boot disc

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&saf...q=&gs_rfai=

(search "auzigog retail guide ep45-ud3p" in google, first one)

[Mick Mars]

I've found the easiest way to go is a bootloader called "Kakewalk". I fully supports a few of the Gigabyte Motherboards that you guys have mentioned like the EP45-UD3L. You need a Snow Leopard CD and this bootloader which can either be done on usb or cd (personally found the cd route to be easier). You follow the guide to make the board run as Vanilla as possible and then use the loader CD to boot the Install CD, then when in OSX after the install process, you go back onto the bootloader CD in the Finder and install the Kexts and bootloader on to the HDD and it should all work.

 

 

 

Spec of my machine is as follows:

 

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3LR

 

Intel Q6600 2.4 GHZ

 

8GB 800MHZ DDR2 RAM

 

Nvidia GTX260 896MB

 

2 Samsung DVD-R Drives

 

1 Western Digital 1TB HDD (for data)

 

1 Western Digital 500GB HDD (With OSX loaded) - As 1 TB drives may need to be split or they might not work on a hackintosh properly, I decided to install on the smaller drive

 

 

 

 

 

Everything works fine, only issue being that the 10.6.3 update broke the sound but I fixed that with a fix I found on this forum for AppleHDA.

 

Other than that, this system has been flawless

 

Search Google for Kakewalk and give that a go. It has worked better than any other distro or method I have used before

[TheMonster2.0]

Hello, instead of starting a new topic on the same thing i decided i just add to this one.

So i'd like to build a Hackintosh to run final cut express and logic studio, and i want to know if i used this configuration to build it if it would work well.

Newegg Hackintosh Configuration

 

That would be just the basics. I want everything to be just as if i bought a mac, and if you don't think this would work well, or if there is another set up i could use for running Final Cut and Logic better please let me know. I'll spend up to 2500 for it. because the whole reason behind building a hackintosh for me is the price of a mac pro. lol if you guys think that for what i want to do it would just be easier/everything would run better with a mac pro, just tell me. i have no problem buying a mac pro, but like i said, if i can accomplish what i want for cheaper i would like to. thanks

[bmops]

That would be just the basics. I want everything to be just as if i bought a mac, and if you don't think this would work well, or if there is another set up i could use for running Final Cut and Logic better please let me know. I'll spend up to 2500 for it. because the whole reason behind building a hackintosh for me is the price of a mac pro. lol if you guys think that for what i want to do it would just be easier/everything would run better with a mac pro, just tell me. i have no problem buying a mac pro, but like i said, if i can accomplish what i want for cheaper i would like to. thanks

 

Why not just buy a mac pro end of lease unit, possibly only 2 years old and use the change to upgrade HDD and ram!!!

altleast you will have no compatibility issues for high end software for mac.

[muchlife]

Hello, instead of starting a new topic on the same thing i decided i just add to this one.

So i'd like to build a Hackintosh to run final cut express and logic studio, and i want to know if i used this configuration to build it if it would work well.

Newegg Hackintosh Configuration

 

you can only share public wishlists on newegg. the link you posted was for your shopping cart which nobody else can see

[Electricity.]

you can only share public wishlists on newegg. the link you posted was for your shopping cart which nobody else can see

 

 

hi guys.. really new to this forum and website.

thinking of trying out this too...

 

but just wondering about the hardware compatibility.. cause there a just millions of sites saying different things! haha

 

so was wondering ...

 

Asus P6T-SE + i7 980x

XFX 5750

 

so yeah... just wondering..

i've read on the forums about kernel panic and no supported drivers for the 5xxx series .

just wondering , even if there are no drivers, will there be display? ..

 

sorry for bombarding ..

thanks

[wanna_buy]

Hi folks.

 

I want to start a new thread but I can't.

 

 

 

 

So excuse me that I am writing this stuff in this topic.

 

 

 

 

I am going to buy a new PC, so I want it to be compatible with Mac OS X.

 

 

 

 

I think that this choice is great.

 

 

 

 

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400

 

MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5Q (As far as I know, there is a BIOS mod available for this model, so I can install MAC OS X from the retail disc) 

 

MEMORY: I am going to use 2x2GB (Total 4GB)  DDR2-800 Kingston chips from my old PC.

 

GRAPHICS: I think of purchasing ASUS EN 9800GT 1 GB. (Maybe you can tell me the nVidia card of 9 Series that has the best compability issue.) 

 

HDD: 1TB Samsung SATA-II drive and WDC 320 GB from my old PC.

 

DVD Recorder: LG 22x

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[Bug]

I've got the P5Q-SE board with a E7200 Core 2 Duo. Got 4GB of 1066 ram and a Nvidia 250GTS 1GB, but I started this off with a 9600GT. It works perfectly except the lan, but that's cause I got lazy and put in a gigabit PCI card that works without any drivers. Sound seems to work, but I use a USB sound system so I cannot be sure.

 

I used the custom bios, put the chameleon boot loader on the drive using a MacBook and a USB to SATA adapter, then in theory you can boot the machine from the hard drive and selected the DVD to boot from.

 

One catch - and I can't confirm this anymore - but I had a real problem booting from an ATA DVD drive. I had to get a SATA DVD drive, still had problems, and ended up making a bootable USB stick from the DVD to install it. So I recommend using a 8GB USB Flash drive instead of the DVD to install.

[monkeybagel]

Just wondering - how would you guys describe yourself as a user -

 

1) Installed OS X to see if I could and play with it but use it rarely

2) Built a machine to install OS X to use it as a fast Mac Pro replacement and pretty much use OS X exclusively

3) Enjoyed the challenge of making OS X work on a PC but are primarily a Windows user.

 

 

I have 15+ years experience in PCs and also own one Macintosh. I have found myself in the past using Windows for all work related activities since I run many applications that require Windows, and I also administer many Windows Servers and Microsoft Exchange Servers, and also depend on Microsoft Outlook daily for work. I purchased a Snow Leopard Box Set for my Macintosh to upgrade from 10.4 to 10.6 so I decided when I was board that I would attempt to install 10.6 on my main desktop computer, an Intel-based motherboard DG965 with a Core 2 Duo 2.13 processor and 8GB of RAM with ATI 4850 PCIe graphics (for dual DVI driving two 24" monitors). Although with the newer boot CDs that will jumpstart the installation (and not using the Macintosh at all for assisting in the installation) the installation of 10.6 was still very difficult for even an experienced PC technician IMO. After removing the ATI 4850 and placing an older card in, I was able to install 10.6 and boot it from a CD. Then I installed Chameleon and updated to 10.6.3 after I updated the sleepenabler.kext file. I was able to get sound. What I really missed was the two monitors. So I researched and edited the ATI4800 series kext with some addition Device IDs and hoped for the best. I replaced the card and connected the monitors and had perfect 1920x1200x32 on both screens. It was perfect. It feels very much what a Mac Pro would feel like (without the price) being able to get two nice screens and the excellent performance the machine was offering me.

 

I had been using Windows 7 for quite some time (and still love the OS) but I am really starting to like 10.6.3 on this desktop. It was a fluke it went on as easy as it did IMO.

 

The only issue I have remaining which really does bug the heck out of me is the shutdown issue. The computer will ALWAYS reboot when you attempt to shut it down. Looking at the Console does not reveal any error. The drives shut down and fans spin down and even the power goes out for about a second, then it powers right back on. If anyone has any pointers on fixing this I would greatly appreciate it.

 

I am considering a Mac Mini to 1) ensure it is legitimate with licensing and 2) will always work with software updates. Also, the Mac Mini is supposed to drive two 24" monitors. Not sure how well, but it is supposed to. Although I am not a gamer (use the extra screen for tech support/virtual machines, etc.) I am sure I will not get the fluid effects that I have come to expect with the 4850 such as the eye candy that OS X has.

 

But I must admit it was a fun and sometimes nerve racking experience. Good luck if you want to give it a shot. I don't want to discourage you, but unless you get a "turn key" motherboard, processor, installation helpers, etc., it will be tricky and sometimes very frustrating and still not get all functionality that you would expect to be the normal part of using a computer (shutting down).

[AM01]

Hi All,

 

Thanks for all these great posts which are adding to my wealth of knowledge. Mine is a rather long post, and while Id like to start a new topic, I understand I cant yet do that (post #1!). This thread however, contains a lot of what I want to ask, so without intentional disrespect to the thread-starter, here goes my queries in regard to a hackintosh.

 

 

My PC's (AMD 3600+) motherboard has recently failed, and I think rather than just replacing it, I can have a cheap upgrade if I just change the processor, motherboard, RAM and power supply. Id prefer to stick with AMD, but as Id like to give a Hackintosh a go, I will need to get an Intel chip to make this easier. My questions are:

 

1) Honestly speaking, how stable is a hackintosh going to be? If I need to deal with the reality of random reboots, on-board sound that wont be recognised, then frankly, Id rather cut my losses, and wait until I can afford a Mac Mini and run them side by side. The headache of 'hot-swapping' a keyboard/mouse, sound and display adapter from a PC to a Mac is the main reason I prefer a hackintosh over a mac since I use a PC too.

 

Its scary to see a lot of people talk about incompatibility, and I wonder what is appeal to go through the heartache of all this, if it wont be 100% safe or a sureshot?

 

For example, I read this wonderful article on lifehacker by Adam Pash who took the time to painstakingly write out each step (great for someone like me who knows nothing about how Macs install and their command lines) for installing OS X, but a read a comment below it that he omitted the FDISK steps, and the need for a USB keyboard and mouse. Kudos to Mr. Pash for the article, I'll probably use his article should I go with this, but it still worries me I'll come across some ridiculous problem like this in my installation, that will put a brake on the whole thing, and mean I waste money on an Intel chip!

 

2) Im on a very very tight budget here. So much so, that I am spending only US$150 for all the above changes with AMD (Athlon 2, 2GB RAM), but willing to spend US$250 for Intel if I can get a Hackintosh to work. You can see already, people trumpet their Hackintosh as being 'just over the price of a mac mini' but Im not even willing to spend that much.

 

In addition, I will still need to pay for Mac OS itself, so this is an additional cost to be borne later.

 

I know people suggest to use certain makes of motherboards/RAM/HDD to get a hackintosh working. The vendor from which Im buying my upgrades said I need only make sure Im using a gigabye motherboard and an intel chip. Other than that, everything else can remain the same.

 

As said, Ive read a lot of scary comments of people running into issues getting this thing to work. Im not a techie per se, and I dont mind fooling around with the system until I can get it to work, but only SO LONG as I can use WinXp day-to-day until I can. I cannot have this system building experience risk my data and use of a regular

PC.

 

My question therefore, is how likely is it that I can get a working Hackintosh relying on most of my parts, except an INtel chip and compatible motherboard?

 

Because if its unlikely this is going to bear fruit, then there is no sense in wasting money on an Intel chip SOLELY for the smaller glimmer of hope of a working Hackintosh, and if it may interfere with regular use of my WinXp installation until I do.

 

In this sense, financially, it works out cheaper to just wait and get a Mac Mini when I can, and run both a good PC and standard Mac, than buying a top-of-the-range PC to do all this, and might after all this, still may not work.

 

3) I have a 60GB drive which is enough for me. As it stands, I have over 40GB free. Is this enough to support both Mac OX SnowLeopard and WinXp?

 

4) Rather than partitioning the hdd, isn't it a better idea to just install Mac OS, and then use the built-in software and let Mac OS create a partition and install windows that way? If not, why?

 

5) Once win Xp and OS X are installed, do I need to select which OS each time the rig starts up, or can I default it to either one with a software setting?

 

6) I understand that I will need what is known as an EFI bootloader which must be in place at all times including bootup. Is there any way, that once the software is in place, to not rely on this EFI thing each time the system boots?

 

And if removed, does that mean WinXp will load automatically?

 

7) Does it matter that my HDD is SATA, my RAM a certain speed, or that a certain brand of IDE controller controls the DVD drive?

 

8) And finally, a reason I am willing to go the Hackintosh route is because I am hesitant over Mac Mini's lack of RAM and non-dedicated video. Can someone advise me, is the Mac Mini equivalent to a 'netbook' or is it still a decent computer in its own right? Can I for example, run Director, Flash, and Photoshop on it? Can the PC emulator run older games like RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 and SImcity 4 at 1024x768 under XP Pro with decent framerates? That sort of thing.

 

 

The rig as it stands, will most likely end up like this:

 

Replacement Gigabyte motherboard (with onboard 7.1, firewire, LAN, and VGA but video wont be used as Ive dedicated video)

Intel chip - most likely C2D

2GB DDR3 RAM

60GB SATA Seagate HDD

Asus Nvidia 7600GS video card (256MB)

400W power supply

Samsung Syncmaster 971P Monitor

Sony Vaio RF wireless USB keyboard and USB wireless mouse

 

 

I do apologise for the long post, but as Im a newbie, I appreciate all the help, since I know no one who runs a 'Hackintosh'! Thank you!

[L3B0]

http://www.wix.com/lebo_morojele/TechTuts/Home

Greate Article!!

Here is the link to a tutorial that worked for me and a few others check it out: http://www.wix.com/lebo_morojele/TechTuts/Home

Hope it works for you