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Help building my first hackintosh


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While I have built computers before but this is the first time trying to build a hackintosh. After doing a good amount of research I have finially come up with a list of parts that i think will work well together. Here is the list

 

Motherboard= Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128372

 

Processor= Intel core 2 quad q8300

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115207

 

Video Card= 9800gtx+

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130339

 

Ram= AllComponents 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820159021

 

Hard Drive= 1tb Samsung

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822152185

 

PSU= Antec 650w

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817371015

 

2 generic DVD drives

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827118030

 

**Also, I need a wireless LAN card so it can connect to my wireless network any recommendations are helpful**

 

 

 

 

If it helps I'm installing 10.6.3 using [url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]+[url="http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/279450-why-insanelymac-does-not-support-tonymacx86/"]#####[/url]

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This is kind of funny because I am also looking at building a Hackintosh based around the Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3L motherboard and would love to hear any thoughts or caveats regarding this board.

 

I also picked the same PSU as you did. If you are planning on using an Antec Sonata Elite case as well then we will need to see if our brains have become quantum entangled :D

 

I am thinking about going with the PNY Verto VCGGT2401D3XPB GeForce GT 240 1GB for the GPU though. Not sure how it stacks up to the one you choose performance wise but it is a little bit cheaper.

 

For RAM I am looking at the OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 only a bit more expensive than yours and I have heard OCZ is a decent brand while I haven't heard of the brand you picked (which really doesn't mean much since I have only been buying Mac RAM and the same brand for over a decade now).

 

I plan on going with a lower end CPU until I can afford to get a nice fast Quad Core. Right now I am looking at getting the Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5400 Wolfdale 2.7GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core. It is faster than what I have now and I have a pretty tight budget so it should work alright until I can afford to upgrade.

 

Just to round everything out I am looking at getting one of these Pioneer CD/DVD Burners because I have always had good results with Pioneer. And for the HDD I have a slightly used 500 GB 7200 RPM SATA (don't remember which brand) that is current not being used for anything that I intend to boot from.

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Thanks for the advice twisted tech I guess for 10 more dollars i can get a better brand and a bit of a speed increase. Also for your information the gt240 is more comparable to a 9600gt in terms of power and if you have any recommendations for a wireless card I am open to suggestions

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I have no idea about wireless cards. I would imagine something from LinkSys or Belkin that works in a Mac Pro would probably work (though I have had terrible luck with PCI based wireless cards in a few PC's I have set them up in, be prepared to upgrade the antenna because the computer itself usually causes a lot of interference with these cards). Either that or a USB dongle that is Mac OS X compatible. Oddly in my experience these work better than PCI cards. Another option might be to get a wireless bridge and connect to it via ethernet. I am a fan of good old ethernet cable myself though but I know it is not always possible to run cable.

 

For the graphics card all I am really wanting is something which can spank my MacBook's GeForce 9400M which means just about any dedicated GPU made in the last 5 years should do ;) I am probably going to be buying the components over a month or two as I can afford them so I will probably save the final choice of graphic card until the very end that way I can get the best price on a decent card. Just have to make sure that whatever card I get it can run Starcraft 2 at decent settings :P

 

P.S. Found a nice Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart for getting a quick look at how different cards compare to each other.

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**Also, I need a wireless LAN card so it can connect to my wireless network any recommendations are helpful**

 

I would upgrade to an i3 or i5 and a H55 or P55 motherboard.

 

Anyway, for a quick solution for WiFi, take a look at AirLink 101 Golden N (USB device that has support for 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6). These go on sale at Meritline frequently.

 

neil

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Some of the P55 boards sound nice but not as many of them have been tested. I don't know about Shadow1993 but I am looking for as painless a Hackintosh as possible using the newest version of OS X as possible. While I think it would be nice to get an LGA 1156 motherboard so I could use the newer CPU's and one that also includes cool new features like USB 3.0 (which of course would work yet anyway) I would much rather go with a well tested and easy to use board like the one we picked out above seems to be. While it isn't quite as nice as something like an Asus Maximus III Formula it is also a lot cheaper.

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