GTX285 Upgrade done! (thanks for the help)

[invisiblesurfer]

After serving me loyally for the past 4 years, my 8800GT burned up yesterday evening.

 

I do not know exactly what might have caused it, but I have recently upgraded my rig from Q2 to i7 920 with the EX58-UD3R and 6GB of RAM; the 8800GT and my 550W PSU really stood out (in a negative way).

 

I consider the GT(X)285 as an affordable alternative.

 

1. Is the 285 supported by osx? Couldn't find any related topics on insanelymac.

 

2. How can I actually carry out the upgrade? I guess it's more complex than just taking out the old one and plugging in the new card and booting. I installed my vanilla osx the kakewalk way, if it helps.

 

3. I guess I'm gonna need a new PSU as well; any recommendations?

 

Thanks all in advance and have a great weekend!

 

Costa

[JaE-V]

if you use the latest chameleon bootloader with the graphics enabler "yes" script in your boot.plist then its simple plug it in and play. cooler master or antec with the psu, check some newegg items and reviews stay name brand and you'll be fine

[invisiblesurfer]

thanks for the prompt reply mate.

 

one question that springs to mind: what happens if for some reason my hackintosh refuses to boot osx or KPs during boot? is there a way for me to gain command line access and fix things? Sorry for the vague questions but I am relatively new.

 

also, how many watts would I aim for with regards to the PSU?

[Zaap]

also, how many watts would I aim for with regards to the PSU?

Don't sweat the watts, go for quality. 550W is probably okay for your system IF it's a well-built PSU. If it's an el-cheapo PSU, then look for a good one (well-rated, 80+ /i7 certified, good brand) in the 600-750W range.

[invisiblesurfer]

the easiest way to dual boot(for noobs) is having/installing windows on a different hard drive. That way the windows hdd will be totally separated. You need to select the hard drive boot priority in bios( very easy) to choose which hard drive you want to boot from or install from....

 

hope this helps

Thanks for the input matey.

 

I went for the Toughpower 2 700W PSU (Thermaltake). Works very well.

 

Two things seasoned H/W peeps might be able to shed some light into.

 

1) Temperature:

Idle M/B and CPU temps are over 40'C (42 and 48'C respectively). The GTX280 feels very hot too. All system fans work properly ofcourse, including the GPU's.

 

2) Power issue:

I have a multi-plug for the main unit, the monitor and the speakers. I connect all three on the multi plug and then plug it in the main plug on the wall in my room. As soon as I do this, the mains switch at home goes down. NOTE that all devices are switched off. I never had this problem witht the 420W PSU I had before.

 

I then unplug all divices from the multi-plug and plug the main unit's power cable straight to the wall plug. Everything is fine this way. But as soon as I connect the PSU and either the monitor's or speakers' power cables on my multi-plug and then to the wall plug, power goes down again.

 

Any ideas? I hope it's not a faulty PSU because I will have to go through the trouble of disassemblying everything again....

 

Thanks in advance.