[Guide] How to Build a Cheap Hackintosh

[burns154]

[Guide] How to Build a Cheap Hackintosh

I've put together a list of hardware that I'm using and that I can guarantee will run Snow Leopard like a dream.

Here's a link to everything I bought over at Newegg:

▪ LOGISYS Computer CS308RD Red / Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply (You can use any case your want, but I recommend a power supply around 500 Watts or larger.)

▪ GIGABYTE GA-G41M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard Rev 1.4

▪ Intel Core2 Duo E7500 2.93GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (You may choose any processor with LGA 775 that will work with a Hackintosh. I believe any Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad will work. The processor must have 64-bit capability to run Snow Leopard.)

▪ GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 (Or you may choose any Graphics card that is Mac compatible.)

▪ G.SKILL 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory (You can get however much pleases you, this motherboard can only take a max of 8GB of ram I believe.)

▪ SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (Or you may have a larger drive if need be.)

▪ LG Black CD/DVD Burner – Black Sata w/ LightScribe Support (The only problem with the drive is that it can’t burn Dual Layer disc in Mac OSX.)

▪ Tenda 11N Wireless USB Adapter B/G/N (The motherboard has onboard Ethernet, however, I never use it so I'm not sure if it works. I bought a Tenda W311U at MicroCenter, but you can buy many compatible wireless adapters or ethernet cards for cheap.)

Edit: The Ethernet works with the RealtekR1000.kext

 

Building the Computer

I’m sure you can figure it out on your own. If not search it on google or you could have a friend do it for you. Whichever the case may be, you will need a computer to install Mac OSX.

Other Hardware

Assuming you've purchased all the necessary parts for your build (linked above), you'll still need a few other things before you get started:

▪ A USB thumb drive that's at least 8GB in size

▪ A copy of the Snow Leopard Install DVD. You can use the $29 "Upgrade" disc to install, even though this is a fresh installation.

▪ For this guide you will only need another mac to format the drive and install MyHack to make the drive bootable. You won’t need to do any extra terminal work.

Now to install Snow Leopard follow this guide. [Pending, will be up tomorrow]

[XLR]

The onboard Ethernet works great with RealtekR1000.kext so buying an additional Ethernet card is obviously, you know what.

However, you can make it even cheaper with E6500 instead of E7500 and 8400GS instead of 9500GT. Install it with Kakewalk.

[burns154]

I actually bought all of that at my local MicroCenter store, which was about a $330 trip. I just posted most of the links to Newegg and used the same format as the LifeHacker guide. At MicroCenter the 9500 GT is only 23$, so why not upgrade. I am making an install guide, but haven't posted it yet.

[HappyHackintosh]

Can you use Ubuntu Live CD to partition & MacDrive [or similar] to format on PC instead of preparing disk on a Mac?

I'm sure other folks will reply with questions/ideas for improvement in price or performance or both.

VERY HELPFUL TO ME A Total NEWBIE.

Now I see why most tutorials talk about using Disk Utility [it's the Mac program].

[burns154]

That I don't know. I have only used the Disk Utility. You should, however, post a new forum to get your question solved.

 

Do you happen to have Windows 7 currently installed on your hard drive? If so you can follow this guide.

1. First, Defragement your hard drive

2. Open the start menu, type "Create and Format disk partitions

3. Shrink your current Windows 7 Partition

4. Format the unallocated space with choices

Do not assign a drive letter

Format to NTFS 4096, with whatever label you want.

Perform a quick format

Enable file and folder compression

5. Click "Finish"

6. Then format the drive with "Disk Utility", but with a revised disk so you can install on a Master Boot Record Hard drive

This will enable you to keep your current Windows 7 Partition, but with Mac installed on side-by-side.

[HappyHackintosh]

That I don't know. I have only used the Disk Utility. You should, however, post a new forum to get your question solved.

 

Do you happen to have Windows 7 currently installed on your hard drive? If so you can follow this guide.

1. First, Defragement your hard drive

2. Open the start menu, type "Create and Format disk partitions

3. Shrink your current Windows 7 Partition

4. Format the unallocated space with choices

Do not assign a drive letter

Format to NTFS 4096, with whatever label you want.

Perform a quick format

Enable file and folder compression

5. Click "Finish"

6. Then format the drive with "Disk Utility", but with a revised disk so you can install on a Master Boot Record Hard drive

This will enable you to keep your current Windows 7 Partition, but with Mac installed on side-by-side.

Sorry I don't understand how I can format with disk utility if I am on a PC without hackintosh YET.

I am WIN 7. How do I get & install Disk Utility on the PC BEFORE I install any distros?

[Josso]

@return2childhood

Disk Utility is on the Snow Leopard DVD.

 

When you have done what is needed, simply start the bootloader and swap it with the Snow Leopard DVD.

[burns154]

Disk Utility is on the install disk of either Leopard or Snow Leopard, like what Josso said. When you load the installer it should be there. I am going to be uploading a guide for a G41M-ES2L motherboard if that is what you have.

[HappyHackintosh]

Disk Utility is on the install disk of either Leopard or Snow Leopard, like what Josso said. When you load the installer it should be there. I am going to be uploading a guide for a G41M-ES2L motherboard if that is what you have.

 

I NOW think I understand when Disk Utility becomes available. But I have decided to try with building the configuration suggested in this thread. Any suggestions of threads that will help me best will be appreciated. I will search!

[burns154]

You mean that you want a guide to install with the hardware listed above? If so, I will post that in a bit.