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help me design a system


hiroo
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hi all, i'm a long time mac user that has built a few pc's for family and htpc use and thought I would try building a hackintosh as a fast photo edit station with aperture and some final cut pro. i will probably build around the Core 2 Duo E6600. Can y'all help me pick the right MB and video card to get as compatible a system as possible.

 

The following Intel motherboards are available for me:

D975XBXLKR

DQ965GFEKR

DG965WHMKR

DG965OTMKR

DG965SSCK

DG965RYCK

DP965LTCK

 

I'm not adverse to non-Intel mb's if somebody can suggest one that would have some advantages in terms of compatibility, etc.

 

For the video card, I was thinking of an ATI x1600 Pro or x1600XT in PCI-E. Would this be a wise choice?

 

Would welcome any and all suggestions for hardware and corresponding software.

 

 

thanks.

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I would go for a 975x as they have ich7 which is suported by osx. The i965 has ich8 which people are having problems with atm. Checkout the Gidabyte DS3 thread for some info.

 

I think the best conroe mobo atm seems to be the P5W DH.

 

I've actually just ordered parts for a core2duo build with a P5W DH & X1900XT :) why scrimp on the graphics if you're going to get such a high powered cpu?

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I would go for a 975x as they have ich7 which is suported by osx. The i965 has ich8 which people are having problems with atm. Checkout the Gidabyte DS3 thread for some info.

 

I think the best conroe mobo atm seems to be the P5W DH.

 

I've actually just ordered parts for a core2duo build with a P5W DH & X1900XT :) why scrimp on the graphics if you're going to get such a high powered cpu?

 

thanks for the input.

 

as it turns out, i can get the intel 975x and the asus p5W DH that you mentioned for about the same price. if that is the case, which would be preferable? the asus looks like it has a lot of goodies with it (that I don't necessarily need and probably won't work under os x anyhow).

 

Are there any gotchas like lan, sound, mouse probs with either board?

 

i would consider the x1900, was just trying to keep the cost down a bit and thought the x1600 would be good enough given that I'm trying to improve on MacBook (GMA950) performance...

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I'm not sure if the intel mobo has better support for the sound etc or not, but I've read that people have the sound working on the P5W and also dual gigabit LAN.

 

I guess I can't say for certain as I've not tried yet but there is lots of info on this forum. The main reason for me getting the Asus over the Intel is overclocking. I guess if you're not overclocking the Intel one would be very good.

 

The P5W DH is on the HCL - http://wiki.insanelymac.com/wiki/index.php....7#Motherboards

Work: Everything works perfect. HD Audio (Realtek 882) only 2 chanells working with some modifications
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Get a Intel 975, i have one, it all works fine, LAN, etc etc arwe all detected, Sound works with a kext i posted on this forum but it is out of the Blue Port. And it has cool blue heatsinks + 3 PCI-E slots.

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Get a Intel 975, i have one, it all works fine, LAN, etc etc arwe all detected, Sound works with a kext i posted on this forum but it is out of the Blue Port. And it has cool blue heatsinks + 3 PCI-E slots.

 

if you've tried either of these:

does the digital audio out work?

also, is the LAN working at gigabit?

 

thanks.

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ok, thanks for the suggestions so far.

 

are there any other suggestions, perhaps for lower end boards? since the two boards suggested so far are pretty high end and have a lot of stuff that i don't need or probably don't even work under os x anyhow.

 

i def want compatibility with the os, but if i could get away with a lower end board with all the basics working that would be better.

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