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hardware list for new osx86 pc

chris3g
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chris3g
chris3g
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After spending the last few hours reading various posts and how-to's, i've put together the following list of hardware to build an osx86 machine.

 

 

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Wishli...istTitle=New+PC

 

It is my understanding that with this hardware, i should be able to get just about everything working correctly, but i just want to make sure that i'm not making any big mistakes before i put the order through.

 

So please take a look and i'd appreciate whatever feedback you can give.

 

Thanks!

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Zulu.Walker
Zulu.Walker
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Looks very compatible and should be blazingly fast if you match FSB:RAM 1:1. Should reach 3.6GHz with better cooling, or just run the RAM at tighter settings if you don't want to push your processor and make use of the capabilities of your DDR2-800 RAM.

 

Boot up OSX86 and post your success, problems, and experiences in the GA-965P-DS3 thread! Most likely you won't run into any problems, but for good measure, I wish you luck and a quick and easy installation! :hysterical:

chris3g
chris3g
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thanks for the feedback and good luck wishes :)

 

let me ask you this - is it a reasonable expectation to be able to use a system like this (once everything is set up and installed properly), in OSX, as a primary work computer, or do the majority of you guys have it set up as more of a "project" type thing? I'm in the (probably not uncommon) situation of needing a new OSX machine (i use windows as well but mostly osx) but not wanting to spend $3k on the mac pro while the iMac would be not be a good choice for me either. If apple had something in between i'd probably buy that , but they don't, so here i am. But i also don't want to be constantly dealing with problems and instability...i'm willing to put the time and effort in initially to get everything set up but after that i just want it to work, you know?

emig647
emig647
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Chris,

 

I hear this more and more every day, especially here and AI. Apple not having a mid-line computer is killing a lot of potential hardware sales. After today's fiasco with the Mac Pro, I decided it's time I take matters into my own hands and build my own machine. I am going to set out to make this my primary computer... and no windows on it either.

 

I wish you luck and am glad you were here to help all of us. Hopefully it all works for me.

chris3g
chris3g
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yup same here - i was waiting for the mac pro updates to make a decision and was of course disappointed with what went down today.

 

did you decide what board you are going with yet? That seems to be the biggest decision to make in terms of compatibility.

 

Good luck to you too.

emig647
emig647
Posted
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Actually I'm debating between the Asus P5W DH Deluxe and the Asus P5B-E.

 

I know that the P5W DH Deluxe works! But it's more than I want to spend. ($200). I see that hte P5B-E works with some tweaks... I'll probably go with the P5W DH since I KNOW it will work. For graphics i'm going with an eVGA 7900GS. This will be my main work computer so I figured I better go all out. I'm going to put an e6700 in it (have it laying around).

chris3g
chris3g
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well i just ordered everything. Made a last minute switch to the P5W-DH, also got a better PS and changed to a sony DVDRW.

 

CASE ANTEC|P180 SIL RT - Retail

 

MB ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP GREEN - Retail

Item #: N82E16813131025

 

Open Box: VGA SAPPHIRE 100186L X1950XT R - OEM

Item #: N82E16814102067R

 

PSU HIPER|HPU-4K580-MS 580W RT - Retail

Item #: N82E16817128002

 

CPU INTEL|C2D E6600 2.4G 775 4M R - Retail

Item #: N82E16819115003

 

MEM 1Gx2|CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-6400 R - Retail

Item #: N82E16820145590

 

52IN1 CARD RDR |SABRENT CRW-UINB RT - Retail

Item #: N82E16820300608

 

HD 320G|ST 7K 16M SATA2 ST3320620AS - OEM

Item #: N82E16822148140

 

DVD_BUR SONY|AW-Q170A-B2 BK % - OEM

Item #: N82E16827131038

 

hope everythign works out :x:

macbrush
macbrush
Posted
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I reckon any Lite-On drive is much better than any Sony. First, Sony drives don't usually last for more than 1 or 2 years, their laser diode will just die or develop some alignment problem, and cracks (for DVD-Region reset) for Lite-on drive is much easier to find than any Sony drives. Not to mention you would havea lot less problem finding compatible CD Player for any audio CD you burn with a Lite-on drive.

 

But then its just my experience. And you've got a great setup there, hope you'll have a smooth and sucessful installation.

chris3g
chris3g
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i wanted to get a pioneer but they weren't in stock...i have a 111D in another machine though so i'll just pull that out if i get any trouble from the sony.

 

i'm trying to get together all the packages that i'll need, so far i've got

 

Mac OS X 10.4.8 [JaS AMD-Intel-SSE2-SSE3 with PPF1 & PPF2].iso

jccool package for x1950xt

ALC882 AppleHDA v0.4b.mpkg for audio

P5W-DH-ASUS-Deluxe-1901.ROM bios

EasyBCD 1.52.exe to set up dual boot

Parallels Desktop 3036, hopefully i can get that going with my windows partition

emig647
emig647
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Yah I think you'll be fine with that set up chris. Even though macbrush hasn't had good experiences with sony burners... for a while that is what apple was using in the G5's. In the Mac Pros they are using Pioneer 111d's. I think you'll be fine even if it lasts 1-2 years... hell it was what... $35?? :-P

emig647
emig647
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OK!!! Bought my hardware!

 

Case:

COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 RC-532-SKN1 Black Aluminum bezel, SECC chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -

 

Motherboard:

ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

 

Power Supply:

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX500-A, 2.0 version, 2 SATA, PCI Express, 500W - Retail

 

Ram:

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

 

Hard Drive:

Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 ST3400833AS 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

 

DVD Burner:

LG 18X DVD±R Super-Multi DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model GSA-H42N-BK - OEM

 

CPU Cooler:

COOLER MASTER RR-PCH-S9U1-GP 92mm CPU Cooler

 

Already have these:

 

Graphics Card:

eVGA 7900gs KO HDCP 256mb

 

CPU:

intel Core2Duo e6700

 

Wish me luck :unsure:

chris3g
chris3g
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i decided to order a 2nd hard drive as well, so i will put osx on one drive and windows (probably vista) on the 2nd drive. If i understand correctly, i can then simply use the p5w's f8 boot menu on startup to pick the boot disk, and not have to worry about dual-booting through the vista or darwin boot loaders?

 

it also looks like vista will be able to read/write to the HFS+ partition using Macdrive, and osx can read/write the NTFS partition using ntfs-3g.

z3rr0
z3rr0
Posted
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Here's the PC I built a few weeks ago:

 

ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131025

 

DVD_BURN SAMSUNG|SH-S182D RAM BK

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16827151133

 

SAPPHIRE 100185L Radeon X1950XT 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814102082

 

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115003

 

Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820220144

 

LIAN LI PC-61 USB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811112025

 

PowerTek 750W F5-Series ATX12V 750W Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817713002

 

HITACHI Deskstar T7K500 HDT725040VLA360 (0A33439) 400GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16822145134

 

You can indeed use F8 to choose the OS to avoid the Darwin bootloader.

 

I have a triple boot system, with 3 separate drives: Mac OS X (10.4.9), Vista, and Ubuntu 6.10.

 

The wireless card on the mobo works with OS X using the drivers at Realtek. It isn't seen as a true AirPort card but as an ethernet port and so requires interaction at every boot. Hey, it works.

 

The Samsung DVD burner works really well too.

z3rr0
z3rr0
Posted
Posted
posting this from osx86. installation went fast and smooth. installing updates/drivers/etc now

 

Way to go chris3g! Do keep us up to date. I LOVE my machine. I put Windows Vista on it, and downloaded S.T.A.L.K.E.R... plays as smooth as butter at 1024 X 768. Second Life is great in OS X, but play really really well in Ubuntu 6.10 with ATI's drivers.

 

Bottom line is that since I decided to install a gigabit ethernet network, that machine has been flawless. The wireless drivers work, but they're a PITA since there they don't retain state through reboots.

chris3g
chris3g
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ok here are the steps i took

 

boot system for the first time, entered BIOS

 

set SATA to AHCI mode

 

disabled jmicron controller (i'm not using it for anything)

 

set RAM to ddr-800 (P5W-DH incorrectly identified as DDR-667, probably will depend on your ram)

 

run ASUS bios update utlility

 

update to 1901 bios (i just copied the bios ROM to a USB flash drive)

 

Boot from JAS 10.4.8 SSE2+SSE3.ppf1+ppf2 DVD

 

run disk utility, format installation drive HFS+(journaled)

 

Do custom installation - installed the Intel package for my C2D, did NOT install other additional drivers for USB, sound, video.

 

completed installation, system booted to desktop.

 

intalled JAS 10.4.9 combo update package, reboot. (the zip i had included a couple of other files as well - 10.4.4 loginwindow and something else, i did not install these packages). Once restarted, your system will probably incorrectly report your CPU/FSB speed. this is corrected in the next step.

 

installed new mach_kernel from irc #1049 (just copy to / using terminal, make backup of existing kernel first just in case), reboot, system now identifies CPU/FSB correctly.

 

installed jcool package for ATI X1950XT, reboot, Full Res, QE, etc... now supported.

 

installed ALC882 Apple HDA v0.4b package, reboot, audio now works.

 

that's it for OSX! You can also install the realtek wireless driver to get the wifi working, but i haven't messed with this yet since i don't plan to use it.

 

then i shut down, and phyiscally removed the SATA cable from the board for drive1, leaving only my 2nd drive connected. (this may be unnecessary, but i didnt want to chance the vista installation messing with the MBR on that drive)

 

boot from vista DVD.

format 2nd drive using NTFS, install vista.

 

shut down, reconnect SATA cable for drive1.

 

power on, select boot OS by hitting f8 immediately on startup.

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