Davide-NYC Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Alright you brave hackers, I have a project I need to finish with the next three weeks and I am soliciting your help. I have installed the JaS DVD (IIRC 10.4.8 with SSE3 patch etc.) twice before on whatever I had laying around. Both times without achieving 100% compatibility. This time around I will purchasing parts explicitly for this purpose so I am hoping for near 100% compatibility. Here's the deal: I intend to purchase a Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition to send a 3840 x 720 quicktime video out to three massive 50" LCD panels. (1280 x 720 each) I want to purchase a micro-ATX mobo with a PCIe x16 slot and populate it with an Nvidia card (low profile) creating a sort of hackintosh mac mini with a beefed up video card. Needs: Very high resolution video must work flawlessly. Sound and LAN must work. High reliability. (I read those MSI boards are not so reliable) Power consumption is not an issue. Firewire is not necessary, neither is wifi. Reliability and video are the most important factors. I was thinking of getting this motherboard: Read on the forums about the Intel G33 chipset not being well supported. Going with either Intel 945 or 975. along with this video card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16814127267 Questions: What do you gurus think of that mobo and GFX card? Does anybody with experience building a small (micro-ATX or smaller) 100% compatible hackintosh live in the 5 boroughs? If so I would be willing to pay a small fee (say around $100) for assistance with this. I'm willing to document this and report back here for the community with pics and maybe even video. Please Let me know, Davide-NYC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide-NYC Posted August 30, 2007 Author Share Posted August 30, 2007 OK, we're purchasing the following items from newegg.com as a "proof of concept" box. MSI NX7300GS-MD256EH GeForce 7300GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Low Profile Video Card - Retail Item #: N82E16814127267 $66.99 (the ASUS and ZOGIS cards do not come with a LP bracket and I have had bad experiences with Jaton. Thus MSI.) CORSAIR XMS2 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X1024A-6400 - Retail Item #: N82E16820145566 $67.00 (I know the MoBo only support FSB speeds up to 533MHz, but I decided to spend the extra $20 in case we go with a better MoBo for the "final" box) Open Box: GIGABYTE GA-945GZM-S2 LGA 775 Intel 945GZ Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - OEM Item #: N82E16813128033R $39.99 Is this all going to work "out the box"? North Bridge = Intel 945GZ South Bridge = Intel ICH7 Video Chipset = Intel GMA 950 Audio Chipset = Realtek ALC888 LAN Chipset = Marvell 88E8001 Intel Dual-Core E2140 Allendale 1.6GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E2140 - Retail Item #: N82E16819116037 $75.99 (will this be enough power to play 3840 x 720 quicktime?) Total: $249.97 I have a case / psu / hd / dvd laying around so I'll use what I have for now. Do any of you hackintosh gurus have any objections to my purchases? If so why? Please let me know. Thanks, Davide-NYC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwhsh8r Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 nope, shouldnt be too much of a problem, idk about nvidia cards though as i have all ati but one 8800gts which is alot different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~pcwiz Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 High reliability. (I read those MSI boards are not so reliable) Did you hear that MSI is not reliable from my topic: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=61543 Just curious Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide-NYC Posted August 31, 2007 Author Share Posted August 31, 2007 As far as I'm concerned anything other than a high end Intel board is cause for concern regarding reliability. Maybe the Gigabyte boards are OK (some of them) but in general I like to buy the best quality stuff and have no interest in overclocking / tweaking. (I'm old god-damn-it!) I'd like to hear someone chime in about the 3840 x 720 resolution aspect of this project. The matrox site says that the 7300GS is supported but I'm still concerned. Any opinions? Speculations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strangedaze Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Get The evga 7600gt 256mb. 128 bit . gddr3 Graphics card its like 15 bucks more and will kick that msi's card "butt". I had that mobo, not to upgradable, works with osx86 fine, seemed like a reliable board. DO NOT get that memory for that board. Not even 667mhz memory will run full speed. Only 533 mhz memory.... gz boards arent to good. Thats my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide-NYC Posted September 3, 2007 Author Share Posted September 3, 2007 @ strangedaze, I agree with you about the video card, but I need a low profile card and I couldn't find a low profile 7600GT card at all. Maybe I missed it but I'm not sure one exists. Also the RAM purchase is just a hedge... if the MoBo is lacking I'll get something else that support an 800MHz FSB and use the same memory. Thanks for all of your input! Let's hear more! The stuff isn't here yet. I'll report back as soon as I build something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davide-NYC Posted September 7, 2007 Author Share Posted September 7, 2007 Parts arrived and machine is built. Now to troubleshoot and tweak the install. I currently do not have working network or audio. See here: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=62609 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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