BOL_fan Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 All these OSx86 EFI developments are getting me very excited, as I'm sure everyone else is. My question is, what's the best (most compatible) EFI board out there? All opinions welcome, and thanks in advance. EDIT: The P35 northbridge seems to be a winner, but I'm wondering what the best southbridge might be and if there are any boards in particular that really shine for the first crop of EFI hackintosh users. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
antst Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 Looking for the same, but with few additions. It has to support E4x00 CPUs, fireware and must be not expensive one, preferable micro-ATX. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-502012 Share on other sites More sharing options...
asap18 Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 p35 only comes in ich9 southbrigde so... you dont really have a choice. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-502206 Share on other sites More sharing options...
flibblesan Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Anybody got a good recommendation? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-508160 Share on other sites More sharing options...
neogeo Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I would like to know if there are any good compatible micro atx boards out there as well. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-508211 Share on other sites More sharing options...
netkas Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 ASUS p5ld2vm v2.0/SE/DH - C2D suport, fully working also bad axe2 is good mobo too. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-508218 Share on other sites More sharing options...
antic Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 ASUS p5ld2vm v2.0/SE/DH - C2D suport, fully working also bad axe2 is good mobo too. netkas have you managed to get the sound fully working or do you just have 2 channels output. I have tried the alc882 AppleHDA v0.4b.mpkg from Tiger but it doesn't work in Leopard Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-508244 Share on other sites More sharing options...
netkas Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 fully working on SE jsut use ur tiger's aplpehda.kext for leo. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-508248 Share on other sites More sharing options...
flibblesan Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 fully working on SE jsut use ur tiger's aplpehda.kext for leo. Thanks, netkas. I'm looking at the Badaxe2. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-510795 Share on other sites More sharing options...
InorganicMatter Posted November 18, 2007 Share Posted November 18, 2007 Badaxe 2. Fully working sleep, and the only thing that needs patching is the audio. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-510819 Share on other sites More sharing options...
leodm Posted November 19, 2007 Share Posted November 19, 2007 the good choice would be: northbridge 945/965/975/P35 all should be fine southbridge: ich7/8/9R, without R also works, but kinda headache... onboard sound card: ALC or STAC so u can get all channels via AppleHDA video card: 7300LE Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-510878 Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOL_fan Posted November 22, 2007 Author Share Posted November 22, 2007 Thanks everyone! The Bad Axe 2 is looking pretty good right now, but the only clincher for me is it doesn't support the cheaper (and newer) 1333 FSB procs. P35 would work in that respect, but I've read mixed reviews from just about every board out there as far as compatibility goes. For now I'll just wait for iATKOS to come out and see what people's hardware experiences are with that. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-515128 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Hurt Posted November 22, 2007 Share Posted November 22, 2007 Take a look at the GA-945GCMX-S2. It cheap, fully compatible (according to reports... I haven't installed OS X on mine yet), and supports 1333FSB. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-515224 Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOL_fan Posted November 22, 2007 Author Share Posted November 22, 2007 It really supports 1333? On Newegg the specs list it as supporting 800 or 1066, and I've read in a few places that the new 1333 procs aren't backwards compatible. But if you know of any compatibility between the two to contradict that, it might be a good solution. EDIT: Never mind, I see that it does (with the 6.6 BIOS). Great news! Makes me wonder if any such BIOS update is available for the Bad Axe 2. I'm already running an AMD system with DDR2 800 RAM that I was planning to re-use, and while it's backwards compatible, I have kind of a thing about not running components to their full potential. $46 is a great price though; so I may just have to bite the bullet. Thanks for the suggestion! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-515403 Share on other sites More sharing options...
~pcwiz Posted November 23, 2007 Share Posted November 23, 2007 Bad Axe 2 = the best Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-515552 Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigolio Posted November 23, 2007 Share Posted November 23, 2007 At the direction of folks in this thread, I returned my BFG GRIN680i SLI motherboard (since I only have SATA drives, which do not work on OSX with that board) and bought the Bad Axe 2. 1) I took a clean, never formatted sata drive and installed Leo on it by using the ToH DVD, (then ran the patch that is on that DVD after installation to make the drive bootable). Note that to make the drive bootable I had to first repair permissions on the new drive, run the "/usr/misc/script.sh Leopard" script, then unmount the drive, and run the script again. 2) I downloaded the kext attached to this post, placed it in my extensions folder, repaired permissions and rebooted. 3) I downloaded the appropriate Diabolik Natit installer and ran it (because I am using an old ATI X1550 until I can find time to order an 8800GTS or GTX. 4) I followed the instructions on the post listed above about how to install the EFI bootloader. That is, I followed the guide here. And I make this post to you from a fully working OSX machine! It is so nice! Great board. I still need to get sleep working, but I see from other posts that it does work. I guess I need to know which vanilla kexts I need to use to make sleep work. In fact, I also need to know how one can tell if sleep is working! That is, it will sleep (it just won't wake up.) I don't know what one does for a real mac to make it wake up. Anyway - my point is, with the bad axe 2 you get a fully working system that is nice and fast. Thanks to this group! Craigolio OSX 10.5.1 Vanilla Kernel Intel Bad Axe 2 Core 2 Quad 2.4 ghz 4x1 GB G-Skill PC2-6400 (800mhz) ram 500 GB Western Digital SATA HD ATI X1550 (just for now) with QE/CI enabled Sound working (Thanks to Taruga, and folks in this forum!) Geek Bench: 5261 I would like to buy a little web cam so I can let my son play with photo booth. Any advice from the gang? AppleHDA_STAC9274D.zip Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-515646 Share on other sites More sharing options...
~pcwiz Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I did some research and I think I'm gonna get the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe. Awesome MoBo, works just as well with OS X as the Bad Axe 2, plus built in WiFi AP and eSATA is a bonus. And its like $30 cheaper than the Bad Axe 2! The only thing it lacks is FireWire so if I need FireWire I guess I'll have to get an expansion card. P.S. The P5W DH is based on the same chipset as the Bad Axe 2 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-518637 Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOL_fan Posted November 26, 2007 Author Share Posted November 26, 2007 So after a lengthy back-and-forth between various mobos and processors, I thought I'd err on the side of caution and go with the Bad Axe 2 while simultaneously throwing said caution to the wind with an "incompatible" (says Intel) Xeon 3075 - basically the same thing as a C2D E6750. I couldn't help myself; those FSB 1333 chips are CHEAP! Anyway, I'm looking forward to finally having compatible parts. My Dellintoshbook still blows after months of hacking, and my AMD 690G desktop is the proverbial "round hole" to OSx86's "square peg". Getting the CPU to play nice should just be a matter of tweaking the BIOS settings a bit, so if Newegg holds to their well-earned reputation for fast shipping, the shotgun wedding should be finished well before iATKOS is born. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-518748 Share on other sites More sharing options...
onemanstrash Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 I did some research and I think I'm gonna get the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe. Awesome MoBo, works just as well with OS X as the Bad Axe 2, plus built in WiFi AP and eSATA is a bonus. And its like $30 cheaper than the Bad Axe 2! The only thing it lacks is FireWire so if I need FireWire I guess I'll have to get an expansion card. P.S. The P5W DH is based on the same chipset as the Bad Axe 2 Just a correction, the P5W does have firewire. It worked out of the box for me. I use the front and back firewire on my p5w dh deluxe. Great mobo Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-518804 Share on other sites More sharing options...
samsunlu55 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Asrock Conroe1333 with GMA950 onboard Full Support Execpt Sound and Lan out of the Box! For Sound use azalia.kext and for lan REaltekR1000.kext Thats it Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-519108 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitecrawller Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 I did some research and I think I'm gonna get the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe. Awesome MoBo, works just as well with OS X as the Bad Axe 2, plus built in WiFi AP and eSATA is a bonus. And its like $30 cheaper than the Bad Axe 2! The only thing it lacks is FireWire so if I need FireWire I guess I'll have to get an expansion card. P.S. The P5W DH is based on the same chipset as the Bad Axe 2 What about the original Bad axe ? I am kind of broke now but would it be a good candidate for leopard ??? Thanx Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/70739-best-pc-efi-leohackintosh-mobo/#findComment-519825 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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