Building a new hackintosh

[~pcwiz]

Final list of parts for new hackint0sh - To be ordered extremely soon

 

WOOT! Hackint0sh parts ordered

 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

 

Video Card: XFX 7900GS XT 256MB DDR3

 

 

RAM: OCZ Platinum XTC Rev. 2 DDR2800 (2GB)

 

 

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATAII

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-212D Black SATA DVD-RW 18x Burner

 

 

Case and Power Supply: Antec Sonata III + Antec EarthWatts 500W Power Supply

 

 

Extra Fans: 1 x Antec TriCool 3 Speed 120mm Case Fan (promo offer w/ case)

 

 

Monitor: Samsung 931BW Widescreen 19" LCD

 

 

[Ahmad Farah]

is that intel board work fine on Hack i mean sound and others ?

[~pcwiz]

Yes, its apparently the best motherboard for running OS X on and everything works out of the box except sound which you have to install a simple patch for.

[nano2nd]

I'm running a very similar setup (see my sig) and can confirm it is rock-solid. Audio support, full wake/sleep. Great! Still on Tiger right now though - may try Leopard when I install an additional HDD.

[~pcwiz]

Thanks! I'm still having second thoughts about the video card. What is the BEST video card that is PCI Express that doesn't require BIOS flashing that is fully supported under OS X? Nothing too expensive. Something in the $79-100 range.

 

Also, are all these components compatible with each other? This is my first time building a PC out of scratch.

[BJMoose]

Although there are some newer boards out there as others have posted about, the Bad Axe 2 remains one of the most stable and easy to set up almost any osx86 installer. I haven't had the chance to try Leopard yet, but it still works great. PCWIZ, I'm not sure about the SATA dvd drive. I've been using IDE's without any problem and I save all my SATA controllers for hard drive space. I'm not saying you'll have any trouble with the SATA dvd, I have just never tried it, so I don't want to leave positive feedback on something I haven't tried.

 

If I ever get to playing around with Leopard, I'll let you know.

[~pcwiz]

I don't want to take any risks and if an IDE DVD drive works, then so be it.

 

I have chosen out a different IDE DVD Burner:

 

Lite-ON 20x IDE DVD +/-RW

$27.99

 

And its a couple dollars cheaper than the SATA model as well and has good ratings!

[~pcwiz]

What are the "new boards" that work with OS X?

 

EDIT: 2 more questions:

 

1) I do not plan to overclock the Q6600 processor but will the stock Intel heatsink and fan keep it at reasonable temperatures or does it need extra cooling? The case has 1x120mm fan and 1x80mm fan so is that enough?

 

2) Is a 600 watt power supply enough to power this processor?

[jonyb7]

What are the "new boards" that work with OS X?

 

EDIT: 2 more questions:

 

1) I do not plan to overclock the Q6600 processor but will the stock Intel heatsink and fan keep it at reasonable temperatures or does it need extra cooling? The case has 1x120mm fan and 1x80mm fan so is that enough?

 

2) Is a 600 watt power supply enough to power this processor?

 

1) it is enough if you dont plan overclock

 

2) that is to mouch, for your configuration is enough brad name psu of 450W

[~pcwiz]

One more question (sorry I'm new to this):

 

1) It says that the processor comes with a heatsink and fan. Do I need to buy thermal paste as well or is there like a thermal pad included with the processor?

[PoloBear]

Hi there,

 

if you buy a boxed processor, the heatsink comes with thermal pad. On a new quad 6600 G0 stepping, the stock heatsink keeps the baby cool and quiet...

 

I am running Leopard on a Gigabyte P35 DS3, installed with flat image, no prob at all, sound, sleep all working. Board is a lot cheaper, and you can invest in more memory...

 

have fun

 

Juergen

[~pcwiz]

OK, thats solved. Now about the Gigabyte board, I hear its a good board but is it newer and better than the Bad Axe 2? I don't really need 4GB of memory. 2GB is good enough and if I ever do need more memory, its not too expensive.

[PoloBear]

BadAxe2 was released last year, is based on Intel 975X chipset, and so its one year old.

 

State of the art in Windowsworld is the X38 chipset. faster FSB, different memorycontroller, more PCIe lanes.

but as far as I know there is no support for OSX.

 

I think its good to choose a fast, reliable and cheap board. If you dont need fancy features like wlan or remote.

 

I recently downgraded from ASUS P5W DH deluxe to a Gigabyte P35 DS3. Sold it for €200 and bought the GIG for 90....

 

cheers

 

Juergen

[rhalls]

Yes. I also would buy the gigabyte, but the ga-p35-ds3p (got firewire and 8 S-ATA ports). a 450 - 500 Watt PSU is enough. maybe you want to look at this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811112057. I personally would look for a fanless videocard like the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814121008 and a very silent PSU.

[~pcwiz]

I think I will go with the GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3P Rev 2.0 motherboard. Is it FULLY COMPLETELY supported under OS X Tiger and Leopard? Everything working? Because it would save me close to a $100. I am not changing the case or PSU but I am definetely going with the ASUS EN7600GS video card.

 

I am still looking for a better Case and PSU though. The case must be $50 or under with atleast 2 fans (120mm and 80mm) and the PSU has to be at least 600W (allowing room for further expansion) and $60 or les

[~pcwiz]

Bad news. Newegg's shipping policy doesn't cover Canadian shipping which is where I live. Is there any other reliable internet stores that ship to Canada?

[neogeo]

I plan on using this case for my new hacintosh. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811108021

 

there is another just like it but micro atx with less drive bays as well. I may paint the grey areas with silver krylon fusion paint if the grey paint/plastic looks cheap. I used to have a in win case and it was awsome. I am still leaning toward a bad axe 2 as well. I will look into that other board. u can never go wrong with intel tho. very well made.

[~pcwiz]

Thats not the problem. Newegg doesn't ship to Canada so I have to get my parts from somewhere other than Newegg. Are there any other good online stores that ship to Canada?

[BJMoose]

Reporting back on BA2 and Leopard. I finally got my install disk for Leopard and after playing around with trying to understand some of the different install methods, I chose a combination of BrazilMac and EFI Patch methods. All I can say is WOW! Much easier than Tiger (even the latest Tiger install disks). I used the vanilla kernel and everything works right out of the box. Not even a need to add a kext for my 7600GS. It has better support than it did under Tiger. With EFI bootloader, I was able to install the 10.5.1 update directly from apple with no need for patched kernels. I just got this installed last night and am currently backing up the base system. Haven't had a chance to load any software yet, but ethernet looks good so I don't expect any problems with FCS2 and CS3.

[~pcwiz]

I have chosen new parts from NCIX, which ships to Canada:

 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P ATX LGA775 Conroe P35 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire SATA RAID Sound GBLAN

 

CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor LGA775 Kentsfield 2.40GHZ 1066FSB 8MB Retail Box

 

Video Card:

ASUS GeForce 7600GS 400MHZ PCI-E 256MB 128BIT 800MHZ DDR2 VGA DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card (SILENT)

 

RAM: OCZ Gold XTC PC2-6400 2GB 2X1GB DDR2-800 CL5-5-5-12 240PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit

 

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty

 

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-112D Black DVD-RW 18X6X18 DVD+RW 18X8X18 DL 10X IDE OEM DVD Burner No Software

 

Floppy Drive: Sony Black 1.44MB 3.5IN Floppy Drive

 

Case + PSU:

Xion XION2-SL Silver ATX Mid Tower Case 4X5.25 2X3.5 5X3.5INT 2X120MM Fans 450W W/ LED Fans & Window

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Most of the parts are the same as what I had before. The total cost comes to $1,002 CAN which includes tax and shipping. Are the parts good? Any better suggestions? One thing I was wondering was if the 450W power supply that comes with the case is enough to power this thing.

 

EDIT: I put in all my data into a power supply wattage calculator and it says the minimum wattage required for this system is 219W so I think I should be OK.

[~pcwiz]

OK, well I've changed my list of parts. I think this is my final change:

 

Motherboard: Intel D975XBX2 Bad Axe 2

 

Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Kentsfield

 

 

Video Card: ASUS EN7600GS 256MB Silent

 

 

RAM: OCZ Platinum XTC 2GB DDR800

 

Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-112D 18x DVD-/+RW IDE

 

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM

 

Floppy Drive: Sony 1.44MB 3.5"

 

 

Case + PSU: Xion XION2 Black ATX Mid Tower Case (2x120mm fans, 1x80mm fan) + 450W PSU

 

 

*******

 

The total cost with tax and shipping now comes to $1,014. This new config is ver similar to my first config. The reason I chose the Bad Axe 2 over the GA-P35-DS3P is because after some Googling and reading, I read that on OSx86, the DS3P has IDE and SATA problems.

 

*******

 

I have one question: Two of my parts (the DVD burner and floppy drive) are OEM. So does the OEM product come with the neccessary cables and stuff or do the cables come with the Motherboard?

 

 

[BJMoose]

This build looks like a winner. You'll be very pleased with how acceptable it is to Leopard. Your OEM drives will not come with cables, just the bare drives, but the cables will be supplied with your motherboard. You will not need the old audio wire that older boards needed to connect the sound from your dvd player to your motherboard. If uphuck's team comes out with their installer before you get all your stuff, you could have all you need on the install disk with the exception of the audio kext.

[~pcwiz]

Awesome! Will order as soon as I have enough money.

[replicant]

pcwiz/bjmoose, what made the two of you decide to go with a 7600gs instead of a 7900gs? i take it you guys don't do much gaming? i was thinking the 7900gs would be a decent compromise of performance/price and compatability until the 8800gt series of cards is fully supported in leopard.

 

thanks for the responses guys.

 

-rep

[~pcwiz]

I was gonna get the 7900GS but its TRIPLE the price of the 7600GS and the performance boost isn't huge. The card I have right now is a Radeon X1650 which is the ATI competitor of 7600GS and I'm pleased with so I think the 7600GS will be good. If I need to upgrade later I will.