weaksauce12 Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 Update: Build complete, everything works great. Wrote an A-Z guide here for Bad Axe 2 boards: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=76014 Specs: Bad Axe 2 "KR" motherboard 2.4ghz Q6600 Quad processor overclocked to 3ghz 8 gigs of ram 3 x 500gb SATA hard drives SATA DVD burner 320mb XFX 8800 GTS (macdotnub installer) Very, very happy - thanks to everyone for their input! Board is super stable, nearly everything works (no mic/line input, second set of SATA ports don't work yet, and processor says 2.4ghz, quad, unknown, instead of Core 2 Quad or Q6600). Original Post: So I've decided to build a Hackintosh. Here's what I'm looking for: Quad-core processor 4GB or 8GB RAM Motherboard Hard drive DVD burner with LightScribe Great video card (7900 minimum) Gigabit LAN Stereo sound output (minijack) Lots of USB ports Looking at either Tiger or Leopard, whichever is the most stable. The key things I am looking for here are (1) power and (2) stability. What's the best? This machine will be built soley to run OS X. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted November 26, 2007 Author Share Posted November 26, 2007 Looks like Leopard handles quad-cores better. Planning on using a 2.4ghz Quad-Core Intel Q6600 processor: $280 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115017 Going with 4 x 2GB Transcend DDR2-800: ($200) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820208344 Intel BOXD975XBX2KR motherboard: $240 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813121059 Cooler Master RC-690 case: $70 (plenty of airflow to OC the Q6600 to 3ghz) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811119137 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-519589 Share on other sites More sharing options...
indiekiduk Posted November 26, 2007 Share Posted November 26, 2007 yup the bad axe2 with Q6600 is the way to go it seems: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=71231 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-519694 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted November 27, 2007 Author Share Posted November 27, 2007 Okay, here's the buy list - everything kosher? Cooler Master RC-690 case - $70 Corsair 520-watt modular power supply - $100 Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P motherboard - $150 Intel Q6600 processor - $280 8GB DDR2-800 RAM - $200 (4x2GB) 7600GT Fatality Edition - $150 WD 500GB SATA hard drives - $105 SATA DVD burner with Lightscribe - $35 D-Link Bluetooth USB adapter - $30 Total comes up to $1120 plus shipping. I configured an equivalent Mac Pro at $4457 (Two 2ghz Dual-Core Xeons, 8gb ram [4x2gb], 500gb hard drive, 256mb 7300GT, Bluetooth). That's over $3300 of savings - not bad! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-519839 Share on other sites More sharing options...
associate Posted November 27, 2007 Share Posted November 27, 2007 Q6600 for $259 @ NCIX http://ncixus.com/products/22211/BX80562Q6600/Intel/ Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-519905 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted November 27, 2007 Author Share Posted November 27, 2007 Nice, thanks! Saves me a few bucks, even with $12 shipping. I think I may go with a 7300GT because I've been reading about some problems with the 7600GT. This was recommend at Lifehacker: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?...N82E16814133172 Final check - missing anything? Everything compatible? Just about ready to pull the trigger! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-519908 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted November 27, 2007 Author Share Posted November 27, 2007 Okay, it looks like the Bad Axe 2 is the way to go for minimal fuss. The 7300GT looks like the way to go for graphics cards as well. Everything else looks fine, so I think I'm going to do it! I'll post back when I've built the beast Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-519935 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted November 27, 2007 Author Share Posted November 27, 2007 OK, latest version: Case: $170; $120 AR Cooler Master RC-690 case ($70; $30 AR) Corsair 520-watt modular power supply ($100; $90 AR) Guts: $671 Intel Bad Axe 2 motherboard ($179 shipped) Intel Q6600 processor ($272 shipped) 8GB DDR2-800 RAM ($220 shipped) Misc. Parts: $235; $195 AR 500GB SATA hard drive ($105 shipped) SATA DVD burner ($35 shipped) 7300GT video card ($60; $30 AR) D-Link Bluetooth USB adapter ($35 shipped; $25 AR) $1076; $986 AR. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-519957 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted November 28, 2007 Author Share Posted November 28, 2007 Scheduled delivery of my parts is 12/5 (next Wednesday). Ended up adding a couple more 500's plus an Xbox 360 webcam to act as my "iSight" - $35 shipped at Buy.com: http://www.buy.com/prod/xbox-360-live-visi.../202790238.html Total was $1336.65 for: (I already purchased Leopard, but add another $109 - $129 for that if you don't have it) -2.4ghz Quad-Core processor -8 gigabytes of ram -1.5 terabytes of hard drive space -20x DVD burner with Lightscribe -Bluetooth 2.0 -1.3mp Webcam -256mb 7300GT video card -Firewire 400 + USB 2.0 ports The equivalent Mac Pro (dual 2.0ghz Xeons) came up to $5115. My "Hack Pro" is over $3700 less! (really over $3800 less since the Mac Pro doesn't come with an iSight camera, but it does come with a keyboard/mouse so I'll call it even) I will do a detailed writeup of the system and build process once I get everything up and running. So far, here are the only drawbacks I see: 1. The Intel motherboard requires that the second SATA controller be disabled in order for Hackintosh to work, meaning I only get 4 SATA ports. I have 1 SATA DVD drive plus 3 SATA hard drives (primary boot drive, Time Machine drive, and Parallels VM/other files drive), so I'm already maxed out. If I want more storage in the future, I can always go with a PCI controller card or even a RAID card. 2. Boot Camp seems to be a no-go since the EFI is part of the OS X Hackintosh system rather than the motherboard. However, since this is a PC - who cares? I can just dual-boot if I need real performance (instead of a VM). The Crysis PC game is looking pretty fun so I might upgrade to a better video card down the road for that. 3. Future updates will have to be verified online as working on Hackintoshes before being installed. Even though I will be running a vanilla kernel with the PCI EFI hack, who knows what Apple has up their sleeve; a future update *might* break the system, so I'll have to be very careful about downloading updates. 4. I'm limited to mainly 7000-series video cards if I want the best compatibility. The 8800s and some ATI cards seem to be working okay, but the 7000-series has the best track record. 5. The Intel Bad Axe 2 motherboard can only support a maximum of 8 gigs of ram. If I ever wanted to upgrade for whatever reason, I've already maxed out the board. Right now a Mac Pro supports 16 gigs of ram officially and 32 gigs of ram unofficially. A future BIOS update on the Intel board may or may not be able to increase the ram cap - I don't know if that's a hardware or software-imposed limitation. Not that I'm saying 8 gigs isn't overkill already, but since that upgrade was only $200 I can see 16-gig kits coming down in price in the future too. So really I'm pretty much set, the only thing I have to be careful about is future Apple updates just to be sure they work 100% before downloading them. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-521898 Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJMoose Posted November 28, 2007 Share Posted November 28, 2007 Unless they've made a board revision, I've got 3 BA2 boards and I don't need to disable the second controller. I have 4 500gb drives connected to my Marvell controller for Windows XP and 4 more 500gb drives connected to the ICH7 controller for OSX86. It's been working smoothly since I've had it. It's like having two complete systems in one...even more flexible than my mac pro in that way. You'll have one smokin' machine when you're through setting it up. Good luck. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-521964 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted November 28, 2007 Author Share Posted November 28, 2007 Unless they've made a board revision, I've got 3 BA2 boards and I don't need to disable the second controller. I have 4 500gb drives connected to my Marvell controller for Windows XP and 4 more 500gb drives connected to the ICH7 controller for OSX86. It's been working smoothly since I've had it. It's like having two complete systems in one...even more flexible than my mac pro in that way. You'll have one smokin' machine when you're through setting it up. Good luck. Holy {censored}, awesome! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-521971 Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawmassen Posted November 29, 2007 Share Posted November 29, 2007 8800GTS/GTX cards are working very well in Leopard - any particular reason you skipped them? They would handle Crysis too. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-522584 Share on other sites More sharing options...
m.musashi Posted November 29, 2007 Share Posted November 29, 2007 the point of having that sort of hardware and only a 7300gt is beyond my understanding even a 7600 would have been a better choice as pointed out 8800gts/gtx work fine in hackintoshes Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-522647 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted November 29, 2007 Author Share Posted November 29, 2007 the point of having that sort of hardware and only a 7300gt is beyond my understandingeven a 7600 would have been a better choice as pointed out 8800gts/gtx work fine in hackintoshes I wanted a card that would work 100% right off the bat. I will upgrade to either a 7900 or 8800 down the road. Would this 8800 GTS card work 100%? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...2b8800gts%2bxxx Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-522730 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted December 8, 2007 Author Share Posted December 8, 2007 Just a quick update: -Got the BA2, it was DOA, RMA'd it -Got a second BA2, works great -174 Xbench (Q6600/8GB/500GB/7300GT) -OC'd to 3ghz, 200 Xbench -Adding 7900 then an 8800 GTS (7000-series cards will be used in other systems) -Everything is super fast (1 bounce & apps open) -Properly downloaded 10.5.1, no problems -Onetrack is the man (Leopard Perfect Install guide) More updates later Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-531708 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted December 8, 2007 Author Share Posted December 8, 2007 Having trouble getting Time Machine to work right. The Sound Patch also does not work. I did a fresh format and tried installing again, no luck. However, 10.5.1 downloaded without problems and I didn't even have to repair permissions before booting to get it to work normally! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-531783 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted December 8, 2007 Author Share Posted December 8, 2007 Okay, I've narrowed it down to 3 problems: 1. Time Machine does not work 2. Sound does not work 3. Graphics exhibit occasional tearing/pixies I've tried a few different IONetworkingFamily binaries with no luck; I've also switched my drives from ACPI to IDE (they're SATA), still no luck on Time Machine. I've tried installing the Sound Patch a few times, including two separate files, but that's a no-go too. Also, the graphics sometimes tear/have pixies, I don't know what to call them - graphical weirdness. They go away when I turn off/on my monitor, but sometimes come back. Not sure if that's the card or the driver. My monitor is working fine with my Mini. It's hammer time! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-532158 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted December 8, 2007 Author Share Posted December 8, 2007 -Got sound working -Graphical gremlins seem to go away after I switch off/on the monitor, haven't gotten to testing the 7900 or 8800 yet -Time Machine is still a mystery Won't quit till everything is working 100% Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-532325 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted December 9, 2007 Author Share Posted December 9, 2007 Got Time Machine working Graphical gremlins still here When I boot or reboot, I get the little pixies on my screen. If I turn my monitor off, then on, they seem to go away for the duration of the time I use the computer until I reboot again. I will see if this happens with the other video cards later. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-532614 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted December 9, 2007 Author Share Posted December 9, 2007 Reinstalled NVinject 1.5 (for Leopard), same problem. I'll try a different monitor later just to be sure. Just tried a 7900GT, works great. Same graphical gremlins, but a quick monitor off/on fixes that. 8800 GTS is next! I will also be testing Software RAID plus a RAID PCI IDE card later. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-533479 Share on other sites More sharing options...
philmcc Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 thanks for keeping us posted. I'm watching on my brand new Badaxe/q6600 10.4.10 install (Kalyway), but eagerly eyeing leopard. Phil Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-533509 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted December 9, 2007 Author Share Posted December 9, 2007 Installed the 8800 GTS, works great with NVinject 1.5 for Leopard and has no gremlins. Tested so far: -PNY 7300 GT -eVGA 7900 GT -XFX 8800 GTS All work great, but the 7300 and 7900 have gremlins each boot until I reset the monitor. To recap my install: -Kayway formatting -BrazilMac (built under Tiger, Oct 31 edition, from Leopard retail full DVD) -PC EFI 5.2 -10.5.1 update (no repair permissions needed!) -Updated IONetworkingFamily binary (for Time Machine) -Sound patch (AppleHDApatcher 1.16) I will be testing all 3 cards on different monitors later tonight. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-533514 Share on other sites More sharing options...
candykane Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 To bad you whent with the Bad axe the asus P5w DH was way cheaper and has way more options and is just better Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-533519 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted December 9, 2007 Author Share Posted December 9, 2007 thanks for keeping us posted. I'm watching on my brand new Badaxe/q6600 10.4.10 install (Kalyway), but eagerly eyeing leopard.PhilNo problem! I will be releasing a very detailed guide later this week, as well as a complete driver pack for the Bad Axe 2 motherboard. I'm building a second Hackintosh this week (Gigabyte board, C2D proc) and I will test the cards in that to see if maybe the gremlins are just on the Bad Axe 2. They're not a big problem (just a simple monitor on/off fixes them), but I don't like bugs period. I will also be doing another fresh install on the Bad Axe 2 just to get things down pat for my guide, so we'll see if they come back with that as well. Plus I'll test it with a couple different monitors, so I'll have all my bases covered. To bad you whent with the Bad axe the asus P5w DH was way cheaper and has way more options and is just better The Bad Axe board is $10 cheaper than the Asus board ($169 vs. $179). The Asus board only has 6 SATA ports, while the Bad Axe board has 8. The Bad Axe has a long history of stability with Hackintosh, plus I don't need wireless. So no biggie Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-533520 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burst404 Posted December 9, 2007 Share Posted December 9, 2007 ... amazing. I'm more than jealous... I'm in the process of making a frankintosh, but nothing compared to this beast. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/73542-help-me-build-a-quad-core-hackintosh/#findComment-533534 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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