[Guide & Software] Complete Intel Bad Axe 2 Walkthrough with Software

[theotherone]

Oh boy...

 

I did do a search, and the results indicated that the IDE ports worked, so perhaps there's a modified kext out there that would be needed. Perhaps with luck (for me anyway), you're just having a configuration issue in bios.

 

Also, I've been looking over the guide and woundering if we can't simplify this further. For example, I think we could move the partitioning and EFI installation on to the USB stick and run it from the install DVD. I'm not 100% sure, but I beleive the process is essentially formating with GPT in Disk utility, unmounting, and then running some terminal commands (which could be automated by a shell script) which format the specific partition scheme and copy the EFI files on to the drive. (At least, this is what I could gather by reading a few EFI installation guides. I will have to look into it further.)

 

Another thing I'm curious about is the BrazilMac patcher. I wounder if anybody could tell me exactly what this does? I tried searching but I couldn't find any info on what the patcher actually does. Does it just remove content from the DVD so it will fit on a single layer DVD or does it make other changes? If it just removes content from the DVD, perhaps this step is only optional for those who only have a single layer burner/discs... and for those who have a retail copy of leopard, maybe actually be able to install directly from the DVD? Of, if it makes changes by adding/changing files on the DVD, then maybe we could use it to shoehorn the EFI related materials on to the DVD image?

 

I don't know, just some food for thought if you wanted to give the guide further revision weaksauce.

 

 

i tried again with default settings, and sure enough, IDE worked!

 

Now i move on to another test: I install 2 fresh 500 GB Drive's i have lying around (disabling all already installed drives) and go to the apple Disk Utility to format them as RAID. After that i will try again to Install iATKOS or Kalyway on them (just to see if it will work and what are the resulting differences to the weaksauce-install).

 

After that i would also like to look into modifications of the weaksouce-install like you mentioned. i think all these procedures, readings- and re-readings will give me a better understanding of the whole process and therefore enables me to make my own adjustments...

 

btw: could someone tell me how one can make this signatures with the hardware in them so that others can see what i use...?

[bibendum]

...snip...

the BrazilMac patcher. I wounder if anybody could tell me exactly what this does?

 

As well as deleting content, it converts the disk to a PC Bootable image...

 

Patrick

[weaksauce12]

Hey everyone, my flight home has been delayed until next week. I'll be back early Friday morning (January 4th).

[daxv]

Guid and EFI 8 ?

 

i see on some other topics we can have that too,

guide should be updated soon ;-)

 

EFI isn't a big deal as long as official apple updates works,

but GUID may make things closer to real mac and improve reliability ?

[weaksauce12]

Guid and EFI 8 ?

 

i see on some other topics we can have that too,

guide should be updated soon ;-)

 

EFI isn't a big deal as long as official apple updates works,

but GUID may make things closer to real mac and improve reliability ?

 

Yup, EFI 8 with GPT/GUID are in the works for a future revision of my guide Hopefully we can get sound and the Marvell SATA controller working as well, then we'll be golden!

[daxv]

sounds cool

in your last chapter of your guide,

it will be fine to have the best recipe to clone a hdd (once leo is installed and working)

to a blank hdd (bit to bit cloning ?) then we may build another badaxe2 computer and just plug the new hdd to make it works hassleless,

don't know if the disk utility software can make the job ? or something else...

[theotherone]

@daxv: i'm currently in the clone-bussiness too! The other day i bought a HighPoint RAID-Controller which has a Driver for OS X 10.5, installed the Driver and the card worked well under my weaksauce-install. I can format the RAID unter Disk Utility and transfer data to and from it, but trying to Install OS X 10.5.1 on the RAID is not possible do to Disk Utility didn't "see" the RAID-Conroller after a start with the Install-DVD (even in terminal with "mount" there is no chance to reach the Controller).

 

But the Intel BadAxe BIOS let me set the RAID as the startup-device, so there must be a way to clone my HD (which i have done with Carbon Copy Cloner). But now i need to set it bootable, this is where i'm currently at. I tried to execute the commands form the weaksauce-tutorial (./startupfiletool...) but it didn't give me permissions for that, even when the RAID is unmounted or if i sudo..., still diggin...

 

Now i consider using something like Ghost, but i don't know if this will work.

 

Disk Utility is also a way for cloning, but the startup problem remains the same, maybe i try clone Tool Hatchery, but some said that it has issues with 10.5...

[weaksauce12]

sounds cool

in your last chapter of your guide,

it will be fine to have the best recipe to clone a hdd (once leo is installed and working)

to a blank hdd (bit to bit cloning ?) then we may build another badaxe2 computer and just plug the new hdd to make it works hassleless,

don't know if the disk utility software can make the job ? or something else...

 

Try using CarbonCopyCloner and be sure to clone to disk, not to file:

 

http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html

 

theotherone, what model RAID card did you get? Can you link me to the product page? I'm very excited to hear that you got a RAID card working! I have a PCI IDE RAID card to test, but again I am "stuck" on vacation until the end of next week so I can't test it yet. Regarding cloning, if CCC doesn't work for, I wouldn't hold your breath. I've talked to some Hackintosh "experts" on the boards and everyone seems to have problems with booting from a RAID boot drive; RAID works fine as a secondary drive but for some reason just won't work as the boot device. Very odd!

 

Just a quick status update, here is what I am focusing on for January:

 

1. PC EFI 8.0 (GPT/GUID) compatibility

2. Getting the Marvell SATA controller working

3. Getting the SigmaTel STAC9271D audio chipset full working

4. Getting System Profiler to recognize the proper name of the chip (Core 2 Quad), and hopefully the correct speed when overclocked

5. Updating the guide with the above information plus various tweaks (including a copy of the latest BIOS)

 

With those updates, we will have a 100% full-working, fully-stable, fully-operational Hackintosh system. We currently have a 100% stable system, but there are just those few niggling little details that are bugging me (Marvell SATA, audio, and System Profiler processor recognition). Along with the EFI 8 update for GUID, we'll having an absolutely flawless Hackintosh system available if those last few details are ironed out. I have high hopes for getting everything working, although I don't have any specific time frame. If there are any scripters or driver coders that would like to join in, I'd be more than happy to have you onboard!

 

The guide will also be updated to reflect support of both the BX2 and BX2-KR (CrossFire edition) motherboards. Aside from supporting CrossFire (which doesn't work under OS X afaik anyway), there seems to be no other major differences in installation. I am working with several BX2 and BX2-KR owners to confirm this. Also, I do not plan on EVER releasing a single-disc installer. I will work on making a single patch (with my limited scripting skills), but I will not release a pre-patched Leopard image - so don't ask!

 

In the future, I want to do several documentation projects:

 

First, I would like to test expansion card compatibility. That includes video cards (single, and dual if possible), RAID cards, SATA/IDE controller cards (with or without external ports, as well as booting off non-RAID controller cards), USB 2.0/Firewire 400/800 cards, video capture cards, and sound cards, as well as various USB devices (although all Mac-compatible USB devices seem to work fine, so there's probably not much need for documentation there). The goal here being to generate a list of compatible expansion devices to suit your particular needs.

 

Second, I would like to see about being able to boot off a RAID set. My goal is to have a fast RAID boot drive and then a large RAID set as my scratch disk for video and other projects, so I am anxious to get this one working. However, no one that I know of has EVER had success with this, so I'm not keeping my hopes up very high for this one. At least if we can get a few compatible secondary-disk RAID cards identified, that will make me happy.

 

Third, I would like to clearly document a dual-boot setup (especially with GUID!) and get Parallels and VMware booting off the Windows partition, the same as they can in Boot Camp. I have a pretty incredible machine and I'd love to fire up Crysis, Half-Life 2, and other graphically-intensive games from time to time.

 

Fourth, I would like to make a detailed overclocking guide with a specific testing procedure to obtain the maximum stable overclock available for your particular setup.

 

Fifth, I would like to make a BrazilMac-style patch for creating a single-disc Leopard installer specifically for the Bad Axe 2 motherboard series (although again, I will NOT distribute a pre-patched Leopard disc - don't ask!).

 

I'm sure there are other things to put on the list, but those hit most of the major bases for now. If there's anything else you'd like to see in future guide revisions, please post them!

[lindmar]

I love your dedication to this project. I cant wait to get home from Christmas to play with my hackintosh.

[daxv]

@daxv: i'm currently in the clone-bussiness too!

 

Now i consider using something like Ghost, but i don't know if this will work.

 

Disk Utility is also a way for cloning, but the startup problem remains the same, maybe i try clone Tool Hatchery, but some said that it has issues with 10.5...

 

Have you tried SuperDuper! ?

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/Sup...escription.html

on my real mac it works fine , clone all and make bootable at the process end,

don't know if it works in hackintosh context...

(Edit : seems not full compatible with leo, have to wait some weeks)

[weaksauce12]

Have you tried SuperDuper! ?

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/Sup...escription.html

on my real mac it works fine , clone all and make bootable at the process end,

don't know if it works in hackintosh context...

(Edit : seems not full compatible with leo, have to wait some weeks)

 

Yeah normally I would recommend SuperDuper - been using it for a long time with Tiger - but unfortunately they aren't Leopard compatible yet. If you read their blog, you'll see why (Leopard's architecture makes it a bit harder to do perfect clones, but I'm sure they'll get there pretty soon).

 

I've heard extremely good things about CopyCatX, but have yet to try it. I'll put it on my to-do list, but in the meantime take a look at it:

 

http://www.subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/ind...p;products_id=7

[ARL002]

Hi Weaksauce

 

Thanks for all your work in this guide.

 

I have built and followed your guide to build a hackintosh. However I'm having some issues finishing up:

• Does not boot: gives error "Non-system disk". During Part 3: Install files from the USB Stick, it runs through except for copying the IONetworkingFamily.kext, I get a permission error (this step was skipped). I also ran the starupfiletool to copy the EFI, and yet it still doesn't boot. It ONLY boots into Leopard when I put the Kalyway CD in the drive and don't touch anything during the boot process. How do I fix it so it boots properly?
  
• Sleep freezes the computer, when I can boot into the system, if it goes to sleep it will not come out of it (I'm suppose to press the power button to bring it out of sleep? or some keyboard button?)
  
• USB doesn't work in the system.
  

My system specs:

Bad Axe2 mobo, 2.4ghz quad core, 4gb ram, 7300GT

 

Thanks so much!

 

UPDATE:

USB works, my mistake

[bibendum]

...it runs through except for copying the IONetworkingFamily.kext, I get a permission error (this step was skipped).

 

Did you sudo?

 

I also ran the starupfiletool to copy the EFI, and yet it still doesn't boot. It ONLY boots into Leopard when I put the Kalyway CD in the drive and don't touch anything during the boot process. How do I fix it so it boots properly?

 

Did you bless?

 

[*]Sleep freezes the computer, when I can boot into the system, if it goes to sleep it will not come out of it (I'm suppose to press the power button to bring it out of sleep? or some keyboard button?)

 

Sleep has never worked for me on any of the five Hackintoshes I've built.

 

Patrick

[lindmar]

Back from vacation.

Time to start tackling some of these issues.

My display issue sucks.

 

I tried changing the value of the NVCAP to a genuine 7300GT, same issue.... res change causes garbled screen, sleep causes garbled screen..

 

I've got a perfect install here excvept for a few minor bugs.

 

I don't want to lose ANYTHING....

[lindmar]

OK, so you really want your INTEL D975XBX2 with Q6600 Quad CPU perform at 3.0 GHz insteed of the 2,4 GHz Stock-Configuration? Then read on!

 

Foreword: I'm in no sense an overclocking expert, i consider me an absoute overclocking beginner, i have build several PCs and modded several macs and have programming experience, thats my technical background. There are tons of people here on this board and elsewhere who have more overclocking experience, i would really like comments of the experts, refinements of my settings and i hope to get further explanations on how to go to around 3,4 GHz. So anybody feel free to comment on this post.

• Make sure you have the D975XBX2 Motherboard with the latest Firmware installed
  
• You have at least 2 GB of RAM installed, (look for the fast modules...)
  
• You have a G0-Stepping Q6600 (Marked SLACR on the Case)
  i don't know how to check these without taking the cooler from the installed processor, i don't even know if there are Q6600's out there without "G0"-Stepping...
  
• you have a decent CPU-Cooler (Stock-Cooler is not recommended!)
  mine is an Zalman 9500 (around 40 Euros)
  
• You have a decent PSU that can handle the needed current, i would recommend a quality PSU with at least 500 Watts
  

Make sure to note your current settings before you make any new adjustments so that you can go back if you get the "BIOS has attempted unsuccessful POST attempts..." Message after reboot with the new settings.

 

I included 3 Attachments to this Post:

• BIOS Startscreen after Modification
  
• Memory-Settings to make for OC'ing to 3.0GHz
  
• CPU-Adjustments to make for OC'ing to 3.0 GHz
  

Overclocking these Configuration of Motherboard/Processor to 3 GHz seems a rather conservative approach (with heavy cooling some have reached nearly 4 GHz with this Configuration!!), so it should be feasible without too much risk. Could you damage your processor with these settings? I can't give any guarantees for your configuration, but mine works since nearly 30 Hours without any problems or even smallest signs of overload (i haven't stressed the CPU that much...). Ideally you should have a Windows or Linux installed where you can check temperature of the CPU and/or make some stress-tests. I tried to look with VISTA under parallels but core temp seems not to work under emulation... and i don't know of any tools for OS X for checking thermals of the processor.

 

If you don't want to make all adjustments in one step then go first for the memory-adjustments. If you could start with these new settings and after successful restart go on to the CPU-Settings and make adjustments like seen here in my pictures. If you can restart with that too: Congratiulation! You succeeded! Now look at you're temperatures, try some programs and look if your system is stable.

 

Recommended Reading 1

Recommended Reading 2

 

Happy Overclocking!

 

Comments? Suggestions? Corrections?

 

Happy Holidays...

 

Bernie

 

 

Gave this a shot tonight on my board.

I updated the BIOS thinking this might fix the graphics issue.

 

No go.

 

Also, tried these settings and got the Post error. So I reverted back and chickened out..

 

[craigolio]

I have been following your guide, trying to get sleep to work - but I have been unsuccessful. I wonder if it is because I am using an ATI x1550 (because that's what I had laying around) with Natit, or if instead it is because I cannot figure out how to shut off ACPI.

 

That is, in the guide, in the 'prep' section, it says to turn off ACPI in the BIOS of the Bad Axe 2.

 

How do I turn off ACPI?? I see how to change it from S3 mode to S1, but I do not see how to turn ACPI off. Can someone here advise?

 

And since this thread is about the Bad Axe II board, I have a related question: I bought one of those fancy new mac keyboards for my system. It works great in both windows and in OSX, but it will not work for bios changes. Therefore I have to keep both a ps/2 keyboard and a usb (mac) keyboard plugged in at all times. The reason I need both of them in at all times is that I dual-boot, and I must use the ps/2 keyboard to choose which operating system I want to boot into.

 

Does anyone know how to get my Mac USB keybaord to work during post/Bios edits?

 

(Yes - I have turned on USB legeacy support in the BIOS).

 

Many thanks for the awesome guide!!

 

Craigolio

[theotherone]

@weaksauce: thanks for your quick status update, looks very promising....

My RAID card is an HighPoint RocketRAID 2302. I simply installed the driver, shut down the system, build in the card, restarted and managed the devices (currently 2 WD 500 GB Drives as RAID 0) thru the web-interface. The throughput is 2 to 3 times of the system Disc (which is a 500 GB Samsung). I too connected one 1 TB MyBook Drive externally on one of the eSATA-Ports of the card (My TimeMaschine-Disk) works too...

 

I too maxed out my System further, i currently have installed or connected to the Bad Axe 2 Motherboard:

 

1 x 7600 GT Grafikcard

1 x HighPoint RocketRAID 2302 RAID-Controller with 2 x 500 GB internally (RAID 0), 1 x 1 TB MyBook HD externally

1 x 750 GB Seagate SATA Drive -> connected to the Motherboard

1 x 500 GB Samsung SATA Drive -> connected to the Motherboard

1 x 250 GB FireWire HD connected on on of the 2 FW 400 Ports of the Mobo

1 x PIONEER SATA DVD-R 212 SuperDrive

1 x LG MultiWriter as slave on ATA

1 x 160 GB HD (this is my VISTA-Corner) as master on the ATA-Bus

1 x SAT-Receiver elgato eyeTV 310 on the second FireWire Port of the Motherboard

1 x CREATIVE X-FI USB SoundCard-Device for Sound In- and -Output (works out of the box, mute too...)

1 x 24" APPLE Cinema-Display

4 x 2GB GeIL fast DDR2-800m Memory (8GB Total)

1 x CANON Scanner 4400 on USB

1 x iPhone 8 GB on USB

1 x MSI Bluetooth 2.0-Stick working out of the box (not under VISTA, it's searching for a driver...)

1 x USB-CARDReader for Banking

1 x 600 W ThoughtPower PSU

1 x Q6600 Quad-Core CPU, 2,4 GHz, currently running @3,0 GHz

1 x APPLE Alu-Bluetooth-Keyboard (with Backup-Keyboard USB for BIOS-Settings)

 

This all together is running at 3.0 GHz 24/7, absolutely stable, yes, Ethernet works@GB-Speed now without any problems*! I coudn't be happier, so, again, thanks weaksauce for your guide and all the folks here working on this OSX86 thing! Absolutely stunning! A Mac Pro Powerhouse for roughly the Price of a 20" iMac.

 

@all regarding hd-cloning: yes, i am a registered user of SuperDuper, my main backup-tool, but it currently is not 10.5-compatible, i think it will be out at around MacWorld Mid-January. But your Tip on CopyCat seems very promising, if at all then i think this is the tool to use for Disk-Cloning, cloning to RAID is possible, i bought a licence and will test it later after having a few hours sleep.

 

@lindmar: First go to the Memory-Settings and change all settings here (don't forget to set the voltage as high as recommended), save and restart: Do the System Post these Settings and start @533 MHz RAM-Speed? If yes give the CPU-Settings a shot, maybe at first go a bit slower, insteed of 334 try a setting lower, maybe begin at 287 and from there go higher. If your board want Post the Memory-Settings then maybe you need faster RAM-Modules.

You should defintely get some more juice out of this board/CPU-Combo, at least around 2,6 or 2,8 GHz. But not all CPU-Chips are equal, so your mileage may vary...

 

@craigolio: i simply set it to S1. I haven't tried the Alu Mac-USB-Keyboard, but i will do this tomorrow, i have on lying around. I too have one old WIN-USB-Keyboard here for BIOS, because i normally use a BT-Alu Keyboard from APPLE.

 

That's all for now

 

bernie

[weaksauce12]

theotherone, nice! Their Mac-compatible 8-port SATA card is under $500...I wonder how fast RAID 5 would be on that! Too bad we can't boot off of them yet

[ARL002]

Did you sudo?

 

This is from the BrazilMac CD, so you are automatically logged into root. No sudo in this case.

 

Did you bless?

 

Yes I did bless as in the instructions.

 

Sleep has never worked for me on any of the five Hackintoshes I've built.

 

Ah, I'll keep that in mind, sleep is not such an important issue, I'll just turn off sleeping in the system preferences.

 

 

Thanks Patrick, any other thoughts? weaksauce?

[theotherone]

Stunning, Stunning, Stunning.....

 

 

Hell freezes over here!...

 

 

I managed to clone my Startupdrive to my RAID-0 Diskset (which is on a HighPoint-RAID Controllercard 2302) and this beast likes it and Starts up beautifully from it!! Really fast now, Geekbench gives me 121.04 on Disk Test versus 55.90 for my normal 500 GB Samsung Startupvolume.

 

Here is how i made it:

Bought the weaksauce-recommended CopyCatX from SubRosaSoft (59,95$, Ghost or any other cloner from the win-world may do also...), Installed a Kalyway-10.5.1 on an external FireWire-Drive (MBR), The RAID was previously formatted as HFS+(journaled), MBR, 1 TB. Now (missing a startup-option via firewire on the Bad Axe 2) i connected the external Kalyway Drive via USB and made the USB Port the first to boot from in BadAxe BIOS. After that booted from USB-Drive and got both disks (the StartupVolume to clone from and the RAID-Volume to clone to) in a state where CopyCat X could unmount them to clone one dik to the other. This process consumed about three hours (not too bad for a 500 GB clone).

 

After that, i set the RAID-Controller as the device to boot from in Bad Axe BIOS, sure enogh, the boot worked like a charm!

 

But there is one small problem here: My previously 1 Terabyte-Volume shrunk to a 500 GB Volume, like the Disk i cloned from. I tried to repair the header in Disk Utility (which worked, but showd no success, my Terabyte-Drive is only 500 GB in turn of a faster Boot...

 

Maybe this should easy to repair, even if not i will go back and eventually will make 2 500 GByte RAIDs out of the TeraByte Volume, maybe i go RAID 5 if performance is not too much smaller, any recommendations?

 

I think it would be best to go all-GUID, but don't know if this will work, but now, where i have external drives bootable, etc. i could go on and test and i think this must be doable...

 

Again, thanks to all!!

 

 

[weaksauce12]

Stunning, Stunning, Stunning.....

 

 

Hell freezes over here!...

 

 

I managed to clone my Startupdrive to my RAID-0 Diskset (which is on a HighPoint-RAID Controllercard 2302) and this beast likes it and Starts up beautifully from it!! Really fast now, Geekbench gives me 121.04 on Disk Test versus 55.90 for my normal 500 GB Samsung Startupvolume.

 

Here is how i made it:

Bought the weaksauce-recommended CopyCatX from SubRosaSoft (59,95$, Ghost or any other cloner from the win-world may do also...), Installed a Kalyway-10.5.1 on an external FireWire-Drive (MBR), The RAID was previously formatted as HFS+(journaled), MBR, 1 TB. Now (missing a startup-option via firewire on the Bad Axe 2) i connected the external Kalyway Drive via USB and made the USB Port the first to boot from in BadAxe BIOS. After that booted from USB-Drive and got both disks (the StartupVolume to clone from and the RAID-Volume to clone to) in a state where CopyCat X could unmount them to clone one dik to the other. This process consumed about three hours (not too bad for a 500 GB clone).

 

After that, i set the RAID-Controller as the device to boot from in Bad Axe BIOS, sure enogh, the boot worked like a charm!

 

But there is one small problem here: My previously 1 Terabyte-Volume shrunk to a 500 GB Volume, like the Disk i cloned from. I tried to repair the header in Disk Utility (which worked, but showd no success, my Terabyte-Drive is only 500 GB in turn of a faster Boot...

 

Maybe this should easy to repair, even if not i will go back and eventually will make 2 500 GByte RAIDs out of the TeraByte Volume, maybe i go RAID 5 if performance is not too much smaller, any recommendations?

 

I think it would be best to go all-GUID, but don't know if this will work, but now, where i have external drives bootable, etc. i could go on and test and i think this must be doable...

 

Again, thanks to all!!

 

 

Wow that's crazy!! Question - can you do separate RAID sets on a single card? My eventual goal is to have the following setup:

 

4-port RAID card:

1TB Boot set (1TB x 2 in RAID 0 - Stripe)

1TB Time Machine set (1TB x 2 in RAID 1 - Mirror)

 

8-port RAID card:

7TB Scratch set (1TB x 8 in RAID 5)

 

So a fast boot drive, a secure backup drive, and then a large scratch drive for large CG/Video projects. I have a NAS that I use to archive projects, so this would be perfect if we can get it working fully.

 

*****

 

In other news, just for fun I've been playing around with different high-end configurations on paper. I started out with a Quad-Processor Quad-Core system - the SuperMicro X7QCE, for example. Supports 4 quad-core Xeons plus up to 192 gigs of ram and goes for about $1300. OWC sells 32-gig kits for only $2650 ("only", hah), while Apple sells their 16-gig kit for $4500. 3ghz Quad-Core Xeons run about $1200 (sad huh? my Q6600 was $280, overclocks to 3ghz easily, and toasts the 3ghz Quad Xeon in Benchmarks!). The only major drawback is that the PCI Express slot, even though it's 16x in length, only runs at 8x. Apparently this isn't a huge deal in PC benchmarks (running a 16x card at 8x) however, so it's probably not a big deal. I can post specific numbers, but to summarize, a loaded Hackintosh system was only about $3k more and had double or quadruple the power in most areas (processing, ram, hard drive space, etc.). 8-core 45nm Intel chips are due out in 2008, so eventually you could have a 32-core system in a single box...yikes!

 

Next up was the dual-processor quad-core motherboard, also available from SuperMicro. They have a few available and they even support 16x PCI Express video cards, yay! I priced these out and they came to about $3,000 less than the equivalent 8-core Mac Pro, with double the ram (32gb) and more than triple the hard drive space (10TB vs. 3TB). Oh, I should also note that these SuperMicro boards are Penryn-capable, so you can upgrade to 45nm when the time comes (in a month or so). Penryns are supposed to be anywhere from 20% - 50% faster, so it should be a pretty worthwhile upgrade. Another great dual-proc motherboard to keep an eye on is Intel's new SkullTrail (thanks to OneTrack for the tip) - a consumer-oriented beast that even supports overclocking! Check out Wikipedia and Engadget for a few more details:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_SkullTrail

 

http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/28/intels-...orm-skulltrail/

 

Last but not least, our beloved single-processor quad-core systems. These typically run $3500 less than the equivalent Mac Pro for an average high-end Hackintosh build. Mine started out at a $3,800 savings and is up to over a $6,400 savings now, due to overclocking (the 3ghz quad is a $1000 option over the 2ghz quad) and the 8800 GTS video card, which is roughly equivalent to the $1650 Quadro 4500. So it seems that the most cost-efficient way to save money by building a Hackintosh is to build a Quad. From there it varies...for example, the 4-processor Quad-core model is $3,000 more than the 2-processor Quad-core Mac Pro, but you'd have to buy two $13k Mac Pros to compete with the single Hackintosh machine so you're really saving $10,000.

 

I took a look at other money-savings options and came up with a good one - a render farm! Apple's Qmaster network rendering program supports apps like Final Cut Pro 6, Compressor, and even Maya. Sure, it would be fantastic to have all that power in a single box (16 or 32 cores with oodles of ram), but it's not very cost effective. I went to Newegg and priced out a rack-mountable render node; a 2U-case with a 2.4ghz Quad proc and 8 gigs of RAM came up to less than $1,000 complete (including shipping!). So $4k can get you a 16-core render farm versus $16k for a single 16-core render box. Provided you use network render-capable applications, this can be an enormously significant cost savings. If you were to spend that same $16k that you would have on the 16-core workstation on a render farm instead, you could have an incredible 64-core render farm at your disposal, plus you can always upgrade one piece at a time in the future and add more and more render nodes.

 

So the bottom line is, you can save a lot of money and get a much more powerful machine building a Hackintosh than buying a Mac Pro. You can build a dual-Hackintosh/gaming computer quite easily. If you are into Video or CG you can build an expandable Render Farm at an enormous cost savings. You can literally have a 24-core render farm for under $5,000 (quad workstation + 4 quad render nodes), the same as it would cost for a single Mac Pro that is equivalent to my current machine (actually that's $5115, hehe).

 

Anyway, there's my thoughts for the day. Ciao!

[Chimp]

Please don't remind me. I cringe when I think how much more I spent on my Mac Pro compared to my new Hackintosh, which easily smokes it in terms of power.

 

Been very busy and haven't had much time to work on the rig. However, I did test out the CPU temps under load. Using your settings I'm overclocked to 3.3ghz. Under a 75-90% 4-core load for 45 minutes the CPU cores never went above 56 degrees celsius. This is in the northeast US, and I'm in the basement, so the ambient temps are a little on the low side right now, maybe in the 66 degrees fahrenheit range or so. That's with the Scythe CPU cooler and using Arctic Silver thermal paste. My case has a 120mm fan right behind the cpu cooler, so the two fans (the cpu fan and the case fan) are in an optimal push-pull scenario to vent the CPU cooler's heat.

[weaksauce12]

Please don't remind me. I cringe when I think how much more I spent on my Mac Pro compared to my new Hackintosh, which easily smokes it in terms of power.

 

Been very busy and haven't had much time to work on the rig. However, I did test out the CPU temps under load. Using your settings I'm overclocked to 3.3ghz. Under a 75-90% 4-core load for 45 minutes the CPU cores never went above 56 degrees celsius. This is in the northeast US, and I'm in the basement, so the ambient temps are a little on the low side right now, maybe in the 66 degrees fahrenheit range or so. That's with the Scythe CPU cooler and using Arctic Silver thermal paste. My case has a 120mm fan right behind the cpu cooler, so the two fans (the cpu fan and the case fan) are in an optimal push-pull scenario to vent the CPU cooler's heat.

 

Hah same situation here, Northeast US with the workstation in a nice, cool basement. I just can't believe the machine I got for the money!

 

As a side note, I found a guy who mods video cards for Mac - specifically, he can turn an 8800GTX into a Quadro 5600! Real Quadro 5600's are offered with 1.5gb ram while the 8800GTX cards are only offered up to 768mb (again "only", hah!), but the cost savings is enormous - under $500 for a GTX, but $2600 for a 5600! Even if you cut the price in half due to 1/2 the ram in the GTX, that's still $1300, which nets you a savings of $800! I'm tempted to sell my 8800GTS and try this out...the only two downsides I see are (1) the mod doesn't work so hot in Windows (native not VM), so if you're a dual-booter you may want to steer clear, and (2) I kind of want to play video games like Crysis at some point when I have some spare time and I don't know how well they would play on a CAD-oriented Quadro vs. a Gaming-oriented 8800. Anyway, check out his crazy-awesome watercooled build here:

 

http://www.s155158671.websitehome.co.uk/ma...hackintosh.html

[weaksauce12]

8 gigs of ram for under $150 shipped: (order 4 sticks)

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820141300

[ARL002]

Hi Weaksauce

 

Thanks for all your work in this guide.

 

I have built and followed your guide to build a hackintosh. However I'm having some issues finishing up:

• Does not boot: gives error "Non-system disk". During Part 3: Install files from the USB Stick, it runs through except for copying the IONetworkingFamily.kext, I get a permission error (this step was skipped). I also ran the starupfiletool to copy the EFI, and yet it still doesn't boot. It ONLY boots into Leopard when I put the Kalyway CD in the drive and don't touch anything during the boot process. How do I fix it so it boots properly?
  
• Sleep freezes the computer, when I can boot into the system, if it goes to sleep it will not come out of it (I'm suppose to press the power button to bring it out of sleep? or some keyboard button?)
  
• USB doesn't work in the system.
  

My system specs:

Bad Axe2 mobo, 2.4ghz quad core, 4gb ram, 7300GT

 

Thanks so much!

 

UPDATE:

USB works, my mistake

 

 

Weaksauce any thoughts on this?