The Godfather Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I've been thinking about building a hackintosh for some time now, as I can't afford to buy a MacPro. Currently I use a Windows Vista x64 system (Q6600, 8GB ram, 8800GT & 8600GT, 24" + 2x 20" widescreen lcd's) and a MacBook. To drive these 3 display's I need your advise on which graphics cards I should buy. I originally ordered 2 Club 3D 7300GT Silent cards but apparently they are unavailable now. I'm looking for 2 cards that are confirmed working with os x 10.5 and have 2 DVI connectors, I'd prefer a passive cooling system if possible. Gaming performance is not important. To install leopard I'll be using the Kalyway installer 10.5.1. I've already bought: -Intel Q6600 C2Q -Asus P5W DH Deluxe -2x2GB PC5300 DDR2 -Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB -Samsung DVDRW sata SH-S203D -Antec Sonata III, 500W Any suggestions for the graphics cards? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86187-building-quadcore-hackintosh-for-triple-screen-use/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synaesthesia Posted February 6, 2008 Share Posted February 6, 2008 I found one thread about it. I would recommend buying two of the same cards, maybe Geforce 7-series, like 7600. http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=55427 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86187-building-quadcore-hackintosh-for-triple-screen-use/#findComment-611770 Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelbb Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 This is the exact question that I have been looking for the answer to. My wife has been so pleased with her MacBook & so fed up with her Windows XP system that she would like to move over to using a Mac as her main machine. She does web development & is currently using 1 x 24" & 2 x 19" screens & is not prepared to give up that screen real estate. I built the the system detailed in my .sig with basically the cheapest possible components to just get a feel for how complete & stable were the current OSX86 builds. I had experimented in the past with various Tiger builds & even had it running pretty well on a Compaq Evo610c laptop but there are/were hassles with device support & of course updates. With the possibility of using a vanilla kernel & very limited number of modified kexts it now looks like OSX86 has moved beyond just a plaything for enthusiasts. This has been confirmed with this new build which has exceeded expectations & is a really, really nice system. I would like to build my wife a system based on a Gigabyte Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P as detailed in this post http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=86167 This looks like the perfect board for a Hackintosh as on-board Gb LAN & audio etc just work out of the box It also supports quad core CPUs so would be really nice with a Q6600 & is future proofed in that it supports the forthcoming 45nm processors. It supports ATI Crossfire so there are two slots for graphics cards. The big question is. Which graphics cards are known to work as a pair in Leopard each with 2 x DVI? Like The Godfather gaming performance is not important for us but support of at least 3 big monitors is. In one of my Windows system I have a ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro (as used in current Mac Pro & iMac) & in one of my Linux system I have a Nvidia 7300GT (as used in previous generation Mac Pro & iMac) & it wouldn't break the bank to buy another of either in the hope that a pair will work in OSX86 but it would be nice to have confirmation from someone who has actually done it. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86187-building-quadcore-hackintosh-for-triple-screen-use/#findComment-614026 Share on other sites More sharing options...
rschultz101 Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 ;-) 3 screen and quad ! can't afford mac pro ?! I'd like 2, and the trend is to use notebook more,.... so the macbook has an dvi out, that makes 2, laptop screen and external,... but the laptop screen does not realy count, till we get to 1680x1050, or 1920x1200,... so need one more,.... http://www.villagetronic.com/vtbook/index.html http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1935371 what you think ? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86187-building-quadcore-hackintosh-for-triple-screen-use/#findComment-614136 Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelbb Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 From a quick look over at the NVinject guys site it appears that 2 x Nvidia cards works at least. http://nvinject.free.fr/ I just recalled that in my box of parts I have a couple of Nvidia Quadro NVS 285 cards that I got at a bargain price off Ebay about a year ago. I just confirmed that they work fully either dual VGA or dual DVI with the current motherboard that I have. The graphics performance is OK but not even as fast as the on-board GMA950 but still plenty fast enough for our requirements. Looks like I just need to order the motherboard now. Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86187-building-quadcore-hackintosh-for-triple-screen-use/#findComment-614394 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Godfather Posted February 8, 2008 Author Share Posted February 8, 2008 I ordered 2 ASUS EN7300GT SILENT/HTD (1xVGA & 1xDVI, might upgrade them later), they should arrive on thursday. Thanks for all the suggestions so far, very helpful Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86187-building-quadcore-hackintosh-for-triple-screen-use/#findComment-614547 Share on other sites More sharing options...
weaksauce12 Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 From a quick look over at the NVinject guys site it appears that 2 x Nvidia cards works at least. http://nvinject.free.fr/ I just recalled that in my box of parts I have a couple of Nvidia Quadro NVS 285 cards that I got at a bargain price off Ebay about a year ago. I just confirmed that they work fully either dual VGA or dual DVI with the current motherboard that I have. The graphics performance is OK but not even as fast as the on-board GMA950 but still plenty fast enough for our requirements. Looks like I just need to order the motherboard now. FWIW I've never gotten dual cards working in ANY configuration, but I've never had two of the exact same model of card to work with. I'll be interested to see if this pans out for you, OP! Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86187-building-quadcore-hackintosh-for-triple-screen-use/#findComment-615985 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Godfather Posted February 17, 2008 Author Share Posted February 17, 2008 With one card installed I can't seem to get dual screen working (using different versions of Natit and Nvinject), seperatly both the dvi and the vga work but not at the same time. After this I installed the 2nd 7300GT but now I get a "no signal" message on the monitor instead of my desktop. This seems to be a bit more challenging than I had expected, any suggestions? Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86187-building-quadcore-hackintosh-for-triple-screen-use/#findComment-629059 Share on other sites More sharing options...
nigelbb Posted April 18, 2008 Share Posted April 18, 2008 Just to follow up on this thread. I now have two Nvidia Quadro NVS 285 cards working with CI & QE driving four monitors connected via DVI on a GA-P35-DS3P. It took quite a lot of experimentation to find the winning formula but it now works perfectly using NVinject.0.2.0d_universal_dual_cards http://nvinject.free.fr/files/NVinject.0.2..._dual_cards.zip & setting PEG2 as primary display in the BIOS. Total screen real estate is 1280x1024 + 1280x1024 + 1920x1200 +1680x1050 Link to comment https://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/86187-building-quadcore-hackintosh-for-triple-screen-use/#findComment-714025 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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