$400 Hackintosh rig with 10.5.4

[Kaido]

Introduction:

New to Hackintoshes? Read this first:

Hackintosh 101 Guide

Links to my previous monthly posts: (useful discussions in there)

June discussion | May discussion

This system is:

-100% Leopard 10.5.4 Compatible (Vanilla kernel, et all)
-VM-capable (VMware, Parallels, Crossover for Mac)
-Capable of stealing the Mac Mini's lunch money
-1080p-capable for High Definition playback (HD MKVs, etc.)
-Capable of reading just about every Memory Card in existence
-Can run Front Row, Adobe CS3, Final Cut Studio 2, Firefox 3, Microsoft Office 2008, Aperture 2, anything you want!

$400 Hardware Recipe:

$33 - ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350w PSU and 80mm Case Fan
$84 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L motherboard
$120 - 2.53ghz Dual-Core Intel E7200 45nm Core 2 Duo CPU
$40 - 2gb DDR2-800mhz RAM (2x1gb)
$42 - 160gb 7200rpm Hitachi SATA Hard Drive
$30 - 20x Lite-on DVD burner with LightScribe
$27 - 256mb Zotac Fanless 7300GT 16x PCI Express Video Card
$14 - 3.5" 65-in-1 Internal Card Reader
$8 - Encore PCI Gigabit Ethernet Network Card

Recommended Upgrades:

-Backup hard drive (for automatic backup with Time Machine)
-Large CPU cooler for overclocking
-More RAM (4-8 gigs)
-Quad-core processor (G0 Q6600 recommended for overclocking)
-Bluetooth (I recommend the D-Link DBT-120)
-Wifi (some 802.11g cards are seen as native Airport cards; for 802.11n, you'll need a driver)
-Better video card (many NVIDIA, ATI, and Intel cards supported)

Hard Drive Price Comparison:

$40-$45 = 160gb (also 80gb)
$55 = 250gb
$70-$75 = 500g (also 320gb and 400gb)
$85 = 640gb Best bang-for-your-buck (FAST + lots of storage)
$100-$180 = 750gb
$180 = 1000gb (1TB)

Full Installation Walkthrough:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=112708

Quickie Installation Checklist:

[ ] Build and test hardware; setup BIOS
[ ] Install Leopard and Updates:

• 1. Kalyway 10.5.2 Leopard
  2. Kalyway 10.5.3 Combo Update
  3. Apple 10.5.4 88mb Update
  4. Apple Software Update for the latest small updates

[ ] Install Drivers and System Tweaks (Kexts = drivers, Shutdown Fix, Audio, Video)
[ ] Install Software

Software Preparation Checklist

Burn this ISO to DVD or copy to 4gb+ USB stick:

[ ] Kalyway_Leopard_10.5.2_DVD_Intel_Amd

Put the rest of this software on a blank DVD, USB stick, NAS, external hard drive, whatever you have so that you can access it post-install:

[ ] Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.3 Kalyway Combo Update
[ ] Official Apple 10.5.4 Delta Update (88mb, NOT the Combo Update!)
[ ] Tutorial Package
[ ] Any special drivers (RAID, Video Card, etc.)
[ ] Personal software

Additional Notes:

I just built a system similar to this (albiet with a 2.0ghz Allendale and a larger 250gb hard drive) and it's running smooth as butter. This beats the pants off the Mac Mini, and for $200 cheaper (provided you can stand having a large, ugly box shoved under your desk instead of a cute little Mini next to your mousepad). You can really tweak this system to your heart's content...want an overclocked, watercooled system? No problem. Want a massive hard drive RAID array setup for HD Video Editing? Again, no problem. My system has a Q6600 overclocked to 3ghz, 8 gigs of RAM, a 768mb BFG 8800GTX modded into a Quadro FX 5600, a 300gb, 10,000-rpm Raptor boot drive, a 500gb backup hard drive, a pair of 1TB (2x500gb, x2) RAID arrays for video editing, Firewire, DVD burner, internal card reader, yada yada yada. All for $1,000 less than a real Mac Pro. And I can fix anything that breaks on it. And I can upgrade any part, any time I want to, without having to take it to Apple to be serviced.

 

[mshan]

Hey Kaido:

Good Work!!! :thumbsup:

e7200 is available on eBay from Buy.com for around $122 shipped.

(no Microsoft Cash Back is available because they use Paypal 3rd party checkout, though).

edit: don't know if the e7200 supports virtualization. I've got an e6300 on an Asus P5W DH Deluxe. Should that Hackintosh support virtualization via VM Ware Fusion for Mac?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mshan
Hey Kaido:

Good Work!!! :thumbsup:

e7200 is available on eBay from Buy.com for around $122 shipped.

(no Microsoft Cash Back is available because they use Paypal 3rd party checkout, though).

edit: don't know if the e7200 supports virtualization. I've got an e6300 on an Asus P5W DH Deluxe. Should that Hackintosh support virtualization via VM Ware Fusion for Mac?

My 2.0ghz Allendale processor doesn't have VT and it runs VMware just fine:

http://img28.picoodle.com/img/..._Picture2m_d0747e4.png

Yes, you can run Parallels, VMware, Crossover for Mac, whatever virtualization software you prefer on your Hackintosh

 

[mshan]

You can get the same price directly from the Buy.com website: http://www.buy.com/retail/comp...692&sku=207921461&wl=1

e5200 is supposed to be released sometime soon and is supposedly targeted at the sub-$100 range.

edit: 5% off one time use (per customer) Buy.com coupon code: Link

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mshan
You can get the same price directly from the Buy.com website: http://www.buy.com/retail/comp...692&sku=207921461&wl=1

e5200 is supposed to be released sometime soon and is supposedly targeted at the sub-$100 range.

edit: 5% off one time use (per customer) Buy.com coupon code: Link

How does the E7200 compare to the E4600, aside from being slightly faster?

 

[mshan]

45 nm Wolfdale core, so it should run cooler than the e4600. (I think I read somewhere that Wolfdales are like 5% or so faster than similarly spec'd Conroe clock for clock).

Also has 3 MB cache, vs. 2 MB cache in the e4600 Conroe (increased cache is supposed to be particularly beneficial for things like video editing).

If you are an overclocker, I've read that the Wolfdale aren't quite as indestructible as the Conroes, though (from what I've read, you can probably overclock the e7200 mucher higher than a Conroe, as long as you have adequate cpu cooling).

Some older mobos may require a BIOS update to use the Wolfdale cores, so I guess that could be a limitation with a particular Hackintosh rig that requires a particular BIOS. Doesn't sound like an issue with the mobo you recommend, though.

 

[Zaap]

Great guide! It's nearly impossible go wrong with that setup, and it's cheap and very expandable.

You might also want to add Graphic card category to recommended updates (the true beauty of a mid-range mHack is that virtually everything is easily expandable)

That 7300GT is an awesome card (I've used several, and just bought two more for future builds when they were on sale last week from newegg for $9.99 after rebate- right now I see it's $17.) But one could also at their leisure upgrade to any level of graphic card, IE: 8600GT ($50-$80) or 8800GT ($150-$200).

I used an E7200 in a build with a Gigabyte G31M-S2L mATX board, and found that the system felt every bit as fast as my Q6600 based system. It seemed to me much faster than the E4600 at things like Final Cut and Motion rendering and Photoshop filters- but not like the E4600 is any slouch.

I did run into one problem with it: I had the clock-drift issue whereby my system clock was losing a few minutes each hour- also math related functions weren't accurate. (example: My Xbench scores were impossibly high, and Final Cut frame counts were grossly off). I solved the problem by using the modbin kernel when I did the Kalyway 10.5.3 Combo update.

However- I think these issues with 45nm processors in OS X have been resolved- I know for sure using the Chameleon EFI fixes the issue. I don't see many others using 45nm and newer hardware report problems- it may just be certain hardware combinations like the G31 chipset and 45nm, I'm really not sure.

Other than that issue, I'd recommend the E7200 over the E4600 for bang-for-buck, any day of the week.

 

[leglez]

Originally posted by: Kaido

$84 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L motherboard

Did you order from ewiz? Was the mobo Rev 1.0 or 2.0? If it was 1.0 did you run into any problems?

Thanks!

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: leglez

Originally posted by: Kaido

$84 - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L motherboard

Did you order from ewiz? Was the mobo Rev 1.0 or 2.0? If it was 1.0 did you run into any problems?

Thanks!

They advertise Rev 1.0, but a handful of people have ordered from them and received 2.0 boards. You can always return it if it's 1.0, I guess. There's an eBay seller, "macpalace7", who sells 2.0 boards as well for a little cheaper.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Zaap
Great guide! It's nearly impossible go wrong with that setup, and it's cheap and very expandable.

You might also want to add Graphic card category to recommended updates (the true beauty of a mid-range mHack is that virtually everything is easily expandable)

That 7300GT is an awesome card (I've used several, and just bought two more for future builds when they were on sale last week from newegg for $9.99 after rebate- right now I see it's $17.) But one could also at their leisure upgrade to any level of graphic card, IE: 8600GT ($50-$80) or 8800GT ($150-$200).

I used an E7200 in a build with a Gigabyte G31M-S2L mATX board, and found that the system felt every bit as fast as my Q6600 based system. It seemed to me much faster than the E4600 at things like Final Cut and Motion rendering and Photoshop filters- but not like the E4600 is any slouch.

I did run into one problem with it: I had the clock-drift issue whereby my system clock was losing a few minutes each hour- also math related functions weren't accurate. (example: My Xbench scores were impossibly high, and Final Cut frame counts were grossly off). I solved the problem by using the modbin kernel when I did the Kalyway 10.5.3 Combo update.

However- I think these issues with 45nm processors in OS X have been resolved- I know for sure using the Chameleon EFI fixes the issue. I don't see many others using 45nm and newer hardware report problems- it may just be certain hardware combinations like the G31 chipset and 45nm, I'm really not sure.

Other than that issue, I'd recommend the E7200 over the E4600 for bang-for-buck, any day of the week.

Updated the guide to include Graphics Cards in the Recommended Upgrades section!

Thanks, I know some EP35 users were having clock drift....what a weird problem! Glad there's a simple solution!

Yeah, the Core 2 Duo chips definitely feel faster than a Quad, especially with overclocking. For a pure "speed" system, I'd definitely go with a C2D system. For number crunching on something like Final Cut Pro, I wouldn't get rid of my Quad for anything! I can't wait for 8-core chips to come out later this year, either! I just wish I could setup a render farm for Final Cut Pro with Hackintoshes, too bad Qmaster doesn't work as advertised haha.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mshan
You can get the same price directly from the Buy.com website: http://www.buy.com/retail/comp...692&sku=207921461&wl=1

Per yours and Zaap's suggestions, I swapped out the E4600 for the E7200. Funny, it totals exactly $400 now! Haha.

 

[mshan]

Newegg has the e7200 for a couple dollars cheaper today, but 5% off Buy.com coupon above still would make that option cheapest.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mshan
Newegg has the e7200 for a couple dollars cheaper today, but 5% off Buy.com coupon above still would make that option cheapest.

Updated for Newegg, might as well since everything but the motherboard is from Newegg

 

[Shlong]

Do you happen to have a word document of the guide? It seems insanelymac's site & forum is down.

Edit: NM, site is back up.

 

[leglez]

I know this is off topic, but only place I have ever bought from is Newegg, how is Ewiz's shipping compared to neweggs? Like how fast is it? I am getting ready to order parts and want everything to get here at the same time, so I am not sure if I should get faster shipping on Ewiz

 

[Shlong]

Originally posted by: leglez
I know this is off topic, but only place I have ever bought from is Newegg, how is Ewiz's shipping compared to neweggs? Like how fast is it? I am getting ready to order parts and want everything to get here at the same time, so I am not sure if I should get faster shipping on Ewiz

http://www.resellerratings.com/store/eWiz

Almost equivalent to newegg in terms of shipping I believe.

 

[scootermaster]

First off, GREAT tutorial. I'm edging ever-so-slightly to doing this (I need/want a fanless, Cuda-capable GPU. I think I might, eventually, morph a hackintosh I build into an HPTC, or otherwise build it with that mind -- which explains why I have the 2 platter WD hard drive. So any advice on that would be greatly appreciated!) But here's my question, forgive me if it's covered: Why isn't the OS cost included? Are we assuming people will pirate it? Or otherwise assuming people have a copy of Leopard around? I mean, I own an actual mac, and I'm still on 10.4. It just looks like OS cost could be 20%-ish of the total cost here.

Also, do you cover dual-boot stuff anywhere?

Thanks so much!

Last, sorta off-topic question: I have zero interest in OCing, and am mainly looking for the "sweet spot" between price, performance and coolness/low power Edit: I mean cool/quiet, not particularly low power (although they often go hand in hand). Any idea what processor that might be?

 

[mshan]

Over in cpu sub-forum e7200 keeps coming up for low power consumption and heat production.

Intel P31 chipset Zaap had recommended (Intel BoxDG31PR, Shuttle SG31G2 uses same chipset) is supposed to very quiet, very low power consumption, and very hackintosh friendly.

I just bought an used Conroe-L Celeron 440 to update the BIOS in my BoxDG31PR (ships with BIOS 28, which doesn't support lot of newer processors), and might just stick with it if it's up to doing iTunes via Front Row with Core Audio also running for my Apogee Duet.

Still collecting parts for above system, but I also got the Asus P5W DH Deluxe mobo, and on boot up, you can hit F8 to select boot device. I've got two hard drives, so I willl hopefully be able to boot into eitther XP or Leopard (still testing with XP now). It is an expensive mobo and it seems to consume a lot of power (my system idles at about 110W with an e6300 and two hard drives and XFX7600GS). I bought mine brand new, but I've seen them list for under $100 in the for sale forum and no one buys thems (old technology, I guess. Unfortunatley, there weren't any when it popped up brand new at Newegg and I pulled the trigger).

I think I read over at Newegg about someone's Intel BoxDG31PR pulling 47 watts, under load.

edit: brand new P5W has been listed at $100 shipped for weeks here. (I paid $179 for mine)

 

[scootermaster]

Originally posted by: mshan
Over in cpu sub-forum e7200 keeps coming up for low power consumption and heat production.

Intel P31 chipset Zaap had recommended (Intel BoxDG31PR, Shuttle SG31G2 uses same chipset) is supposed to very quiet, very low power consumption, and very hackintosh friendly.

I just bought an used Conroe-L Celeron 440 to update the BIOS in my BoxDG31PR (ships with BIOS 28, which doesn't support lot of newer processors), and might just stick with it if it's up to doing iTunes via Front Row with Core Audio also running for my Apogee Duet.

Still collecting parts for above system, but I also got the Asus P5W DH Deluxe mobo, and on boot up, you can hit F8 to select boot device. I've got two hard drives, so I willl hopefully be able to boot into eitther XP or Leopard (still testing with XP now). It is an expensive mobo and it seems to consume a lot of power (my system idles at about 110W with an e6300 and two hard drives and XFX7600GS). I bought mine brand new, but I've seen them list for under $100 in the for sale forum and no one buys thems (old technology, I guess. Unfortunatley, there weren't any when it popped up brand new at Newegg and I pulled the trigger).

I think I read over at Newegg about someone's Intel BoxDG31PR pulling 47 watts, under load.

edit: brand new P5W has been listed at $100 shipped for weeks here. (I paid $179 for mine)

Thanks for the tips. Actually, I just realized that power consumption isn't the issue (although lower is always better). I meant cool and quiet (for use as a future HTPC). Duhhhhh. So what processor/etc can be run with as quiet a fan as possible, again, given no OCing.

 

[mshan]

I bet the 35W Conroe-L Celeron 440 could be run without a cpu fan if you've got a good cpu heatsink, a well ventilated case (Antec Solo?), and reasonable ambient temperature.

Scan through the cpu sub-forum. I'm pretty sure they are going to say e7200. I think I remember reading that single core Celeron 400 series is going to be cooler / draw less power stock, but if you underclock / undervolt (forgot what they said), e7200 still wins. It is obviously a much more powerful cpu and is supposed to be pretty easy to overclock (I think you can get like 3.5 - 3.6 with good cooling).

edit: based upon these Newegg customer reviews, I bet the Shuttle SG31G2 would be very quiet, as long as you don't put a really power hungry and hot video card in there. Only other issue would be luck of the draw if you got particularly bad (i.e. loud fan bearings) in the the psu or exhaust fan. You could suspend something like a Hitachi 7K200 notebook drive in there (see Silent PC Review), use a Western Digital 5400 - 7200 Green Power drive in there, or probably even a WD6400AAKS with hopefully only minor amounts of vibration transmitted from hard drive to chassis.

 

[leglez]

Anyone know if this motherboard would work? http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813128337 I am not sure with the E stands for.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: leglez
I know this is off topic, but only place I have ever bought from is Newegg, how is Ewiz's shipping compared to neweggs? Like how fast is it? I am getting ready to order parts and want everything to get here at the same time, so I am not sure if I should get faster shipping on Ewiz

Pretty much the same as Newegg, I use them on a regular basis.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: scootermaster
First off, GREAT tutorial. I'm edging ever-so-slightly to doing this (I need/want a fanless, Cuda-capable GPU. I think I might, eventually, morph a hackintosh I build into an HPTC, or otherwise build it with that mind -- which explains why I have the 2 platter WD hard drive. So any advice on that would be greatly appreciated!) But here's my question, forgive me if it's covered: Why isn't the OS cost included? Are we assuming people will pirate it? Or otherwise assuming people have a copy of Leopard around? I mean, I own an actual mac, and I'm still on 10.4. It just looks like OS cost could be 20%-ish of the total cost here.

Also, do you cover dual-boot stuff anywhere?

Thanks so much!

Last, sorta off-topic question: I have zero interest in OCing, and am mainly looking for the "sweet spot" between price, performance and coolness/low power Edit: I mean cool/quiet, not particularly low power (although they often go hand in hand). Any idea what processor that might be?

This is merely a hardware recipe. The guide recommends buying Leopard; I have a legal copy for my machine. I do recommend purchasing it to stay legal, but this is merely a guide to compatible hardware

I'm working on a dual-booting guide. I don't really like any of the dual-booting methods, though. For example, you can dual-boot with Windows XP, but you have to use MBR instead of GUID as the formatting method for Leopard and you can't use more than 4 gigs of RAM because XP won't work. It's difficult to tri or quad-boot as well. The dirt-simple way is to use two drives and press F12 to choose between drives; there's no special boot system or software involved to do that, and you can format the drives however you want. Plus, you can access your files using MacDrive for Windows and Paragon NTFS or MacFUSE/NTFS-3G for Leopard.

Regarding processors: first, definitely go with a 45nm chip. I'd probably recommend the E8400 - it's a fast 3.0ghz chip (which has crazy OC'ing potential if you ever go that route) that's only about $50 more than the E7200 and E4600. Here's a link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115037

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mshan
Over in cpu sub-forum e7200 keeps coming up for low power consumption and heat production.

Intel P31 chipset Zaap had recommended (Intel BoxDG31PR, Shuttle SG31G2 uses same chipset) is supposed to very quiet, very low power consumption, and very hackintosh friendly.

I just bought an used Conroe-L Celeron 440 to update the BIOS in my BoxDG31PR (ships with BIOS 28, which doesn't support lot of newer processors), and might just stick with it if it's up to doing iTunes via Front Row with Core Audio also running for my Apogee Duet.

Still collecting parts for above system, but I also got the Asus P5W DH Deluxe mobo, and on boot up, you can hit F8 to select boot device. I've got two hard drives, so I willl hopefully be able to boot into eitther XP or Leopard (still testing with XP now). It is an expensive mobo and it seems to consume a lot of power (my system idles at about 110W with an e6300 and two hard drives and XFX7600GS). I bought mine brand new, but I've seen them list for under $100 in the for sale forum and no one buys thems (old technology, I guess. Unfortunatley, there weren't any when it popped up brand new at Newegg and I pulled the trigger).

I think I read over at Newegg about someone's Intel BoxDG31PR pulling 47 watts, under load.

edit: brand new P5W has been listed at $100 shipped for weeks here. (I paid $179 for mine)

Honestly I'm amazed at power consumption; normal operation for my quad with the 8800gtx and Raptor drive is about 120 watts.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: scootermaster
Thanks for the tips. Actually, I just realized that power consumption isn't the issue (although lower is always better). I meant cool and quiet (for use as a future HTPC). Duhhhhh. So what processor/etc can be run with as quiet a fan as possible, again, given no OCing.

I'm actually putting together a basic Hackintosh HTPC guide. It's geared towards HDTVs since you can really only have DVI/HDMI and VGA output (I haven't seen any video cards that support S-video output on a Hackintosh yet). You can do custom resolutions with SwitchResX and you have your choice of Front Row 2.0 and Plex (aka XBMC for OS X) for playback software, plus just VLC if you have a clear HDTV and want to use it as a monitor to surf the web etc. You can also use a variety of remotes - Keyspan RF Remote for Front Row, Apple Remote with Dell Media Center IR USB adapter and Remote Buddy, pretty much any Bluetooth Remote using Salling Clicker, a Wiimote, and so on.

There are a couple limitations of having a Hackintosh HTPC, however. First, you can only kinda-sorta do DVR. EyeTV is the best DVR app for Mac, and it has a full-screen 10-foot interface, but you have to switch between it and your media player app. Which is fine if you script your remote to do it, but not as clean as say Vista Media Center, which does it all in one app. Second, Leopard doesn't support HD-DVD or Blu-ray discs yet, so you'd need ripped HD movies in a compatible format if you wanted to play those kinds of HD movies. But if you're looking for a DVD player with local and network SD/HD file playback, it's a great machine...it's basically an HD version of Xbox Media Center. Plus it kills the Mini in terms of price and performance, and you can get a snazzy Media Center case to put it in