$400 Hackintosh rig with 10.5.4

[Zaap]

Originally posted by: scootermaster
Stop! You're making me jealous!

Okay, one last (ha!) stupid question...what's the best case that's reasonably priced, cool, and cheap? I don't need a killer PSU (some 8000 series GPU, likely, one or two SATA drives, and a DVD burner). If there's one thing I know NOTHING about, it's cooling. When I last built my own system (maybe 2000 ish) cooling wasn't a huge issue (i.e. no one ever really bought "thermal paste" and had to worry if their fans were 80mm or 120mm so I have no fucking clue about any of that stuff. And my Dell 4600, as best as I can tell, has just a HUGE heat sink and then an outtake fan, so...y'know)

Are cool/quiet fans going to add a lot of cost to these builds?

Most of these modern processors run very cool compared to their predecessors, especially the newer 45mn models. The stock heatsink and fan is often tiny, and most times the stock HSF and thermal pad is all that's needed. Certainly, a good third party HSF and thermal paste can't hurt anything. (I'm still a big fan of arctic silver #5).

Great case fans don't have to be expensive. My favorites areEvercool 120mm that cost $8. They are extremely quiet, ( < 16db )and move enough air in a decent case to keep everything cool. I generally use two case fans- one in the front pulling air in directly across the hard drives, and one in the back exhausting it out of the case.

You can easily get away with no rear fan, if your PSU has a decent exhaust fan.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Zaap
Silverpig, glad you got your system working. What exact install method worked for you? I'm pretty sure that board requires AHCI mode always turned on to install. Also, Leo4All works perfectly on supported systems, but it can be very picky.

Any luck with Kalyway?

Well first off I did find I had to use AHCI on. I have a leo4all disk and a kalyway disk (both 10.5.2) and I followed the BIOS setup section in the guide at insanelymac linked at the start of this thread. Even when I did that the leo4all disk would hang every time just before finishing the install, and the kalyway disk would give me a failed install with an error like "Base Package could not be verified" or something.

I tried again with one stick of ram and the leo4all and it worked perfectly. I didn't install any drivers and followed the guide for kalyway in the insanelymac thread. Did the 10.5.3 update, then 10.5.4, drivers etc. I had all that stuff copied to a usb stick. Everything went flawlessly once I removed that one RAM stick.

I've since put the second stick in and the system has been stable since. The ONLY glitch so far is youtube videos play for about 3 seconds, then pause. If I grab the progress bar and move it, I get 3 more seconds, then another pause. I'm sure I can fix it easily, but I just haven't had time yet.

I have yet to test my sound as well.

edit: Sound doesn't work. The chip just isn't detected. Apparently working kexts are here. I'm trying them now.

edit 2: That set of kexts didn't work. Apparently THESE ones will. Trying now

edit 3: That didn't work either.

edit 4: Still not working. When I use Taruga to install the linux dump from the edit 2 link I get this:

* Patching AppleHDA.kext to 0x10ec0888 Done
* Checking AppleHDA for patch Done
0001f4a0 cmpl $0x10ec0888,%eax
00020584 cmpl $0x10ec0888,%eax
* Checking for SPDIF Out Detected
* Checking for SPDIF In Detected
* Using the following nodes in pathmap

Back Mic: 9 34 24
Line In : 8 35 26
Speaker : 20 12 2
Headphone: 27 38 37
Spdif In : 10 31
Spdif Out: 30 6

* Copying new config to destination Done
* Repairing Permissions Done
* Deleting Extensions Cache Done

** Done patching - You can reboot now **

But I still have no sound

 

[Zaap]

I'm guessing the youtube glitch is a crappy flash video component in the browser. Are you using Safari? Same problem with Firefox?

Did you uninstall/delete all the earlier kexts before you tried the Taurga patch? (That method is supposed to work with that board). I've found that trying a bunch of kexts and then not cleaning up the failed attempts causes all sorts of conflicts and sometimes disables working kexts.

I'm assuming you are giving all kexts proper permissions, and repairing permissions from the disk tool after installing?

ALC889 audio (that that board has) seems like a royal pain in the ass. Ironically, ALC889A is the most supported for Hackintosh, and works OOB. What a difference an 'A' makes.

If you can't get onboard sound working, I'd recommend a USB sound solution- it'll actually sound better than even fully working onboard sound since USB audio is cleaner and free of board component interference.

This Syba USB audio adapter is $8- I'd recommend that anyone building a Hackintosh pick up one or two of these and just keep it in a drawer just in the event of running into audio problems like you're having. It needs no drivers needed, just plug it in, and you've got audio out and mic in, and it works with any OS.

If you want cheap, very nice sounding 5.1 surround for OSX, I'd recommend the Griffen Firewave- it's currently only $20 and won't be around long as they are phasing them out. I use one with my main Hackintosh. Requires Firewire. The downside is, no Windows or Linux support- it's Mac only, which only matters if you're going to dual boot, then you need a convenient way to switch other OS's to the onboard audio.

Come to think of it, since HTPC use has come up, I'd recommend the Firewave box in a heartbeat vs any onboard audio for OSX.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Zaap
This Syba USB audio adapter is $8- I'd recommend that anyone building a Hackintosh pick up one or two of these and just keep it in a drawer just in the event of running into audio problems like you're having. It needs no drivers needed, just plug it in, and you've got audio out and mic in, and it works with any OS.

btw I picked it up and it works great, thanks for the recommendation! I use SoundSource (free) to switch my outputs quickly on-the-fly:

http://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Zaap
I'm guessing the youtube glitch is a crappy flash video component in the browser. Are you using Safari? Same problem with Firefox?

Did you uninstall/delete all the earlier kexts before you tried the Taurga patch? (That method is supposed to work with that board). I've found that trying a bunch of kexts and then not cleaning up the failed attempts causes all sorts of conflicts and sometimes disables working kexts.

I'm assuming you are giving all kexts proper permissions, and repairing permissions from the disk tool after installing?

ALC889 audio (that that board has) seems like a royal pain in the ass. Ironically, ALC889A is the most supported for Hackintosh, and works OOB. What a difference an 'A' makes.

If you can't get onboard sound working, I'd recommend a USB sound solution- it'll actually sound better than even fully working onboard sound since USB audio is cleaner and free of board component interference.

This Syba USB audio adapter is $8- I'd recommend that anyone building a Hackintosh pick up one or two of these and just keep it in a drawer just in the event of running into audio problems like you're having. It needs no drivers needed, just plug it in, and you've got audio out and mic in, and it works with any OS.

If you want cheap, very nice sounding 5.1 surround for OSX, I'd recommend the Griffen Firewave- it's currently only $20 and won't be around long as they are phasing them out. I use one with my main Hackintosh. Requires Firewire. The downside is, no Windows or Linux support- it's Mac only, which only matters if you're going to dual boot, then you need a convenient way to switch other OS's to the onboard audio.

Come to think of it, since HTPC use has come up, I'd recommend the Firewave box in a heartbeat vs any onboard audio for OSX.

Thanks for the help. Apparently the guy who got it working and did the audio dump posted the links to the kexts he used to get it working. I just went and deleted those instances of kexts from my system, plus ALCinject, installed the ones he recommended using kexthelper, did the HDApatch with his dump, did a permissions repair, and a reboot with -f. Still no audio device detected

I think I'll spring for the firewave, or maybe the usb solution. I just want audio out so I can hook it up to my ht amp and watch some tv.

The other question I have is this: I have a 7900GS. It's got dual DVI out and an svideo out. I know the svideo won't work, but I have a standard def tv. Can I use a DVI to svideo connector on the second DVI port and get tv that way?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Thanks for the help. Apparently the guy who got it working and did the audio dump posted the links to the kexts he used to get it working. I just went and deleted those instances of kexts from my system, plus ALCinject, installed the ones he recommended using kexthelper, did the HDApatch with his dump, did a permissions repair, and a reboot with -f. Still no audio device detected

I think I'll spring for the firewave, or maybe the usb solution. I just want audio out so I can hook it up to my ht amp and watch some tv.

The other question I have is this: I have a 7900GS. It's got dual DVI out and an svideo out. I know the svideo won't work, but I have a standard def tv. Can I use a DVI to svideo connector on the second DVI port and get tv that way?

I'm curious about this too. The first thing I'm going to test when my EFI-X chip shows up next week is S-Video. Plex makes a KILLER media box and if I could toss one on my SDTV, that'd just be fabulous!

 

[silverpig]

I got audio to work on my EP45-DS3L! I was having problems, then sent the guy who got it to work on insanelymac a PM.

Install these two patches:

HDAEnabler patch, requires Kext Installer Application

Codec Address 2 recognition (if you have address 2 - most likely), requires Kext Installer Application

Simple enough, yet for some reason when I tried downloading the files myself by finding them on the taruga site, I couldn't ever get it to work. I guess I just fail at the internet.

 

[Kaido]

Wow, I think I've found our iMac clone:

http://gizmodo.com/5050112/ava...-and-absurdly-flexible

$550! Holy beans :Q

 

[Stiganator]

So I'm all ordered, not the long long wait.

Lancool K7 case
Enermax Modu82+ 625W PSU
P35-DS3L Mobo
Q6600 Quad Core CPU
Sunbeam Direct Core Cooler
8GB G.Skill PC8000 1000MHz DDR2
2x Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB SATAII HDs (to complement existing 2x500GB USB, 3x250GB SATA)
MSI 8800GT OC VGA
Encore Gigabit PCI NIC
Apple Wired keyboard
Trusty old RF Optical Intellimouse 2.0

Anything I'm forgetting?

Kaido,

What is the difference between EFI v8, boot 132, and Chameleon? Can I use GFX string on all of them? How vanilla can my above set up be?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Stiganator
So I'm all ordered, not the long long wait.

Lancool K7 case
Enermax Modu82+ 625W PSU
P35-DS3L Mobo
Q6600 Quad Core CPU
Sunbeam Direct Core Cooler
8GB G.Skill PC8000 1000MHz DDR2
2x Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB SATAII HDs (to complement existing 2x500GB USB, 3x250GB SATA)
MSI 8800GT OC VGA
Encore Gigabit PCI NIC
Apple Wired keyboard
Trusty old RF Optical Intellimouse 2.0

Anything I'm forgetting?

Kaido,

What is the difference between EFI v8, boot 132, and Chameleon? Can I use GFX string on all of them? How vanilla can my above set up be?

EFIv8 and Chameleon are the same thing, Chameleon is just newer/better. My next guide actually switches to Chameleon because some EP35 users have a time lag issue on their clocks without it. Boot-312 is a CD-based system that pre-loads the kexts afaik, but it's still kinda beta-ish...I don't want to boot up with a disk in my system everytime, so I haven't bothered with it. You can use GFX string on EFIv8/Chameleon and use the Vanilla kernel no problems.

PM me after you build your system and I'll walk you through things

 

[silverpig]

Quick question before I google myself: Is there a good way to get an IR receiver for my hackintosh so I can use an apple remote with it?

If I find the answer myself, I'll post it here.


Apparently you can. A USB IR receiver should work.

 

[silverpig]

Gah... Another problem here.

I have a 7900GS. It's got dual DVI and SVIDEO. I know the SVIDEO has little chance of working, but I was hoping I'd be able to go with a DVI to SVIDEO adapter and then put the video on my tv that way. I plugged everything in and hit "Detect Displays" but nothing new comes up. The TV is on.

I haven't rebooted yet so maybe that'll fix it.

 

[Psycho Donut Killer]

Kaido, why do you recommend the Q6600 over the Q8200?

1333 FSB instead of 1066, and the 45nm chip has more transistors and from what I read the 45nm chips should run cooler, use less power, and be overclockable.

For only $10 more would it not be a better choice? Or is the Q6600 just that consistently overclockable?

I am building to replace two Mac minis, and I don't want a noisy computer, so if I were not going to overclock in order to stay quiet, would the Q8200 be a better choice for a non overclocked system?

I have ordered my boards from ebay (macpalace7) and my video cards from Geeks.com and when I get paid tomorrow I will be ordering the rest of the stuff from newegg.

My cases are Antec NSK4480Bs which I didn't consider at first because they are $79.99 plus $18.99 shipping at newegg, but I went to microcenter to look at cases in person and was suprised to find them for $59.99, including an adequate power supply.

 

[Stiganator]

the G0 q6600 can almost all do 3.2-3.6 with a good air cooled heatsink. The FSB stuff doesn't make all that much difference (Q6600 is 1066), especially since the 1333 RAM is 2-3x more than 800/1000 RAM. I don't believe the Q8200 is quite as overclockable and I believe some boards still have some quirks with 45 nm chips. Still a decent choice, but the only actual benefit would be slightly cooler temps.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Gah... Another problem here.

I have a 7900GS. It's got dual DVI and SVIDEO. I know the SVIDEO has little chance of working, but I was hoping I'd be able to go with a DVI to SVIDEO adapter and then put the video on my tv that way. I plugged everything in and hit "Detect Displays" but nothing new comes up. The TV is on.

I haven't rebooted yet so maybe that'll fix it.

Gah, this does not work. If you want dual dvi display you should go with an ATI X1900 XTX. Nvidia cards have major issues

I was REALLY hoping to use this PC as my media center.

 

[scootermaster]

Anything we need to know for 10.5.5?

And, you know...it is September! *hint hint*

 

[Case10]

Looking at putting together a HTPC.

The trick would seem to be getting a video card that can put audio out the HDMI.

I'm looking at something like this:
$59 - GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel 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
$8 - Encore PCI Gigabit Ethernet Network Card

And a case like this:
$159 - SILVERSTONE Grandia GD02B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

plus power supply of course:
$43 FSP Group FSP300-60GLS-MJR 300W MicroATX Power Supply

Any suggestions on a video card and sound card that I could get to put audio out the HDMI?

The main purpose of this machine will be to play high bitrate 1080p using XBMC out the HDMI with audio.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: scootermaster
Anything we need to know for 10.5.5?

And, you know...it is September! *hint hint*

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm working on it

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Psycho Donut Killer
Kaido, why do you recommend the Q6600 over the Q8200?

1333 FSB instead of 1066, and the 45nm chip has more transistors and from what I read the 45nm chips should run cooler, use less power, and be overclockable.

For only $10 more would it not be a better choice? Or is the Q6600 just that consistently overclockable?

I am building to replace two Mac minis, and I don't want a noisy computer, so if I were not going to overclock in order to stay quiet, would the Q8200 be a better choice for a non overclocked system?

I have ordered my boards from ebay (macpalace7) and my video cards from Geeks.com and when I get paid tomorrow I will be ordering the rest of the stuff from newegg.

My cases are Antec NSK4480Bs which I didn't consider at first because they are $79.99 plus $18.99 shipping at newegg, but I went to microcenter to look at cases in person and was suprised to find them for $59.99, including an adequate power supply.

Basically what Stignator said...overclockable, cheaper, uses less expensive ram, has more cache. If you're not overclocking, the Q8200 is probably better to go with since it's a 45nm chip and will probably run cooler. The Zotac 7300GT is a fabulous card and handles 1080p just fine, I'm very happy with mine! Nice deal on the Antec cases!

I've got some guide updates for the DS3L this month, so hit me up before you do your installation. There's a new kext to handle shutdown/restart in place of CHUD and the Shutdown kext, plus I'm switching things over to Chameleon to help the EP35 users.

 

[Zaap]

Originally posted by: Case10
Looking at putting together a HTPC.

The trick would seem to be getting a video card that can put audio out the HDMI.

I'm looking at something like this:
$59 - GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel 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
$8 - Encore PCI Gigabit Ethernet Network Card

And a case like this:
$159 - SILVERSTONE Grandia GD02B Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case

plus power supply of course:
$43 FSP Group FSP300-60GLS-MJR 300W MicroATX Power Supply

Any suggestions on a video card and sound card that I could get to put audio out the HDMI?

The main purpose of this machine will be to play high bitrate 1080p using XBMC out the HDMI with audio.

Sorry, I have no idea about HDMI audio with OSX. (Or even video via HDMI for OSX, for that matter. You can output 1080p over a DVI connection, use a DVI to HDMI adapter, then a separate audio send. Yes, more wiring, but at least it will definitely work.)

Personally, I'd recommend an external audio source, like the Griffen Firewave which gives you 5.1 Dolby Digital. It uses Firewire, so it would require you to use a PCI Firewire card, like this one.

A suggestion: The case you picked can take a full-sized ATX power supply. Those small form factor PSUs are generally noisy and underpowered- they're more for smaller cases where you simply have no room for a larger ATX PSU. I'd recommend something like a Thermaltake 430W which is cheap, very quiet, and extremely durable. I've had several of this exact PSU powering my own HTPCs for several years- in fact, my own user review of it is somewhere in the nearly 2000 comments .

 

[Zaap]

Originally posted by: Case10

$42 - 160gb 7200rpm Hitachi SATA Hard Drive

One more thing- I just noticed the hard drive. Consider that the 500GB Hitachi is only $55 after a $10 rebate. $13 more for a LOT more drive space. The smaller capacity drives are generally really crappy deals.

 

[Kaido]

Think I've found my next hack rig:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...1-supercomputer-start/

:Q

 

[Stiganator]

Arg!!! ewiz slow shipping has ruined my weekend. Ordered 2 drives on monday and they won't get here until next tuesday. Ordered case and power supply from newegg on tuesday and they will be here tomorrow. Can I just use a 250Gb drive then Super Duper or CCC it to the new 500GB drives? Or does that miss the Chameleon boot tracks/can't resize?

 

[Kaido]

1.5TB HDD for $190 shipped:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...0&Item=N82E16822148337

 

[Psycho Donut Killer]

Okay, wow. I was thinking it would OC to like 2.9, but potentially a 50% overclock? Well, I just won't be able to stay away from overclocking that.

My PS is 380, but it does have 34 amps on the +12, but I don't have enough overhead on it to run peltier. The Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro looks good, like Apple's design in the G5s and Mac Pros. Maybe I can hit 3 Ghz with out excessive extra fan noise.