$800 Hackintosh Rig

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
Happy to report my rig up and running 99.9%, with the exception of the "lose your IP after waking up from sleep" issue. Perfectly alright with me, since I don't use sleep.

Kaido, did you notice a slowdown of your Vista boot times after installing OSX? I don't know if it's me or my imagination.

Did you install EasyBCD?

 

[Jschmuck2]

I did, yes.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
I did, yes.

How long are we talking, like 15 seconds longer or like 5 minutes longer?

 

[Jschmuck2]

Actually, since I've started using easyBCD, I haven't really notice the issue. I'm thinking maybe it was all in my noggin - maybe Vista was trying to index the drive or what have you but I'm up and running and with the exception of the sleep issue, I'm rolling along. Quite awesome.

 

[Kaido]

Okay, I've got the Kalyway 10.5.2 + 10.5.3 Combo Update system nailed down. Just re-installed it and it works beautifully. There are 3 options for networking:

1) No network driver (3rd party Ethernet adapter)
2) No network driver (Onboard Ethernet lacks AFP/Bonjour)
3) Default network driver (Onboard Ethernet requires reset after wake from sleep)

Replacement cards are $7.99 on Newegg and cheaper if you only need 10/100 (99 cents on eBay). Hopefully someone will release a 100% compatible Ethernet driver, but I'm not holding my breath. I'm extremely happy with the board - it's cheap, it overclocks well, it supports 45nm chips, and it works pretty dang well with OS X.

Yay

 

[dmw16]

Will any hard drive work?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: dmw16
Will any hard drive work?

Yah but generally SATA drives work better. IDE drives, it really depends on your motherboard.

 

[dmw16]

Gotcha. I would get a SATA drive, just wasn't sure if I could go with whatever I found on sale.

 

[Jschmuck2]

I'm using an LG DVDRW drive on my IDE channel and things are fine.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Jschmuck2
I'm using an LG DVDRW drive on my IDE channel and things are fine.

Yup, it varies from system to system. Glad you're not having any issues though :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: dmw16
Gotcha. I would get a SATA drive, just wasn't sure if I could go with whatever I found on sale.

Yup any hard drive and almost any DVD drive. For DVD, I use the $30 20x Lite-on with LightScribe...I've installed tons of em, never a problem on Windows or Mac machines

 

[mshan]

This bluetooth adapter is supposed to work wtih OS X and is currently $10 shipped at Buy.com: Link

I just bought this one from Newegg and it has this annoying constantly blinking blue light. I just ordered the Mogo and hopefully it doesn't have any type of led light on it.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mshan
This bluetooth adapter is supposed to work wtih OS X and is currently $10 shipped at Buy.com: Link

I just bought this one from Newegg and it has this annoying constantly blinking blue light. I just ordered the Mogo and hopefully it doesn't have any type of led light on it.

I have the D-Link DBT-120 and it works just fine:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...Tpk=d-link%2bbluetooth

Just in case that one doesn't pan out

 

[Kaido]

My network card arrived today and it works! The Gigabyte system is now at 100%:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16833180026

I actually found out I have a rev 2.0 Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L board - the rev 1.0 has 4 USB ports and the rev 2.0 has 6 USB ports. So far it is rock-solid under Leopard 10.5.3. I am testing onboard IDE, Coaxial digital audio, and Optical digital audio tonight so that I can put the rest of the info in my guide.

Yay

 

[umrigar]

Where will your new guide be located, Kaido?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: umrigar
Where will your new guide be located, Kaido?

Over at Insanely. I'll post a link and a new thread for the June 2008 Hackintosh build. I am very excited about this board; I have a few more coming in for myself and my family!

 

[dmw16]

Does it have to be that graphics card or will any 8600GT work?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: dmw16
Does it have to be that graphics card or will any 8600GT work?

Any compatible graphics card will work. If you can find a working driver for your 8800GT, then you're good to go! I've used the following cards successfully in my Hackintoshes:

256mb 7300GT
256mb 7900GT
320mb 8800GTS
768mb 8800GTX

I'm wrapping up the formatting of the tutorial tonight and will post it tomorrow once I take the updated BIOS screenshots. Woot!

 

[Tyranicus]

Hey Kaido, does your 8800GTS show up in System Profiler with 320MB or VRAM? If so, how did you do that?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Tyranicus
Hey Kaido, does your 8800GTS show up in System Profiler with 320MB or VRAM? If so, how did you do that?

I used NVinstaller v.52, which is a wrapper for NVinject 2.1. I don't think System Profiler actually says 8800GTS, it just says it's an NVidia card with 320mb RAM and that QE/CI is supported.

 

[Shlong]

What's a good wi-fi card to get?

 

[mshan]

I am a Hackintosh noob, but from what I've read, PCI slot wi-fi card might be problematic: http://www.orangeware.com/endusers/wirelessformac.html

Might want to focus on USB thumb drive type adapters with Mac OS X drivers included on the install cd.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Shlong
What's a good wi-fi card to get?

Check out the HCL Wiki:

http://wiki.osx86project.org/w...hp/HCL_10.5.2#Wireless

For example, the Encore ENLWI-N 802.11n card for $34.99:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...6833180052&Tpk=ENLWI-N

It works under 10.5.2 with these drivers: (there isn't a 10.5.3 section yet)

http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/d...1.4.8.0_2007_11_26.dmg

I just got an Encore Gigabit PCI Network card and it's working perfectly, so they might be a good one to go with!

Edit: Ordered one for testing purposes. I'll let you know when it arrives!