Most Powerful Hackintosh Graphics Card

dmw16

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2000
7,608
0
0
About a year back I started to assemble the parts for a hackintosh/gaming computer. My plan was to dual boot OSX and Windows.

However, it turned out none of the video cards I wanted were supported at the time, so the machine became a gaming only rig.

So my first question is, have things changed? What is the most powerful gaming card I can buy that will be supported by OSX?

My other question is, what is the difference between dual booting and using boot camp as far as performance goes?

Thanks.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
52,505
7,713
136
I think the Nvidia GTX 285 & ATI 4890 cards are supported, check out www.netkas.org for more info.

Boot Camp isn't supported on a Hackintosh since it doesn't have real EFI in place of the BIOS. Dual-booting off a single drive is very difficult, I don't recommend it. Easiest way is to buy 2 hard drives and put Mac on one, Windows o the other.
 

dmw16

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 2000
7,608
0
0
Originally posted by: Kaido
I think the Nvidia GTX 285 & ATI 4890 cards are supported, check out www.netkas.org for more info.

Boot Camp isn't supported on a Hackintosh since it doesn't have real EFI in place of the BIOS. Dual-booting off a single drive is very difficult, I don't recommend it. Easiest way is to buy 2 hard drives and put Mac on one, Windows o the other.

Thanks. And just switch the boot order between the two?

Is there a good how-to on the install process?
 

TheStu

Moderator<br>Mobile Devices & Gadgets
Moderator
Sep 15, 2004
12,089
45
91
If it is a Hackintosh, you aren't using BootCamp, you are merely dual booting.

BootCamp is a GUI partition editor (and i think) modifications to the EFI to allow BIOS emulation. It is not emulating the OS, or virtualizing it, it is a dual boot method that Intel Macs use.

So, no difference at all.
 

Kaido

Elite Member & Kitchen Overlord
Feb 14, 2004
52,505
7,713
136
Originally posted by: dmw16
Originally posted by: Kaido
I think the Nvidia GTX 285 & ATI 4890 cards are supported, check out www.netkas.org for more info.

Boot Camp isn't supported on a Hackintosh since it doesn't have real EFI in place of the BIOS. Dual-booting off a single drive is very difficult, I don't recommend it. Easiest way is to buy 2 hard drives and put Mac on one, Windows o the other.

Thanks. And just switch the boot order between the two?

Is there a good how-to on the install process?

With Chameleon 2.0 (beta), it auto-detects your drives (and OS) and lets you choose (via icon) which OS to boot. Just use that, and set your Hackintosh drive to boot first. Real easy :)
 

KeypoX

Diamond Member
Aug 31, 2003
3,655
0
71
yep top of the line nvidia are the most powerful. I have gtx 260 running dual screens, bit of work but outlined here http://www.insanelymac.com/for...x.php?showtopic=113489

I have found dual booting to be fairily easy once you get the hang of it. Gotta mess up a couple times i think lol. Learn about active partitions, repairing windows install ( to fix boot).

I have found that installing windows first is best. Then create partition in windows for mac. Install mac, and then I used to repair windows, then use windows boot manager (chain0 method worked best for me). But now with chameleon 2, i use that.

However, I do have two drives 1TB for windows and everything windows. And 320GB (linux, windows, mac). Default bios goes straight to windows, boot to 320GB gives pretty little boot screen that i can choice any OS including windows on 1TB.

I have found this guide to have great info. http://www.insanelymac.com/for...ex.php?showtopic=39253 for dual booting, with 1 drive. Learn the concepts there and you are good to go for multibooting. Wish there was something similar for 10.6...